New Study of Local, Regional Public Admin on Govt’s Role in Strengthening Work of Citizens

Barnett Pearce recently passed on a fantastic report from a project he completed this spring in conjunction with Kimberly Pearce. Many of you may know of the impressive work they do in the field of engagement and deliberation; Barnett is at Fielding Graduate University and Kimberly is at De Anza College.

The project, funded by the Kettering Foundation, focuses on the role that public administrators in local and regional government play in strengthening the work of citizens. Here's a short excerpt from the introduction:

"As citizens become more actively engaged in naming, framing, deliberating, and acting on the issues that affect them, public administrators are inevitably involved. But will they oppose, ignore, or actively support citizens? And if they support citizens, what should they do? And what changes will they have to make in their professional roles and institutional structures to do so?" (p. 2)

As a result, the research question for this project focused on "what do public administrators need to know and to do in order to promote and respond constructively to an engaged community?" (p. 3)

Download a copy of the paper and read more of this great report by clicking here.