Citizens’ Voices

A Partnership of Local Citizens

“Overview, David Mathews in Kettering Foundation Connections (April, 2004, 14(2), 2-6

“The first and primary challenge in the kind of engagement I am proposing is public-building. People have to engage one another as citizens of a community before there can be a public capable of engaging the schools. Individuals form a a public by practicing the practices that allow them to make collective decisions, which are the basis for collective action…. Public-making activities include:

Naming problems in community terms (rather than in professional or technical terms);
Framing issues for collective decision making;
Deliberating as a public to decide on a course of action;
Generating the political will to undertake a range of civic actions; and
Developing a habit of shared reflection to keep up the momentum needed to deal with the wicked problems.” (p.5)

The Kettering Foundation supports and publishes a number of efforts directed towards public choice. See their website at http://www.kettering.org/index.html