“The idea of citizen participation is a little like eating spinach: no one is against it in principle because it is good for you.” (Arnstein 1969, p. 216) Photo from 2jdominic at eatthismuch.com Arnstein’s analogy from her 1969 seminal work on citizen participation brings to mind a vibrant visual of a steaming bowl of spinach. … Continue reading Tokenism: The Cooked Spinach of Community Engagement
From the moment I declared my second major in gender and women’s studies and started to share this information with family, friends, and strangers, I have been haunted by a single question in an astounding array of manifestations: “So… what do you do with that?” My responses have ranged anywhere from a detailed, in-depth explanation … Continue reading Putting Feminist Theory to Work
What is Public Participation? In the world of policy making and planning, there seems to be a growing conversation on the role of public participation in developing smarter and more effective policies. More public participation has been lauded as a potential solution to address a variety of governance issues, from allocation of environmental resources like … Continue reading Public Participation: The Processes of Citizen Engagement for the Public Good
I knew very little about photovoice when I jumped in as a facilitator with the North Denver Photovoice Project a year ago. In the time since, I have enjoyed learning about photovoice as a meaningful community engagement process that brings together local residents to identify and address strengths and concerns in their communities through photography, … Continue reading Learning about Photovoice as a Community-Engaged Fellow
For the last two years, I have served as the Writing & the Public Good CCESL Fellow, which has meant exposure to the community-engaged work of faculty across campus, participation in programs like Community Spotlights, Scholar Shop, and CCESL Forums, and extraordinary mentorship. This year, we Fellows were also invited to participate in one of four Collective Impact … Continue reading The Dos and Don’ts of Doodle: Or, How to Hold Large Meetings Between Busy People from On and Off Campus
CCESL Student Fellows 