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CAROLYN J. LUKENSMEYER AND WENDY JACOBSON

The 21st Century Town Meeting

Engaging Citizens in Governance

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

—Margaret Mead

A Real-Life Example

Washington, D.C., has a long and well-documented history of problems in government management, resulting in residents highly distrustful of, and disconnected from, decision makers. In 1999, Mayor Williams launched a process to renew people’s faith in government and involve them in changing the status quo. During a seven-year partnership with AmericaSpeaks, the mayor’s office held a series of “21st Century Town Meetings,” through which more than 13,000 residents (including 1,500 young people) deliberated about the city’s spending priorities and made recommendations for change. Residents came to these forums with concerns about safety, education, youth, housing, and government responsiveness, among other issues. Their efforts bore fruit:

• Millions of dollars in the city budget were reallocated to address citizens’ priority concerns;

• New community-based governance mechanisms were put in place, including enhanced oversight measures;

• A new role for youth in the district’s policy development process was codified.

Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?

The 21st Century Town Meeting™ is a public forum that links technology with small-group, face-to-face dialogue to engage large numbers of people—up to 5,000 at a time—in deliberations about complex public policy issues. Through a combination of keypad polling, groupware computers, large-screen projection, teleconferencing, and other technologies, these forums enable people to simultaneously participate in intimate discussions and contribute to the collective wisdom of the whole.

The 21st Century Town Meeting helps people resolve differences and find common ground. When polls indicate the public might reach consensus on an issue, even if politicians cannot, the process is particularly effective. Several features of the model accomplish this: recruiting a diverse and representative group of “general interest” citizens who aren’t representing stakeholder positions; focusing on shared values before addressing issues and priorities; using trained, small-group facilitators; allowing for anonymous polling; paying careful attention to group dynamics and seating plans; and providing access to nonpartisan experts.

The 21st Century Town Meeting creates a level playing field on which citizens can authentically engage with each other in policy and planning discussions that are directly and transparently linked to key decision makers and real governance processes. While the model has most often been used to impact government decision making, it is also successful in nongovernmental contexts.

WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES FROM A 21ST CENTURY TOWN MEETING?

By convening thousands of people at a time, a 21st Century Town Meeting shines a very public spotlight on important policy concerns, which cannot be ignored by decision makers. As a result, the model achieves significant results. For example:

• Nearly 1,000 people from the six counties that make up the Chicago metropolitan region made sure their priorities shaped a regional plan that focused on transportation, land use, and economic and community development.

• One thousand Britons produced a clear road map for changing their country’s health-care system and secured a commitment from Prime Minister Tony Blair to implement their priorities.

• More than 1,000 citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, crafted a priority agenda for their community’s children that influenced local budgeting and service delivery.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

A 21st Century Town Meeting engages citizens, decision makers, and other stakeholders (e.g., advocates, community-based organizations, or representatives from affected businesses or industries) over many months, both preceding and following a large-scale event. While the center of the process is the daylong town meeting, preparatory work is intensive, including careful issue and material development, as well as extensive stakeholder and community engagement (see figure 1). These tasks are described by example below.

Figure 1. Steps in the 21st Century Town Meeting

Issue and Material Development

In 1998, a national discussion on Social Security reform engaged more than 45,000 Americans across the country. The issue was highly visible at the time—President Clinton had featured it in his State of the Union address, and it was the subject of numerous congressional proposals. While the public had great interest, there wasn’t a clear consensus on policy direction. All of these factors made the issue “ripe” for large-scale citizen engagement. To maintain credibility while developing the agenda and content for a national discussion, an advisory board was formed that brought together Republicans and Democrats, representatives from conservative and liberal think tanks, unions, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and others. The issue and material development for the national discussion were overseen by this diverse group.

Stakeholder and Community Engagement

In 2002, in the aftermath of 9/11, there was much discussion about how redevelopment of the World Trade Center site would be responsive to the diverse groups impacted by the tragedy. The 21st Century Town Meeting brought New York civic and political leaders together with more than 5,000 people to address this question. One of the many engagement challenges for this initiative was to bring in those who were marginalized in the redevelopment efforts. For example, to ensure inclusion of undocumented immigrants who held low-paying jobs in and around the towers, special arrangements were made for them to register without providing names and addresses. In the end, 10 percent of the participants in “Listening to the City” were undocumented immigrants.

Following extensive preparatory work, the 21st Century Town Meeting proceeds through four stages:

• Setting the Context. Beginning with a welcome from sponsors, and brief comments from key political leaders, participants answer demographic questions using keypad polling.

• Clarifying Values. Before deliberation on key content, there is a “values discussion” that lays the groundwork for prioritization of ideas and concerns.

• Developing Recommendations. Participants engage in small, diverse table discussions led by trained facilitators. Networked laptop computers at each table serve as electronic flip charts to record ideas and send them to a “Theme Team,” which identifies commonalities and presents them back to the assembly for modification and voting done with individual, handheld keypads. The “back and forth” between small- and large-scale dialogues occurs as often as needed to develop recommendations.

• Reporting Out. By the end of the meeting, the Theme Team drafts a preliminary report detailing keypad voting results and the shared agenda. Every participant, decision maker, and journalist receives the report upon leaving.

WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS?

The four critical success factors for using the 21st Century Town Meeting model are: (1) making sure every voice is in the room; (2) getting decision makers involved from the beginning and committed to acting on outcomes; (3) providing sufficient scale to compel attention; and (4) ensuring transparency and immediacy of results.

Table of Uses

About the Authors

Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer ([email protected]) is the founder and president of AmericaSpeaks and its international arm, Global Voices. Prior to this, she served as consultant to the White House chief of staff, as deputy project director for management of the National Performance Review, as chief of staff to Governor Richard F. Celeste of Ohio, and as an independent consultant. Lukensmeyer earned a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Case Western Reserve University and completed postgraduate training at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

Wendy Jacobson ([email protected]) is an independent consultant specializing in policy research and analysis. She is a 1997 Annie E. Casey Foundation fellow, and holds an MSW from the University of Georgia and a BA from Yale University.

Where to Go for More Information

REFERENCES

Links to a range of published resource and reference materials on the 21st Century Town Meeting and large-scale citizen engagement work in general can be found at: www.americaspeaks.org/resources/library/as/pubs/index.htm.

Goldman, J. Millions of Voices: A Blueprint for Engaging the American Public in National Policymaking. Washington, DC: AmericaSpeaks, 2004.

Lukensmeyer, C., and A. Boyd. “Putting the ‘Public’ Back in Management: Seven Principles for Planning Meaningful Citizen Engagement.” Public Management. Washington, DC: International City/County Management Association, 2004.

Lukensmeyer, C., and S. Brigham. “Taking Democracy to Scale: Creating a Town Hall Meeting for the 21st Century.” National Civic Review 91, no. 4 (2002): 351–366.

ORGANIZATIONS

AmericaSpeaks—www.americaspeaks.org

Global Voices—www.globalvoices.org

AmericaSpeaks’ international arm.