• Collaboration DC helps Near SE, SW Aim for Consensus

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    Collaboration DC, a network of practitioners working to build civic capacity and solve community problems in the Nation's Capital, has been working with residents and community based organizations in Near Southeast and Southwest for over a year to help forge a collective approach to neighborhood change.  Collaboration within the community has not always been the case.  As Reverend Ruth Hamilton, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, says in the Hill Rag, “The rap on our community is that we can’t get along.”

     Now, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D, Southwest Neighborhood Assembly, and the Southwest/West of the River Family Strengthening Collaborative have worked together to engage the community and build a "consensus vision on what community benefits residents most want to demand from developers."

     The process of relationship building was supported by Mary Jacksteit, former director and now consultant to Collaboration DC.  Residents see the benefit.  Rev. Hamilton, continued, "“The relationships that we have built, they pay for this process already. We just have to continue doing this as new residents come in.”

     This story is excerpted from the June 2007 edition of the Hill Rag.  The full story can be found here.

  • New Handbook on Democratic Dialogue

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    Colleagues around the world are working to improve their public conversation. The Canadian International Development Agency, UN Development Program, and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and several other organizations have published Democratic Dialogue: A Handbook for Practitioners. Backed by a technical assistance team of 90 practitioners, the Handbook is a part of a larger effort to help countries learn the value of dialogue and consensus building processes and build capacity to design and manage the processes. The manual, which is also available in Spanish and more resources can be found on their website.

  • Family Engagement in Schools is More than Advisory Councils

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    Civic engagement, we often forget, is more than residents and stakeholders offering their perspectives on the issues. As many think about how to best engage families in DC public schools, we can learn from the lessons of Families and Schools Together (FAST), an evidence based intervention that strengthens families and schools. The cover story in this month's magazine from the National School Board Association, FAST is an outreach and multi-family group strategy for building protective factors around children as they grow up in stressful, isolated, and often toxic environments. Rooted in 30 years of published mental health research, FAST has been demonstrated to have a predictably positive impact on the socio-emotional functioning of children. To read the magazine article click here or download the attachment. To visit the FAST website, click here.

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