Civic engagement brings communities together to address issues of public interest and co-create solutions. It involves individual community members, elected officials, and other stakeholders taking an active role in creating a change in their community. This can include:
By fostering reciprocity between community members and local governments, civic engagement helps shift how power and decision-making is shared.
Civic engagement is the foundation of a strong democratic culture. It’s important because it has the potential to empower individual community members to engage in the issues that matter to them. In turn, it helps improve policies, programs, and services and brings communities together by working towards a common goal.
CitizenLab’s mission is to build stronger democracies by making public decision-making more inclusive, participatory, and responsive. Our platform has helped 300+ governments and organizations with their civic engagement journeys.
Using their CitizenLab-powered public participation platform, Wichita heard directly from residents on affordable housing needs in their community. Using civic engagement they explored how to improve the quality of the existing affordable housing while also adding new options to address changing needs.
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Philadelphia’s Edit the City! collaborative used civic engagement to collectively reimagine main streets as public spaces in an effort to support small business recovery and community revitalization. Using unique storytelling and placemaking strategies, this project shows just how innovative civic engagement can be.
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To make the most of our communities’ collective intelligence, and to allocate our time and resources in a more efficient and sustainable way, we have to maximize the way we use digital solutions.
This guide will walk you through the basics of digital community engagement, but it’s meant to serve as a resource for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike.
Here is what some of our clients are saying about CitizenLab: