publications
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The Role of Community Schools in Place-Based Initiatives
Community schools, collective impact initiatives and Promise Neighborhoods, when aligned and pulling together, can lead to breakthrough results for children, youth, and their families. Competing, as too many do, can lead to civic chaos. This publication, which was co-published by the Coalition for Community Schools, PolicyLink, and the West Coast Collaborative, highlights how community schools in Portland (OR), Los Angeles (CA), and South Seattle (WA) can anchor a ground game and truly build collective impact. [link] |
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Georgetown 2028: 15 Year Action Plan
When the Georgetown Business Improvement District saw the need to build new strategies to effectively complete with emerging commercial districts throughout the region, they engaged the Community Building Institute to design, manage, and facilitate a civic engagement and consensus building process. This effort led to full consensus on decisions to bring Metro to Georgetown, expand the commercial district to the waterfront, bring the streetcar to K Street, and numerous other projects to enhance the consumer and pedestrian experience. [link] |
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Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children
Leaders of Detroit's foundation and civic community saw an opportunity to reverse years of tragic decline in public schools when as new leaders took over the City of Detroit, Detroit Public Schools, and the US Department of Education. They engaged the Community Building Institute, KSA-Plus Communications, and the Parthenon Group to work with diverse stakeholder group to build a transformative education plan for the students of Detroit. CBI designed and managed a community engagement process which a foundation official called, "the most democratic ever," and facilitated the consensus building process among stakeholders. [link] |
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Double the Numbers for College Success: A Call to Action for the District of Columbia
In 2006, a forensic data analysis found that of 100 entering 9th graders, only 43 graduated from high school, and 9 completed college within 5 years. The Community Building Institute and KSA-Plus Communications, with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, co-authored the Call to Action and then CBI designed and facilitated the collective impact process that has led to a doubling of the numbers of high school students who complete college. [link] |
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Growing Governance Deliberatively: Lessons and Inspiration from Hampton, Virginia
Hampton, recognized by the Bertelsmann Foundation as one of the world's leaders in effective approaches to civic engagement, has long served as an example for engaging citizens. This chapter, which draws from Learning from Neighborhoods: The Story of the Hampton Neighborhood Initiative, 1993-2003, was co-written with two of the city officals, Joan Kennedy and Cindy Carlson, who led these efforts. The chapter describes the youth civic engagement initiative, the Citizens' Unity Commission which focused on race relations, and neighborhood planning. [link] |
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Neighborhood Action Initiative: Engaging Citizens in Real Change
When Anthony Williams was elected Mayor of the District of Columbia, he committed to engaging citizens in all aspects of community decision making. The resulting Neighborhood Action Initiative, was anchored by annual Town Meetings focused on articulating citywide priorities, resident-developed Strategic Neighborhood Action Plans across the city, and Neighborhood Service initiatives which brought together previously siloed agencies to work with the community, on blocks and corners that faced multiple challenges. Potapchuk, who led the neighborhood planning element of this work, describes one of the most ambitious efforts to build a participatory and deliberative civic culture. [link] |
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Implementing Consensus Based Agreements
The Consensus Building Handbook is the most comprehensive reference book on consensus building, featuring chapters on every aspect of the process and 17 case studies. Potapchuk and Jarle Crocker address one of the most common challenges to consensus building efforts, the failure to implement the agreement. The chapter discusses how planning for implementation actually needs to start with the design of the consensus building process and continues through every phase moving forward. Attention to implementation, requires building intellectual, social and political capital throughout the process, ensuring there is sufficient understanding, strong relationships, and enough "juice" to move an agreement to action. [link] |
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