Reinventing Citizenship: The Practice of Public Work

A. The Center for Democracy and Citizenship

The Center for Democracy and Citizenship, established in 1993, is located at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Directed by Harry C. Boyte, Senior Fellow at the Humphrey Institute, and Edwin Fogelman, Chair of the Department of Political Science, the Center serves the University and, through various outreach programs, local communities and the larger public.

The Center grew out of the work of Project Public Life, a five-year experiment in grassroots civic leadership that developed the framework of citizen politics and a number of pilot projects using that theory.

Purpose

Through the development, discussion, and dissemination of applied research and experience in diverse communities, the Center aims to support the civic development of all citizens. To accomplish this, the Center provides national, state, and local leaders with:

• a conceptual framework and pedagogical approaches for developing civic competence among citizens;
• help in creating public leadership programs, aimed at developing civic competencies;
• mechanisms for reflection and lesson-building on best-practice examples of citizen problem solving, civic education, and civic leadership development;
• and practical strategies for facilitating community/institutional assessment and change.

Practice

In most cases the Center's work is in transition from successful pilot projects to larger demonstration and dissemination projects, building on the work of Project Public Life. Efforts generally combine aspects of different activities - including technical assistance, training, staff development, and action research - though one activity may predominate. For example:

1. Technical Assistance:

The Center provides ongoing technical assistance to federal, state, and local governments, community-based groups, and national organizations interested in enriching their civic development efforts. For example, the Center provides technical assistance, training, and staff development for organizations that are part of the Public Achievement Partnership, an action-research project aimed at developing youth service with a strong civic orientation. In collaboration with schools, the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, Saint Paul Ecumenical Action Council and Minnesota 4-H, the Center is currently institutionalizing and disseminating this approach to youth service locally.

2. Training and Networking:

The Center trains staff, volunteers, and other citizens in a variety of service, educational, and community-based organizations in civic concepts and skills through a network of regional partners. The Center has provided civic training for a variety of community service programs across the country, including all participants in the Summer of Service. Building on such experience, the Center's network will be enriching the civic dimensions of local and AmeriCorps service projects, and will help to create mechanisms for sharing lessons between and beyond those projects.

3. Staff Development:

The Center strengthens the civic capacity of institutions through staff and board development projects tied to the institution's larger public missions. Currently, we are working with Cooperative Extension Services to renew and strengthen their civic mission. Minnesota Extension Services (MES) and other states are incorporating basic public leadership competencies and civic skills into staff and volunteer development and a range of program areas. MES, for example, is basing the development of the Youth and Family Initiative, for families in stress, on the citizen politics framework.

4. Action Research:

The Center undertakes participatory action research projects aimed at community and institutional change and at deepening knowledge about how such change takes place. Working with the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, the Center has recast the typical research design of public health intervention projects through Communities Mobilized for Change on Alcohol (CMCA), a seven county intervention in Minnesota and Wisconsin to address problems associated with underage drinking. Normally, outside experts determine the problem, and they design, in advance, the preferred policy solutions. In CMCA, the Center provided training for local organizers, and it also reworked the theoretical framework of alcohol intervention approaches to emphasize civic capacity building as well as policy change.

5. Civic Educators:

The Center also develops and sustains a nationwide network of civic educators and learners dedicated to reflecting on best-practice examples of citizen problem solving and education, providing consultation, advice, and training resources for the Center, and helping to develop strategies for dissemination, continuation, and replication.

The New Citizenship

The Center has launched a multiyear initiative, The New Citizenship, to develop a national network for citizenship development. The White Paper on the New Citizenship, published in 1993, calls for a renewed partnership between the government and the citizenry that includes rebuilding our civic institutions. Since then, the Center has completed a six-month project to develop strategies for the incorporation of key civic lessons into programming and training in several federal agencies, and has begun another joint project building on civic renewal efforts in a variety of contexts (organizing, the media, and so forth).

Publications from the Center for Democracy and Citizenship

If you would like more information on technical assistance and training opportunities, please contact the Center. We have a number of publications that might be useful.

Boyte, Harry C. and Nancy N. Kari, Building America: The Democratic Promise of Public Work. (Philadelphia: Temple, 1996) $16.95

Boyte, Harry C., Commonwealth: A Return to Citizen Politics (New York: The Free Press, 1989). $27.95.

Boyte, Harry C., Suzanne Paul, and Peg Michels, Making the Rules, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis: Project Public Life, 1994). $10.00.

Boyte, Harry C., Civic Declaration: A Call for a New Citizenship. An Occasional Paper of the Kettering Foundation, December 9, 1994. $5.00.

Evans, Sara M. and Harry C. Boyte, Free Spaces: The Sources of Democratic Change (New York: Harper & Row, 1986). $6.95

Markus, Gregory B., An Evaluation of Project Public Life (Minneapolis: Project Public Life, 1992). $4.00.

Peters, Scott J., Renewing Civic Education in the Minnesota Extension Service. A Field Project Report, 1994. $1.00.

Peters, Scott J., Towards a Civic Professionalism: Reshaping Our Understanding of Work and Citizenship. A Field Project Report, January 1995. $1.00.

We hold a fall training session in Minneapolis and sponsor several conferences a year, usually in Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. Our national network of civic educators provides further support in other regions. For more information, write to:

• The Center for Democracy and Citizenship
  The Humphrey Institute
  301-19th Avenue South
  Minneapolis, MN 55455
  612/625-9505

B. Bibliography

This bibliography is arranged by core concepts and themes in Reinventing Citizenship. These include: citizenship/civic education, public, power, self-interest, politics/democracy, freedom, civil rights tradition/Citizenship Schools, professional life, populism/community organizing traditions. It is a partial bibliography, designed to point in some directions that might be of interest.

Citizenship/Civic Education

Barber, Benjamin R. and Richard M. Battistoni, editors, Education for Democracy (Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 1993).

Boyte, Harry, "Citizenship as Public Work and Public Freedom." In Don Eberly, ed., Building a Community of Citizens (New York: University Press of America, 1994).

Boyte, Harry, "Reinventing Citizenship." In Kettering Review, Winter 1994.

Boyte, Harry, et al, "White Paper on the New Citizenship." In The Responsive Community, Spring 1994.

Gross, Richard E. and Thomas L. Dynneson, Social Science Perspectives on Citizenship Education (New York: Teachers College, 1990).

Gutman, Amy, Democratic Education (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987).

Public

Arendt, Hannah, The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1958).

Bellah, Robert, et al., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).

Boyte, Harry, "The Pragmatic Ends of Popular Politics." In Craig Calhoun, editor, Habermas and the Public Sphere (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992).

Evans, Sara, "Women's History and Political Theory: Towards a Feminist Approach to Public Life." In Nancy Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock, editors, Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism (Champaign Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993).

Habermas, Jurgen, The Transformation of the Public Sphere (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989).

Ryan, Mary, Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1990)

Politics/Democracy

Aristotle, Books I, II, and IV, Politics (various)

Barber, Benjamin F., Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age (Berkeley: University of California, 1984).

Bellah, Robert, The Good Society (New York: Knopf, 1991)

Boyte, Harry, "Practical Politics," in Barber and Battistoni, Education for Democracy, supra

Crick, Bernard, In Defense of Politics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972).

Dionne, Jr., E.J., Why Americans Hate Politics (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991)

Ehrenhalt, Alan, The United States of Ambition: Politicians, Power and the Pursuit of Office (New York: Times Books, 1991).

Evans, Sara, Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America (New York: Free Press, 1989).

Greider, William, Who Will Tell the People? The Betrayal of American Democracy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992).

Jefferson, Thomas, Notes on the State of Virginia (New York: Norton, 1972).

Kerber, Linda, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (New York: Norton, 1986).

Lappe, Frances Moore, Rediscovering America's Values (New York: Ballantine, 1989).

Madison, James, No. 10, in Madison, et al., The Federalist Papers (various).

Mathews, David, Politics for People (Champaign Urbana: University of Illinois, 1994).

Nash, Gary, Race, Class and Politics: Essays on American Colonial and Revolutionary Society (Champaign Urbana: University of Illinois, 1986).

Pitkin, Hannah F. and Sara M. Shumer, "On Participation." In Democracy 2, 1982.

Putnam, Robert D., Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).

Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (New York: Scribner, 1958).

Weil, Simone, Oppression and Liberty (Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1973).

Wood, Gordon, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (New York: Vintage, 1991).

Power

Alinsky, Saul, Reveille for Radicals (New York: Vintage, 1946).

Boyte, Harry, Commonwealth: A Return to Citizen Politics (New York: Free Press, 1989).

Evans, Sara and Harry Boyte, Introduction to the revised edition of Free Spaces:The Sources of Democratic Change in America (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1992).

Scott, James, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven: Yale University, 1985).

Self-interest

Boyte, Harry, "The Politics of Everyday Life," Chapter Four in Commonwealth (New York: Free Press, 1989)

Hirschman, Albert, The Passions and The Interests (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977).

Kari, Nancy and Peg Michels, "The Politics of Empowerment: The Lazarus Project." In American Journal of Occupational Therapy 45, 1991.

Freedom

Berlin, Isaiah, "Two Conceptions of Liberty," in Michael Sandel, editor, Liberalism and Its Critics (New York: New York University, 1984).

Boyte, Harry, "Public Freedom." in Thomas Moody and Richard Schmitt, editors, Alienation and Social Criticism (New York: Humanities Press, 1993).

Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man (New York: McGraw, 1981).

King, Richard, "Citizenship and Self Respect: The Experience of Politics in the Civil Rights Movement.," in Journal of American Studies 22, 1988.

Civil Rights/Citizenship Schools

Branch, Taylor, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988).

Brisbane, Robert H., Black Activism: Racial Revolution in the United States, 1954-1970 (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1974).

Evans, Sara, Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left (New York: Knopf, 1979).

King, Jr., Martin Luther, Why We Can't Wait (New York: Harper and Row, 1963).

Morris, Aldon, The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change (New York: Free Press, 1984).

Public Role of Professionals/Professionalism

Bledstein, Barton, The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America (New York: Norton, 1976).

Boyte, Harry and Nancy Kari, "The Citizen Politics of Health: Breaking the Iron Cage,." in Dissent, Spring 1994.

Bender, Thomas, Public Life and the Intellect (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1992).

Berger, Peter and Richard Neuhaus, To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy (Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1977).

Lasch, Christopher, Haven in a Heartless World: The Family Beseiged (Basic Books, 1977).

Polsky, Andrew, The Rise of the Therapeutic State (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991).

Reich, Robert, The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for the Twenty-first Century (New York: Knopf, 1991).

Schon, Donald, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (New York: Basic Books, 1983).

Schorr, Lisbeth, "What Works: Applying What We Already Know About Successful Social Policy,." in The American Prospect 13, 1993.

Populism/Community Organizing

Alinsky, Saul, Rules for Radicals (Vintage, 1972).

Bobo, Kim, et al., Organizing for Social Change: A Manual for Activists in the 1990s (Cabin John, MD: Seven Locks Press, 1990).

Berry, Jeffrey M., et al., The Rebirth of Urban Democracy (Washington: The Brookings Institution, 1993).

Boyte, Harry, "Populism Versus the Left." in Democracy 2, 1981

Boyte, Harry and Frank Riessman, editors, The New Populism (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986).

Fisher, Steven, ed., Fighting Back in Appalachia: Traditions of Resistance and Change (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993).

Goodwyn, Lawrence, The Populist Moment (New York: Oxford, 1978).

Hahn, Steven, The Roots of Southern Populism (New York: Oxford, 1983).

Horowitt, Sanford D., Let Them Call Me Rebel: Saul Alinsky, His Life and Legacy (New York: Knopf, 1989).

Kling, Joseph and Prudence Posner, Dilemmas of Activism: Class, Community and the Politics of Local Mobilization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990).

Lasch, Christopher, The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics (New York: Norton, 1991).

Other Resources

Organizing Training Centers, Projects and Networks

Organizing training can be a useful resource, especially when used in the context of citizen politics. This is a partial listing of organizing training centers and projects in the United States. A few are leadership development centers which provide an introduction to organizing but do not themselves organize. The list was compiled from several sources, including Organizing (the quarterly magazine of the Regional Council of Neighborhood Organizations), Organizing for Social Change, a membership list from the inaugural meeting of the National Organizers Alliance, New York, November 1992, and the research of Anthony Massengale. The chart focuses on organizations emphasize developing indigenous leadership to build power organizations for social justice and change based upon democratic values.

ACORN, Brooklyn, NY

Action for Grassroots Empowerment and Neighborhood Development

Alternatives (AGENDA), Los Angeles, CA

Advocacy Institute, Washington, DC

Applied Research Center, Oakland, CA

ASPIRA (Focuses on Hispanic community), Washington, DC

Center for Community Action, Roxbury, MA

Center for Community Change, Washington, DC

Center for Organizational and Community Development, Amherst, MA

Center for Third World Organizing, Oakland, CA

Central American Labor Defense Network, Oakland, CA

Citizen Action, Chicago, IL

Commonweal, New Haven, CT

Concerned Citizens of South Central, Los Angeles, CA

Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Greenville, SC

Direct Action Training Center, Miami, FL (4 organizations/1 state and Puerto Rico)

Diverse Strategies for Organizing, Los Angeles, CA

Eastern Communities Training Institute, Philadelphia, PA (2 organizations)

Education Center for Community Organizing, New York, NY

The Empowerment Network, Washington, DC

FOCAL, Montgomery, AL

Gamaleiel Foundation, Chicago, IL (6 organizations/5 states)

Grassroots Leadership, Inc., Durham/Charlotte, NC

Great Lakes Institute, Toledo, OH

Highlander Research and Education Center, New Market, TN

Industrial Areas Foundation, New York, NY (network)

Institute for Contemporary Studies, San Francisco, CA

Institute for Nonviolence/Ella Baker Academy, Albany, NY

Institute for Social Justice, Little Rock, AR

Institute on the Church in Urban Industrial Society

Jobs with Peace, Los Angeles, CA, Milwaukee, WI, elsewhere

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Louisville, KY

Maine Leadership Development, Portland, ME

Mid-America Institute, Chicago, IL

Midwest Academy (Citizen Action Network), Chicago, IL

National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, Washington, DC

National Organizers Alliance, New York, NY

National Training and Information Center/National Peoples Action, Chicago, IL (40 state network)

Native Action, Lame Deer, MT

North Austin Neighborhoods, Chicago, IL

Northern Rockies Action Group, Helena, MT

Northwest Austin Council, Chicago, IL

Organize Training Center, San Francisco, CA (5 organizations/3 states)

The Organizing Institute, Pacific Grove, CA

Organizing and Leadership Training Center, Boston, MA

Pacific Institute for Community Organizing (PICO), Oakland, CA ( 7 organizations, 5 states)

Portland Organizing Project (POP), Portland, OR

Regional Council of Neighborhood Organizations, Philadelphia, PA

South Austin Coalition, Chicago, IL

Southern Community Partners, Nashville, TN

Southern Empowerment Project, Seymour, TN

Southwest Organizing Project, Albequerque, NM

Teens A Community Resource (TACS), Portland, OR

Traditional Values Coalition, Anaheim, CA

United Connecticut Action for Neighborhoods, Hartford, CT

Urban Training Institute, San Antonio, TX (2 organizations)

Washington Area Training Center, Washington, DC

Western Organization of Resource Councils, Billings, MT

Western States Center, Portland, OR

Working in Neighborhoods, Cincinnati, OH

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