Library: How-To Tips: Recruiting for numbers and diversity

To be successful at democratic governance, you must be committed to outreach: the more people you can involve in this kind of work, the more successful your efforts will be. You should begin by assembling a small set of key stakeholders or a pilot group of citizens, but if you want to reap all the benefits of active citizenship and build connections for the long term, you will have to think big. A large, diverse, "critical mass" of citizens is almost always more powerful, representative, and effective than a small, homogeneous group.

The size of this "critical mass" will depend on the scale of your project. Within a typical neighborhood, 50-100 citizens might be considered a sufficient number, especially if they represent a range of backgrounds. For a citywide effort, your goal might be several hundred to several thousand participants.

There may be certain segments of the community that you particularly want to have in the mix. If there is a major policy decision at stake, for example, it will be crucial to have public officials and other key decision makers involved in the dialogue. If there is a major conflict in the community, it will be important to recruit people on both sides of that divide. You may want to pay special attention to recruiting young people, low-income people, or people who simply haven't been active in the community before.

This kind of comprehensive recruitment may not always be possible or worthwhile. You simply may not have enough time to reach large numbers of people. If the issue or decision you are tackling seems particularly narrow or technical, it may be very difficult to reach beyond a small set of stakeholders. In these situations, you may still want to use some of the other key principles of democratic governance — impartial facilitation, presenting all sides of an issue, etc. — without aiming for a large, diverse turnout. The key here is to keep in mind that you may not gain the kind of broad-based political support or citizen capacity that a "critical mass" organizing effort can give you.

Recruitment Task 1: Create shared ownership

You cannot simply announce meetings and expect a wide variety of people to show up. Sending out emails, mailing letters, and advertising in the newspaper usually won't attract many people either. You will need to reach out through all kinds of networks, enlisting the help of different kinds of leaders, so that people are recruited by someone they already know. In other words, successful recruitment is a contact sport: you must directly approach a set of key people, who can directly approach their own sets of people, and so on. These types of introductory meetings are sometimes called one-on-ones.

This coalition should change and grow over time, as the project gains credibility in new segments of the community. Periodically, ask the current members, "Who is not at this table, who really should be here?"

Recruitment Task 2: Craft a recruitment message that has broad appeal

In many communities, a compelling issue has served as the catalyst for democratic governance. Some of the most common issues being addressed are race, education, immigration, crime, criminal justice and corrections, growth and sprawl, youth development, economic development, and police-community relations. Some projects have taken on multiple issues, helping citizens address a range of challenges facing the community. Still others have involved citizens in developing city budgets or land use plans.

The words you use to describe the issue are important. In order to involve a wide range of people, you need to frame the issue in an impartial way, so that it covers many different views and possible solutions. For example, "improving the quality of our schools" appeals to a wider array of people than "increasing school funding." Remember that democratic governance is different from advocacy: you are inviting people to grapple with an issue, not trying to convince them to support a particular solution.

The issue should also be described in non-technical language, so that ordinary people feel like they have something to say. For example, "planning and growth" has more appeal than "housing density and minimum setbacks." Citizens are certainly capable of dealing with technical questions, but if you can avoid jargon as much as possible, people will be more likely to participate and better able to get to the root of the issue.

Finally, you should take into account the community's perceptions of how local government has acted towards citizens in the past. There may have been citizen involvement efforts which were poorly planned, badly implemented, or even manipulative. A new city administration may perceive its engagement efforts as fresh, new, and starting with a clean slate, but some people may view them with a somewhat jaundiced eye, based on a long (and perhaps fuzzy) memory of these past misadventures. You should be prepared to say not only "Here's why this project will be inclusive and effective," but also "Here's how this project is different from what was done in the past."

This may be particularly true for people of color, people in poverty, or others who have been on the outside of public decision-making. A project that results in "better" or "more informed" public policies may not be as appealing to them as one that results in greater "fairness" and "equity."

Recruitment Task 3: Map community networks in order to reach a wide variety of people

In most communities, the same small set of people shows up at every public meeting. The veteran volunteers and dedicated activists all know one another, and all serve on the same nonprofit boards yet for a democratic governance effort to be effective, you must reach out beyond the usual suspects and locate people through their community connections.

In addition to helping you strategize, a map like this can be used as a visual aid. Bring it to planning meetings, invite people to add groups and organizations you hadn't considered, and use it to show your intent to recruit all kinds of people.

Recruitment Task 4: Assist your recruiters

In some communities, democratic governance steering committees have agreed that each member will meet a set recruitment quota, promising to sign up a certain number of people for the project. Sometimes, particular recruiters are given small stipends as a way to free up their time to reach out to a certain segment of the community.

It is critical that the recruiters understand the project. If you are using small-group meetings as the backbone of your project, involve the recruiters in pilot sessions of your process. If you are organizing a large-group meeting, consider holding a "dress rehearsal" so that the recruiters can visualize how it will work.

Equip your recruiters with written information — this could include flyers, sign-up sheets, and "blurbs" for newsletters or bulletins. This will help them explain the program and get the necessary information from participants.

One of the most basic and important things to remember is the amount of follow-up required in a large-scale recruitment effort. You are relying on recruiters who already lead busy lives, and they often need polite reminders and firm deadlines to complete all the tasks they take on.

It would be impossible to recruit every single member of your community, but it is important to try. This may seem paradoxical, but your sincerity about proactively trying to recruit the entire community will send an important message to citizens: they will begin to believe that everyone is invited, valued, and welcome.

Remember also that building active citizenship is a cumulative enterprise: you may fall short of your recruitment goals the first time, but as long as you provide those participants with a meaningful political experience, you will be much more likely to get a bigger crowd the next time. Even in the short term, if you can mobilize just 1-2% of the population in your city, you will have a huge critical mass of people and your project will be much more likely to succeed.

Finally, recruitment is a continuous process. It's easy once you have a group of people involved to target your information and communicate primarily with those people. But soon they will become the new "insiders." To keep the process fresh, check your message and your outreach techniques to continue to communicate and to welcome newcomers.