MSU Extension Civic Engagement

Public engagement can be a transformative process that brings people together. If your organization is considering exploring public engagement it can be difficult to know where to start. There’s a great deal of information out there, but how do you select a process that will work for both your team and the communities you are serving?

Understanding the broad concepts of public engagement planning will help build the foundation and allow for tailoring at later stages. In Lindsey Gardner’s article for Michigan State University Extension, “Ensuring public participation in meetings takes work and organization,” there are a number of considerations for organizations to work through in the planning process. Going through the logistics in an orderly manner helps organizations make sense of what goes into planning and can increase confidence through preparedness. Another MSU Extension resource highlights logistical components in public engagement planning, with important emphasis on what is mandated by the Open Meetings Act.

One complicated feature to public engagement strategies is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. The uniqueness of the initiative and the community drives the selection of the public engagement tool. A structured planning process makes this easier. Before the public engagement process begins, internal meetings offer the opportunity for the team to focus on planning for an event that will provide the public with a chance to exchange information and opinions. Just how that event looks becomes clearer after consulting resources like the following:

• The International Association of Public Participation (IAP2)  
  Organizations can conceptualize public engagement on a spectrum with varying levels of public participation. In a series of articles by MSU Extension, this spectrum is looked at in detail from the “inform” level to the “empower” level.
• Sherry Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation
  This analysis centers around ideas of power and explores ascending levels of power held by citizens. The level of power held by citizens will vary depending on the tool selected, ranging from “nonparticipation” levels to “actual power” levels that place decision making more in the hands of participants.
• Continuum of Public Involvement
  From North Carolina Cooperative Extension watershed planning guide.
  Here, the multiple variables are placed on a continuum and the examples at the top of the chart are helpful. Press releases and informational meetings are identified as less intense methods while negotiated rule making is listed as an intensive method.

Referencing these models helps inform decision making so that a style of public engagement suits both the organization and the community.

Meaningful public engagement benefits from a deep understanding of the community your organization works with. Reflecting on relationships held among community members and your organization is a way of recognizing the history that exists and preparing for future initiatives that bring people and ideas together.

This article references work in the field of public engagement and more information on the resources can be found at the links embedded in this article. There is also additional information available through the National Charette Institute and the Citizen Planner Program through MSU Extension.