Washington D.C.: From January 13-16, 2013, the Urban and Regional Policy Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States hosted a workshop for 18 US and German city leaders under the Dialogues for Change initiative. The initiative is a joint undertaking with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the German Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development, and German Federal Institute for Research on Building Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR).  Its purpose is to build and support a network of practitioners and policymakers in the US and Germany that engages in a dialogue around civic engagement best practices, challenges, and opportunities.  The cities included in the network are: Austin (TX), Flint (MI), Memphis (TN), Bottrop (Germany), Leipzig (Germany), and Ludwigsburg (Germany).

Through the workshop, participants explored four issues: diversity and inclusion in the engagement process; designing successful engagement practices; the civic engagement toolkit; and growing civic engagement infrastructure for ongoing civic engagement practices.  Participants not only engaged in group discussion on these themes, but also used civic engagement technology – specifically a hand-held key pad polling device – to facilitate the conversation and prioritize group feedback.  This experience illustrated how key pad polling can be used as a tool not only to gather information, but to start a dialogue around substantive, and sometimes divisive issues.

The guiding philosophy of the workshop was using peer to peer exchange and participant experience to define best practices and outline important core principles for civic engagement.  Participants also learned about different face-to-face and online tools that can be used to engage the community, while exploring potential benefits and challenges.  Finally, city representatives worked together to brainstorm opportunities to apply the information they had learned to current projects and civic engagement activities in their home cities.

GMF also organized an expert panel to provide input on best practices and advice on how to grow local civic infrastructure to sustain civic engagement efforts. The panel included: Annie Donovan, Senior Advisor, The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation; James Brooks, Program Director, Center for Research and Innovation, National League of Cities (NLC); Melissa Bradley, CEO, Tides Foundation; and Sandy Heierbacher, Director, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD). Their comments were timely, insightful and thought provoking for both the US and German counterparts.  Representatives from HUD, the German Ministry, The German Embassy in Washington DC, and the German Marshall Fund were also in attendance.

Despite many cultural, political, and social differences between the cities in the network (and between the US and Germany), the participants discovered they have shared similar experiences and faced common challenges in practicing civic engagement.  While the solutions and tools to face these challenges are locally based, the participants found that there is a set of core principles for civic engagement that transcends these boundaries.  Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, Director of HUD's Office for International and Philanthropic Innovation, commented, “This workshop was an incredible opportunity for transatlantic policy transference: you could see policy makers internalizing innovative civic engagement tools and approaches presented by their peers. HUD is fortunate to have such engaged collaborative partners in the German Ministry of Transport, Building, and Urban Development and the German Marshall Fund."

Workshop participants left inspired and excited about applying their newly gained knowledge to activities in their home communities.  A follow-up workshop to hear about the results of their work will take place in Leipzig, Germany in April.