Building civic engagement systematically: Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods

The Seattle Times has an editorial, "Give a shout out to Seattle’s outstanding neighbors," about the call by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods for this year's nominations for "outstanding neighbors" which includes both individuals and organizations making exemplary contributions to the quality of life in the city's neighborhoods and communities.  From the article:

Developing a city’s physical infrastructure is a pretty straightforward process. Building a sense of community and shared purpose can be a messier affair. 

But social cohesion can be just as important to a city’s livability as are roads and bridges. That’s why the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ annual recognition of outstanding neighbors is so important. It offers ideas and inspiration from the everyday people, businesses and organizations who go out of their way to lift up their neighbors. It’s as close to a blueprint for neighborhood vitality as there is. 

The Department of Neighborhoods helps neighbors connect with each other and city government to develop a stronger sense of place, build neighborhood ties and promote community engagement. It has been celebrating Neighbor Day since Phinney Ridge activist Judith Wood first suggested that the city designate a day to celebrate neighborly bonds back in 1995.

-- Neighbor Day Nominations, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods 

I've written a lot about this agency over the life of the blog, including mentions of the book, Neighbor Power, written by the department's first director, Jim Diers.

What distinguishes the Seattle approach for me is that it is more DIY and oriented to "capacity building" for individuals and organizations in that they can act on their own, albeit within the framework of city programs, grant opportunities, etc.

But they can act on their own, without needing to intercede with the Mayor or Councilmembers.  

By contrast, I think of "neighborhood engagement" programs in most city governments, both for the Executive and Legislative branches, as focused on "incumbency development"--or the reelection of the Mayor or Councilmember--and not on the capacity of citizens and community organizations to act independently.

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-- "Outline for a proposed Ward-focused (DC) Councilmember campaign platform and agenda," 2015

Similarly, there are two negatives from DC's "community council" system, called Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.  First, by having government-sanctioned councils at the grassroots level, in one sense it creates the belief that "government" is responsible for solving every problem, negating the value of self-help.  Second, ANCs can "cream" off able citizens, who devote their attentions to ANCs, rather than to self-help efforts and/or actions and organizing through independent community organization.

Which is why I argue for capacity building support organizations like Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods and others in Calgary, Minneapolis, San Diego, Massachusetts, Atlanta, etc. ("Framingham Massachusetts creates Citizen Participation Officer position," 2018) .

In this time of national fracturing ("WHY THE PAST 10 YEARS OF AMERICAN LIFE HAVE BEEN UNIQUELY STUPID," The Atlantic--although I think the article has problems), we need to be very much focused on building systems for positive and successful civic engagement.

Leading by Stepping Back: A Guide For City Officials on Building Neighborhood Capacity

The idea would be to engage citizens in the process as much as they would like to be, in planning, oversight, creation of programs in their neighborhoods, etc.

Models would be:

• empowered participation as discussed in the books Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance and Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy,
• participatory budgeting, and 
• the Asset Based Community Development approach pioneered by Northwestern University professor John McKnight.   

This is especially important because of how political systems now are promoting chaos ("Misinformation on Facebook got six times more clicks than factual news during the 2020 election, study says," Washington Post) and disconnection ("In The Land Of Self Defeat," New York Times), rather than connection.

Note that I have an extended discussion of better integrating citizen/civic engagement into community building and urban and neighborhood revitalization in "St. Louis: what would I recommend for a comprehensive revitalization program? | Part 1: Overview and Theoretical Foundations"."

Republicans in particular are anti-government in general.  Government ultimately is derived from "We, the People."  And i call this anti-government, anti-community attitude "anarcholibertarianism."

The shared experience of doing things together to rebuild, strengthen, and extend community is the only way we can "walk back" from the abyss of disconnection, maybe.