Description: Study Circles in Portsmouth began as an effort to mobilize hundreds of parents and students around issues of bullying and violence prevention in the city's middle school. The process was subsequently used in the Portsmouth Schools to develop a plan for redistricting the elementary schools. Having witnessed the success of those efforts, local leaders decided to use study circles to involve residents in the strategic Master Plan review process. The organizing team became known as "Portsmouth Listens", which has grown into an all-volunteer group of citizens committed to facilitating dialogue in Portsmouth on issues critical to making Portsmouth the best place to live and work for everyone. Most recently, citizens took part in a Portsmouth Listens project concerning whether to renovate the existing middle school or build a new one. Portsmouth Listens is currently co-sponsoring an eight week education study circle on sustainability, an issue that emerged from the Master Plan study circles. Portsmouth Listens has also held roundtable candidate forums for local elections and an informational forum on the city budget. With strong support from the Portsmouth Herald and a veteran core of volunteers, the process has become a neutral arena for public decision-making on the major issues facing the community.

Dates active: 1999-present

Web-site for project: http://www.portsmouthlistens.org

Issue(s): Education; Planning and land use

Sub-issue(s): education; school redistricting; planning/land use; school construction; sustainability

Level(s): City

Initiators: Local volunteers, including Jim Noucas, John Tabor, Mica Stark, and Bruce Mallory (Univ. of New Hampshire)

Particular goals: Making key public decisions in an informed, reasonable way that attracts the participation and ownership of the maximum number of residents.

Number of participants/year: over 500

Population of community: 222,000

Time spent by participants: 10+ hours per study circle

Staffing/funding: Portsmouth Listens has always been entirely volunteer-driven, with staffing donated by a core of volunteers led by Jim Noucas and John Tabor

Budget: Had $20,00 budget for three-phase Master Plan study circles (half from City and half raised privately); virtually none for other study circles.

How meetings were structured: The small-group discussions (8-12 people) were facilitated by trained volunteers and followed a series of questions and viewpoints in a discussion guide. Each group met once a week for four weeks and then produced a written report of their findings. Written reports are published in Portsmouth Herald, just prior to oral presentation of each group's report to the deciding body (City Council, School Board, Planning Board, etc.).

Sample outcomes:

• On Safe and Respectful Schools: Sixth graders dialogued with 75 adults from the community about concerns about violence at the middle school. They identified the most significant issue as bullying and asked for more adult supervision in areas where it occurred. Perhaps more importantly, adults were amazed at what these 12 year olds articulated, and the 12 year olds were amazed that the adults actually listened to them.
• On school redistricting: Attempts to redistrict Portsmouth's elementary schools in the early 1990's were so contentious that the school board avoided it for the next 10 years or so. A school board member who was a facilitator of the Safe and Respectful School Dialogue suggested a study circle approach. Approximately 115 residents went through four-week study circles and reported their finding to the school board. The resulting plan developed by the school board received broad support for increased funding of school renovations, and resulted in only 65 students switching from one school to another.
• On land use/visioning: The Portsmouth Listens Master Plan study circles involved three phases over two years involving over 400 citizens. The Master Plan adopted the Vision Statement developed by the study circles and study circles recommendations were adopted throughout the Master Plan. "A master plan is not just about bricks and mortar," says Noucas. "It is about accepting the social responsibilities we have, both as individuals and as a community." Participants concluded that "Portsmouth Listened"; that they could make major contributions to City policies and actions.
• On middle school construction vs. renovation: Portsmouth was contentiously divided over whether to renovate a historic 75-year-old middle school in downtown Portsmouth or build a new facility on a large open space abutting the Sagamore Creek estuary. 135 adults in 14 study circles and two high school students studied the issue. Interestingly, a significant majority of the study circles reached back to Master Plan polices on conserving remaining open space and preserving historical buildings to recommend renovation. Within two days of the public report of the study circles' findings, the school board reversed its perceived preference for the new school site and unanimously supported renovation, subject to some conditions.
• On candidate forums: In local elections, Portsmouth Listens has utilized a dialogue-based roundtable format to create meaningful interaction between candidates and the voters. As many as 18 candidates run for 9 City Council positions every two years. With so many candidates, the traditional format (ask a question and give each candidate two minutes to answer) made for long and not necessarily productive evenings. A PL candidates' forum divides the candidates into 5 groups of 2 or 3, and the voters into 5 groups of 12-15. Each voter group is given 20 to 30 minutes to dialogue with each candidates group. Additionally, prior to the forum, each candidate is asked to respond in writing to 3 questions. Their answers are printed in the Portsmouth Herald the day of or the day before the forum. Voters thereby have a preview of where each candidate stands on critical issues. The 2007 questions were created with the help of city officials and former councilors and school board members.

Benefits: Consistently, the benefits have been the development of quality information on important issues for decision makers, and widespread community support for the resulting decisions. The process allows people of differing interests and backgrounds to identify what is important and what they share in common. A lawyer with a long record of involvement on city boards described his study circle experience as follows:

"Just a note to let you know that the Study Circle experience for the last 4 weeks was rewarding. I was somewhat neutral going into the process but I frankly had great reservations as to whether a dozen strangers could come together and develop a consensus. That is indeed what happened after a great deal of give and take—but always with great courtesy and respect for all participants. It was a great experience and increased my faith in human nature and the citizens of Portsmouth. Thank you for all of the effort that you put into the process to make it happen."

The day after the study circle presentations on the latest middle school issue, one city council described the impact as follows:

"Last night (report out from PMS Dialogue Study Circles) was an amazing experience—from which we are probably all still recovering! I think in many, many ways it was a watershed experience for the City of Portsmouth with ramifications which will extend far beyond the current issue of location of the Middle School. First, it was a demonstration of the power of a well-thought out Master Plan and its role in helping citizens hold government accountable. It shows how a cohesive plan and application of that plan in a systematic way is the modern version of the Town meeting practice—New England democracy in the 21st century. Second, it showed the face of contemporary local citizenry—it's not the small group of perpetually angry guys who show up at public comment—but thoughtful, well-spoken people who are willing to discuss values and principles in addition to taxes and land use, and are willing to get involved if they see the path to do so. Third, it showed me that the younger people who have chosen to live here have taken up the mantle of defending the historical traditions of Portsmouth—somewhat ironically, actually given that it seems like it's the locals of a different generation who are pressing for big box architecture, car-oriented transit, plastic newness, and environmental slights. Finally, there can be no going back to the old ways of doing things for anyone who was there or will ever see this on video."

Challenges: Sustaining an ongoing structure. Recruiting participants from across the entire socio-economic spectrum of the community.

Full story:

• Mengual, Gloria, "Portsmouth, N.H.: Where Public Dialogue is a Hallmark of Community Life," http://www.studycircles.org

Related resources:

• Archive of Portsmouth Herald at http://www.seacoastonline.com

Organizations that helped with this project: http://www.studycircles.org

This case contributed by: Matt Leighninger and Jim Noucas, 2007 (last updated: 2007)