New Field Guide Helps Local Officials Plan for a Stronger Democracy

The National League of Cities (NLC) has recently created a toolkit called, “Planning for Stronger Local Democracy: A Field Guide for Local Officials” with the purpose of guiding city leaders to cultivate a culture of transparency and accountability to also address and resolve issues.

The NLC, an organization that has spent the last decade helping city leaders across the U.S. build better communities, serves as a resource to and an advocate for the more than 19,000 cities, villages and towns it represents.

Part one of the new toolkit, “Key Questions to Ask About How to Engage the Public,” examines past successes, inadequacies, and the background of citizen-government relationship in cities. This section lays out fourteen questions that local officials and municipal staff should consider when working toward laying the groundwork for local democracy. Answering these questions can help map out an understanding of a city and the necessary roles for elected officials. In addition, recommendations for taking a civic asset inventory are included to create a healthy municipal government that benefits every community member, organization, and leader. And since we always love to learn from the experts, the guidance encapsulates specific models of practices from pioneering civic engagement practitioners across the country.

Part two of the toolkit “Developing Shared Civic Infrastructure,” illustrates a cooperative process for assembling an improved foundation for public engagement. It lays out a planning process by gathering a diverse group of community partners, arranging for facilitation, sharing the answers to those key questions mentioned above and addresses those misconceptions about public engagement we often take to heart.  There’s even discussion fodder for city planning groups by describing potential goals for democratic governance. The NLC has also come up with twelve building blocks that city leaders and municipal staff should consider in order to arrive at a shared civic infrastructure in terms of: Creating Space for Citizens, Building Skills and Capacity, and  Improving Public Decision Making and Problem Solving to reach that coveted robust local democracy.

The NLC carefully considered its approach when creating these materials as the tool kit is also purposed for citizens. It is guidance that citizens can introduce to their city leaders, planners or community leaders to inspire them to make government more participatory.