Civic Engagement Capacity Building

Abstract

Planning organizations have recently initiated planning academies to increase citizens' capacity to effectively engage in city and local planning activities. Yet, the success of these programs is largely unknown. This article seeks to address this gap in knowledge by proposing an assessment framework to identify increased civic engagement capacity using three tiers of outcomes. The results of a multicase study suggest that this model of public outreach and education programming is successful at realizing improvements in individual human and social capitals that translate into effective citizen engagement measured as actions taken by participants to improve community conditions.

Nonprofit-Driven Community Capacity-Building Efforts in Community Food Systems

“…Smaller NPOs, in most cases, cannot increase their connectivity, as they do not have the staff support to reach out to potential partners or maintain an informal relationship. This is consistent with the findings by Lewis, Scott, D'Urso, and Davis (2008). This does not mean, however, that the network itself is flawed.…”

Community acceptability and the energy transition: a citizens’ perspective

“…Using the characterisation tool Figure 2 presents the characterisation tool used in the study to assess each participatory business models' participation potential. Co-development is extremely useful for building the social capital needed to empower participants to become more effective energy citizens and for improving community conditions at the local level [85].…”

Transportation Academies as Catalysts for Civic Engagement in Transportation Decision-Making

“…As outlined by Morse ( 16 ) and Mandarano ( 19 ), the primary method for assessing citizen academies is through post hoc surveys of academy graduates. The findings presented here draw from a 2014 survey of PTT graduates, and a 2022 survey of graduates of the inaugural WTA class.…”

“…In an analysis of the Surrey, BC Transportation Lecture Program—one of the transportation citizen academies profiled below—Yan ( 17 , p. 60) found mixed results on the program’s effectiveness, noting that although it “does not completely resolve the problems of citizen participation, it may be part of a broader constellation of actions cities might undertake to reach their goal of collaborative governance or something close to it.” Hochsztein found that although the participants in the six citizen academies she studied were already involved in government processes before they participated in an academy, nearly all of them reported significantly higher levels of engagement afterward ( 18 ). Mandarano analyzed survey data collected from former participants of five citizen academies ( 19 ), looking for evidence of the seven “community capitals” posited by Emery and Flora ( 14 )—natural-, cultural-, human-, social-, political-, financial-, and built capital—across three tiers relating to the participants’ personal attitudes, civic engagement activities, and community-level outcomes. Mandarano concluded that the academies were “successful at improving a broad spectrum of individual-level capacities that enable participants to become more active in their communities by taking actions that may result in long-term improvements in quality of life in the communities represented” ( 19 , p. 185).…”

“…Mandarano analyzed survey data collected from former participants of five citizen academies ( 19 ), looking for evidence of the seven “community capitals” posited by Emery and Flora ( 14 )—natural-, cultural-, human-, social-, political-, financial-, and built capital—across three tiers relating to the participants’ personal attitudes, civic engagement activities, and community-level outcomes. Mandarano concluded that the academies were “successful at improving a broad spectrum of individual-level capacities that enable participants to become more active in their communities by taking actions that may result in long-term improvements in quality of life in the communities represented” ( 19 , p. 185).…”