Description:

For roughly a decade organizations, "ordinary" citizens, and various local leaders have been working hard to give Bridgeport residents a stake in solving community problems and creating public policy in their city. As a result of this effort public engagement has become embedded in the life of the community in an exceptionally robust way.

It is fair to say that a culture of problem solving has evolved in which citizens are viewed as vital resources who must be consulted and involved if challenges are to be addressed effectively. Practices of public engagement have taken root to such an extent that it appears to be relatively rare to find behind-the-scenes decision-making by a small group of elites, particularly on issues where the public has much at stake. The case study traces how the practices and ethos of public engagement have gradually spread across different issues and sectors.

Dates active: Ongoing (started in 1996)

Web-site for project: CAPE (Center for Advances in Public Engagement), http://www.publicagenda.org/pubengage/pe_cape.cfm

Issue(s): Education

Sub-issue(s): civic/public/citizen/community engagement, education, community dialogue, urban issues/problems

Level(s): City

Initiators: Bridgeport Public Education Fund (BPEF), Public Agenda, the Institute for Educational Leadership, Graustein Memorial Trust, Connecticut League of Women Voters

The BPEF joined the Connecticut Community Conversations Project in 1997, since then Bridgeport has had a level of sustained public engagement and dialogue that is rare. Today the BPEF serves as convener of deliberations and as an advisor to many groups and individuals, offering consulting and training for Community Conversation organizers and moderators, and helping groups frame issues for deliberation.

Particular goals:

The project was initially aimed at engaging the public around issues of school reform and education. Over time it has expanded to include many local issues, and public conversations have explored a wide range of subjects including: pre-kindergarten education for children suffering from mental-health problems, after-school programs, achievement gaps, school safety, family violence, employment needs, corruption in city government, housing, economic development and more.

Number of participants/year: Bridgeport has held roughly 40 Community Conversations (the largest of which had at least 500 participants) in the last decade.

Population of community: 139,000

Time spent by participants: Typical Public Agenda-style Community Conversations are four hour events embedded in ongoing processes of capacity-building and

Staffing/funding: Small capacity-building grants to local leaders and organizations from the Graustein Memorial Trust through the Connecticut Community Conversations Project.

Budget: Local leaders received grants of approximately $2,500 to offset some costs associated with local organizing. Capacity-building technical assistance by Public Agenda in the early years was covered separately.

How meetings were structured: Dinner; short plenary; two-hour breakout groups of 12-15 diverse participants, trained moderators and recorders, and carefully prepared "Choicework" dialogue materials; closing plenary reports; strategic follow-up.

Sample outcomes: New student-mentor volunteers, new anti-bullying policy, business leaders begin to contribute to education reform in concrete ways

Benefits:

The last ten years have helped to make citizen deliberation a staple of public life in Bridgeport, where engagement has become embedded and self-sustaining. It has been helped by a climate where government and business leaders have, by and large, bought into the ethos of community engagement. As a result, Bridgeport now has a stable of trained moderators that can be used to organize and facilitate public dialogue and deliberation on any topic with short notice. Many of these individuals are "ordinary" citizens who have developed leadership skills and capacities as a result of their participation in engagement events and public work. In addition to these civic outcomes, concrete outcomes for kids are described, including the fact that Bridgeport Public Schools have twice, in recent years, been a finalist for the Broad Prize in Urban Education for districts that have done exemplary work in closing achievement gaps.

"Democracy is hard. It's easier to be autocratic, but I just don't believe that you get the same kind of commitment... If you're talking about the work that has to be long-term and deep-seated I believe that this approach is most effective." __John Ramos, Superintendent, Bridgeport Public Schools

Challenges: Fuller participation by recent immigrants and working class families; leveraging engagement for change even more effectively.

Full story:

• http://www.publicagenda.org/pubengage/pe_cape.cfm

Related resources:

• http://www.publicagenda.org/pubengage

Organizations that helped with this project: Bridgeport Public Education Fund (BPEF), Public Agenda, the Institute for Educational Leadership, Graustein Memorial Fund, Connecticut League of Women Voters

This case contributed by: Will Friedman, 2007