It seems that in the past govenment officials have felt that the public was not interested in paticipating in the decision-making process or was too poorly informed to contribute meaningfully. It is encouraging to see the strides that are being made in so many areas to include citizens in the process of government. We are receiving positive feedback from city officials that not only are their citizens interested in being stakeholders, but that through our outreach we are developing better projects. Here is a cartoon to enjoy. PS -Check out this link to Peter Sandman's page about communication in a pandemic. The link is: http://www.psandman.com/col/panflu4-1.htm. It is worth the read. -Jessica
Monday, May 4, 2009 12 – 1 pm Salt Lake City & County Building, 451 South State Cannon Room (Rm. 335), 3rd Floor Please call in if you cannot attend in person – 800-791-2345, passcode 70397
Michele is the Director of Salt Lake Solutions and an adjunct professor at the University Utah School of Law. She was a practicing lawyer for more than 15 years, representing private and public sector clients and has extensive experience with administrative agencies in their regulatory and enforcement functions. For the past 10+ years, she has focused exclusively on alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, facilitation, training, and collaborative problem-solving.
Michele will give a short presentation and lead a discussion on her work with Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s Transparency Initiative (http://www.transparencyslcgov.com/) and Salt Lake Solutions (http://www.slcgov.com/slsolutions/).
Manager of the Yosemite National Park's Public Involvement and Outreach Program
According to Jen Nersesian, who just left the job to become a superintendent, it's a challenging job, and full of tremendous opportunities to make a positive contribution. Professionals with experience in public participation or conflict resolution might be interested. For more information or to apply, go to http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=80535073. The position is posted to close on May 1. Contact Jen at Jen_Nersesian@nps.gov with any questions.
There are oodles of reasons to use technology when engaging the public. It can be convenient. It can be efficient. It can save money. And, sometimes, it's really fun. At the same time, it's not for everyone, and it's certainly not for every situation.
When considering technology, the first step our organization takes is to consider our purpose. Are we trying to inform and educate? Do we need to seek input and advice? Is our goal to facilitate dialogue and deliberation?
We've put together a quick list of technology options for each category. It's not meant to be exhaustive or very explanatory - I'm pretty sure no one reads long blog entries, so even though I'd love to wax poetic about keypad/electronic polling and SurveyMonkey, I won't.
But, if you've got ideas about other options the rest of us can explore, please add them in the comments. Or, if you'd like more information on any one technology (explanation or example of practical application), please leave a comment to that effect, too!
As a follow-up to discussions that took place during the annual conference in September, our officers have been hard at work developing the Intermountain Chapter blog.I am very excited about this new forum and I am looking forward to utilizing this tool to keep in touch with everyone and to hear about what everyone is up to in the realm of public participation.
In addition, we have some exciting things coming up in the chapter and in IAP2.Coming up at the end of April I will be attending a worldwide IAP2 leadership event in Vancouver, British Columbia.The purpose of the event is to bring together affiliate, chapter and emerging IAP2 leaders with IAP2 board members to exchange information, develop skills to foster membership, translate IAP2’s strategic goals and objectives into local action, and foster a sense of community among members.It should prove to be a very exciting event and I will either present a brown bag on the experience and what I learned or I will send an overview out via email and this blog.
We are also working on future brown bag presentations and additional training opportunities for the Chapter.We are going to try something a little different with brown bag presentations.Some of the upcoming brown bag presentations will be held at a specific location and via teleconference allowing people to participate in a variety of ways.Our first brownbag of this kind will be on May 4, 2008, with Michele Straube from the Mayor's office in Salt Lake City. She will be sharing information about Mayor Ralph Becker's Transparency Initiative and Salt Lake Solutions. More details to come soon on the blog. If you have any ideas on possible topics for future brown bag presentations, please feel free to send them to me via email or comment on this post.
Also, Wendy Green Lowe is in the process of determining a date and location for certificate training courses.Once the details have been determined, we will be sure to let you all know.
The last thing I wanted to remind everyone of is the 2009 Annual Conference.It will be held in San Diego in September – so there is lots of time to plan ahead. See the countdown gadget to the right!
Our chapter has a lot of momentum and I truly hope that we can keep it up.As always, please feel free to contact me with any ideas, comments, questions, or suggestions: randi.shover@kiewit.com or 801-736-8219.Thank you!
It seems that in the past govenment officials have felt that the public was not interested in paticipating in the decision-making process or was too poorly informed to contribute meaningfully. It is encouraging to see the strides that are being made in so many areas to include citizens in the process of government. We are receiving positive feedback from city officials that not only are their citizens interested in being stakeholders, but that through our outreach we are developing better projects. Here is a cartoon to enjoy.
