Evan Weissman, Civic Engagement Expert
Watch the Workshop
Democratic Value: Civic engagement beyond electoral participation
Evan Weissman calls it “voting every day.†For this Denver artist, activist and civic engagement expert, voting for government officials who you believe represent your interests is just one piece of the citizenship puzzle.
Important decisions are being made every day at the local level, at venues like city council or zoning board meetings. However, in those venues, public participation is often limited to those dealing with an emergency situation or people with ample spare time (retired, flexible work schedules, etc.).
Warm Cookies of the Revolution works to engage those whose voices are underrepresented in local decision-making. Their work is not technical in nature -- in fact, they rely on in-person, face-to-face events to drive civic engagement. However, Evan understands some fundamental things about democratic involvement that could help the CRCDT to imagine new forms of digital engagement, or to rethink how people understand and engage with decision-making about technology that affects them.
During his workshop, Evan had a poignant observation about how technology is adopted or introduced in our communities. When decisions are made at the local level to greenlight the use of certain technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, facial recognition software or drone delivery services, the public is rarely involved. Most people tend to hear about new technologies only after they have been implemented in their communities.
This brings up interesting questions for our group: How and where are these local decisions being made? How might we help make those decisions more transparent and/or educate community members on the technology? Are there ways we could help people advocate for the needs or concerns of their communities?
It could also be interesting to look at how to measure civic health. If we looked at voter turnout as just one way of measuring democratic participation, what other metrics might help determine a community/state/nation’s overall civic engagement?
Top Takeaways from an Engagement Expert
- In the U.S., most of us grow up with a corporate mindset, rather than a civic one. We have a sense of ownership about material items, but not about our communities.
- The decisions about how any community looks -- from physical neighborhoods to online communities -- were made by systems or people who felt ownership of the community. It’s important to understand who those decision-makers are and what their interests are.
- Civic participation has to be made more engaging and transparent because you’re competing for people’s very limited free time. Better advertisement for meetings isn’t enough.
- People are smart and passionate about the things they care about, whether it be sports, music or video games. To engage them, you have to meet them where they are and connect to their interests.
- People in marginalized communities can be skeptical of the workings of government and being asked to participate, since government decisions often don’t benefit them. It’s important to understand their history and create ways of engagement that are authentic to their communities.
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Warm Cookies of the Revolution, the Denver-based nonprofit Weissman founded in 2012, bills itself as a civic health club -- someplace you go to exercise your civic health. “Civic health is a measurement of how well we participate in our community as citizens. Are we engaged in the decision-making processes? When it comes to our environment, our education, our government, our work/life balance, our health, our systems of justice, etc., do we have power? Do we know how to affect change? Are our needs and hopes being met?â€
Engagement Idea
