Is Your Collaboration Effectively Engaging the Public?

March 29, 2016

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in•ter•sec•tor |in,tersektor|
noun
1. a space where government, business, and non-profit sectors share expertise, resources, and authority to address problems that cannot be solved by one sector alone

FROM OUR BLOG

Research to Practice: Engaging citizens to improve outcomes of public-private partnerships

In a recent conversation with The Intersector Project, Professor of Public Policy Eric Boyer shared that citizen engagement provides “an instrumental performance-related benefit” beyond satisfying citizens’ right to have a say in their government. P3s in transportation, the focus of the article profiled in this month's Research to Practice, involve substantial investments of public and private resources, so their success is crucial. But the success of these projects relies heavily on citizen use. Public involvement ensures that partners are receiving what Boyer refers to as a “localized user perspective,” which can contribute to a successful project that is useful to the community.

While this article focuses primarily on public-private partnerships in transportation, the authors’ findings are relevant to any collaboration where success depends on citizen use, from public planning projects like local parks and pedestrian zones, to constituent services, like programs for the homeless or child services. How can your collaboration ensure it is engaging citizens in a way that's useful for your partnership? Read more.

A research agenda to advance cross-sector collaboration in the United States: an update

At The Intersector Project, we’ve recently revisited our proposed Research Agenda to Advance Cross-Sector Collaboration in the United States. This list of research topics and questions reflects our thinking on where scholarship can and should advance the intelligent practice of cross-sector collaboration in the United States and is informed by our ongoing research projects, regular reviews of literature relevant to the field, and learning conversations with practitioners and supporters of government, business, and non-profit collaboration in the United States. Read more.

What We're Reading and Following This Week

Open Data Impact: When Demand and Supply Meet
This report from GovLab presents key findings from open data impact case studies. We’re particularly interested in their second recommendation: “Encourage collaborations across sectors (especially between government, private sector, and civil society) to better match the supply and demand of open data.” Because large public problems are so complex, the authors argue, open data projects will need to be cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary. “Working in a collaborative manner can help draw on a diverse pool of talent, and can also lead to innovative, out-of-the-box solutions.”

How Reimagining the Civic Commons is unlocking the potential of public space in Philadelphia
One year in, the Knight Foundation’s Reimagining the Civic Commons pilot project in Philadelphia is off to an exciting start. “The initiative has informed a deeper understanding of how success will only come through deep collaboration in and out of city government, robust and dynamic public-private partnerships, and a willingness to embrace civic innovation and innovators.” See our blog post on the initiative and how it’s fostering cross-sector connections here.

L.A.'s testing ground for transportation efficiency
“Forward-focused urban transportation departments are shifting their attention to a concept known as ‘mobility management,’ a modern approach that takes advantage of improvements in transportation technology and the explosion of available data,” explains Steven Goldsmith in Governing. This new model for transportation planning provides more of a role for the private sector: “These partnerships are creating a growing awareness of the range of possibilities posed by a city's traffic and population movement data, including more surgical policy interventions and better outcome evaluation.”

Five lessons in cross-sector leadership
In this piece in Presidio’s newsletter, Alison Gold examines what it takes to be a cross-sector leader. “Cross sector leadership and collaboration calls us to trust, to change ourselves and our organizations, to seek to understand where other individuals and organizations are coming from, and then figure out how to work together — to recognize the impact we have as it relates to others and acknowledge it.”

Seeking insights from partnerships that advance health
Are you a changemaker partnering with others to improve health in your community? Take the 2016 Pulse Check Survey from ReThink Health to shine a spotlight on your multi-sector collaborative’s accomplishments, challenges, experiences, and aspirations.

Case Study Corner:
Transforming the Largest Public Housing Development in New Orleans

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed St. Bernard’s Housing Community (SBHC), the largest public housing development in New Orleans. Prior to the storm, SBHC was plagued with overcrowding, failing schools, and violent crime. In the wake of Katrina, a small group of civic leaders were invited to learn about a redevelopment project in East Lake, Atlanta, which used a holistic community revitalization model. After visiting the East Lake community and seeing its successful transformation firsthand, these civic leaders decided to form the Bayou District Foundation, with the goal of replicating the East Lake Model at the former SBHC site. Read more.

Upcoming Events

CSSI
The fifth biennial International Symposium on Cross-Sector Social Interactions in Toronto this April will bring together researchers and practitioners to understand better how business, government, and civil society interact to address social problems. We'll be there to lead the workshop, "Connecting Research to Practice." Learn more and register.

Resources for Practitioners

Created for practitioners from every sector, our Toolkit enables leaders to design and implement successful intersector solutions.

Our case studies profile leadership and tactics from successful collaborations in a variety of issue areas, including community revitalization, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, education, and environmental conservation. Our case library is one of the country’s leading libraries on U.S. cross-sector collaborations.