Resources and Background Information on Civic Engagement

Staff has collected and reviewed information on what other communities around the country are doing to improve their public participation experience. Let us know if you have a resource to share. We'll add it to the list. In addition, you'll find media links regarding What's Next Alexandria.

Examples of "Principles of Engagement" documents

• City of Portland Public Involvement Principles
• Deliberative Democracy Consortium - Model Public Participation Ordinance

National organizations focused on civic engagement

• America Speaks
• Consensus Building Institute
• Everyday Democracy
• Harvard Kennedy School, Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement
• Institute for Local Government
• International Association for Public Participation
• National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation
• National League of Cities -- City Examples of Civic Engagement
• National League of Cities: Planning for Stronger Local Democracy Toolkit
• Pepperdine School of Public Policy – Davenport Institute for Civic Engagement
• Sustainable Cities Institute

Jurisdictions or planning efforts with notable civic engagement programs or elements, including online engagement:

• Arlington County, Virginia
• Norfolk, Virginia
• Boston – Community Engagement Strategy
• Decatur, Georgia
• Denver, Colorado: South Lincoln Housing Redevelopment
• Eau Claire, Wisconsin: Clear Vision Eau Claire  
• Illinois Department of Transportation, Circle Interchange Stakeholder Involvement Plan (SIP)
• This SIP provides a guide for implementing stakeholder involvement for the planning and design phases of the Circle Interchange project. It will be used as a blueprint for defining methods and tools to educate and engage stakeholders in the decision-making process for this project.
•  New Hampshire: New Hampshire Listens
• New York Regional Planning
• Philadelphia, PA: Budget Planning
• Portland, Oregon Office of Neighborhood Involvement
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Portsmouth Listens
• Salem Sustainable Cities Initiative: Civic Engagement Strategies
• San Francisco, California
• Toronto: Review and Reflection on Current Practices and Future Approaches
• Ventura, California Civic Engagement Division
• Utah: Envision Utah
• Vancouver, Canada: Greenest City Initiative

Examples of Online Engagement Platforms

• Action Alexandria – brings together neighbors and local nonprofit organizations to exchange ideas, coordinate efforts, and solve problems in our community.
• Civic Commons – collaborative catalog of civic apps to help cities engage
• Code for America - working to change the way cities work through technology and public service
• Crowdsourcing - obtains ideas by soliciting contributions from a large group of undefined people from the online community
• IdeaScale – online civic engagement platform
• Mindmixer – online civic engagement platform
• Neighborland – online civic engagement platform
• OpenPlans – non-profit focused on open government and transportation
• Open Town Hall – online civic engagement platform
• The Project for Public Spaces -- Digital Placemaking
• UserVoice – online civic engagement platform

Articles about Civic Engagement

• Learning to Listen in Portsmouth New Hampshire

Media Links About the What's Next Alexandria Initiative

• City Hosts Second 'What's Next, Alexandria?' Dialogue - Old Town Alexandria Patch, January 30, 2013
• Participate: What’s Next Alexandria Online Event - January 7, 2013
• 'What's Next, Alexandria?' Launches Citizen Engagement Effort - West End Patch November 16, 2012
• "What's Next Alexandria, The Dialogue Begins," Alexandria News, November 16, 2012
• 'What's Next Alexandria' Dialogue Set for Nov. 15 Old Town Patch November 9, 2012
• 'What's Next Alexandria' Survey Extended Old Town Patch October 18, 2012
• What's Next, Alexandria? (Blog Post) West End Patch October 10, 2012
• City Launches Civic Engagement Initiative - Old Town Alexandria Patch September 25, 2012
• What's Next, Alexandria? - AlexandriaNews.org September 21, 2012

• Letter to the Editor: "What's Next Alexandria Won't Heal City's Divide" Alexandria Times December 7, 2012
• Letter to the Editor: "What's Next Alexandria Dialogue – Did It Succeed?" AlexandriaNews.org, November 28, 2012
• Letter to the Editor: "What's Next?" West End Patch November 20, 2012
• Letter to the Editor: "With the election over, time to get involved" Alexandria Times November 20, 2012

Other links of interest

• ZoningDC.org - Twitter TownHall

For more information, contact Carrie Beach at 703.746.3853 or send an email to whatsnext@alexandriava.gov.