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In 2005, the Alliance for Children and Families launched
the New Voices at the Civic Table initiative with the
support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Carnegie
Corporation of New York. New Voices focused on building the capacity
of nonprofit human service organizations to support the civic
engagement efforts of clients. The Alliance provided technical
assistance and mini-grants to six member organizations to implement
civic engagement efforts over a seven-month period.
The unique efforts of these six organizations provide the base for
further dialogue among Alliance member organizations and other
stakeholders about the role and future of civic engagement in the
human services field.
By September of 2006, more than 460
constituents (individual clients and community members) participated
in civic engagement activities—constituents that included recipients
of mental health services, persons living with HIV, youth graduates
of a recovery program, parents lacking resources for child care, and
non-English speaking immigrants. |
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These six initiatives targeted:
- self-efficacy efforts promoting individual growth of constituents,
- training and support to help constituents identify their own civic
interests,
- mobilizing efforts bringing together large numbers of constituents
with common policy goals, and
- organizing efforts drawing on intensive training to build core
constituent groups interested in making progress on multiple policy
issues.
With the support and encouragement of their organizations and
community partners, constituents learned how to join public debate
and influence the people and institutions making decisions on their
behalf. Over seven months, constituents:
- became familiar with the civic process;
- developed strategic advocacy plans;
- learned how to communicate in public settings;
- organized neighborhood meetings;
- met with elected representatives, public officials, and providers;
and
- advocated on behalf of their and their families’ needs.
More specifically, constituents:
- gained seats on city decision-making bodies, including one city’s HIV Planning office and another county’s housing board;
- obtained a signed agreement from a state senator to bring forward
a bill to increase public benefits and the English as a Second
Language (ESL) education budget;
- addressed local media outlets with televised commentary on
universal Pre-K and expanded child care programs; and
- took the lead in planning a community-wide advocacy training,
where a regional director from the office of the governor was
featured as a keynote speaker.
All six participating organizations have continued working with
constituents on various civic engagement efforts. At least three
organizations launched newly focused programs that came directly out
of their New Voices participation.
Three organizations attracted media coverage, and three leveraged
additional funds to support their New Voices activities.
The pilot efforts launched by New Voices in 2006 generated useful
data for further dialogue on integrating civic engagement efforts
within human service organizations.
The experiences of constituents and organizations provide additional
background for discussions on:
- the meaning of civic engagement for recipients of human services
and the organizations that serve them,
- the options for integrating and implementing civic engagement
practices within service delivery models, and
- the necessary tools and infrastructure for sustaining viable civic
engagement efforts.
As a result of the New Voices efforts, further progress towards
integration of civic engagement should center on:
- building a cohesive framework for integrating civic engagement
that is consistent with the mission and vision of an organization,
- generating tools that allow organizations to demonstrate the value
and effectiveness of civic engagement for constituents and their
organization, and
- identifying and securing resources to build the infrastructure for
civic engagement efforts.
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