Jim Diers has been involved with participatory democracy in the Northwest for more than 30 years. Perhaps best known for his 14 years of innovative and visionary work as the director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Diers has a gift for facilitating creative citizen involvement in local governance and community development.
At the invitation of the Kingston Friends of the Library, Diers makes a return visit here to share his wisdom on the subjects of community development and citizen involvement in the Kingston Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6. The event is free.
An engaging and dynamic public speaker, Diers currently teaches for the schools of architecture and social work at the University of Washington, and for the Asset-Based Community Development Institute. In his book “Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way,” he details how Seattle changed as a result of broad-based citizen engagement and empowerment.
In a February interview, Diers talked about community involvement, how to create, maintain and sustain it.
Deirdre Duffy: Kingston, like many small communities, is undergoing growing pains. What advice do you have for folks who want to be involved with making the community a better place, but aren’t sure where to start?
Jim Diers: A good place to start is with what community is. We often use the terms town and community interchangeably. But where a neighborhood – or a town – might describe a geographical area, community is the extent to which we identify with one another. We often hear about economic development – and we are encouraged to try to put ourselves ahead economically – but community is about so much more. Our communities are only sustainable to the extent that we support, care about, and identify with each other. Everything comes back to community.
DD: What might you say to someone who tells you, “People here don’t care about our
community?”
JD: Everyone has an interest, but we don’t give people enough opportunities to get engaged. Instead of actually doing something to make the community better, we offer them meetings. But it’s hard to see results from meetings, and many people are shy, and won’t speak up in them: they’re not comfortable. And we don’t listen enough: everyone is passionate about something. Instead of trying to get people to support your issue, find out what they care about. People want to get involved. They want to make a difference.
DD: What are some of the common mistakes people make when trying to generate community involvement around an issue?
JD: The most common mistake is that we limit our calls. Think about duck hunters – they have different calls for different ducks: loons, mallards, mergansers, and so on. Often in communities, we only call the loons; then we wonder why only loons show up. If you think in these terms, there’s the meeting call – some folks do like meetings. There’s the social call, the desire to create a community center, for example. There’s the volunteer call, people who want to contribute, to give back. And there’s the project call, the folks who want to actually make something, implement it. Using different calls will attract different people. It’s important to use all the calls, to find multiple ways to get people engaged.
DD: What are some of the strategies people can use to facilitate community engagement?
JD: A community’s identity is often the most obvious place to start. Kingston, for example, has a unique history and geography. People have shared experiences. Another strategy involves identifying where the community gathering places are – those locations where you bump into the same people over and over again – and using those to explore ideas and engage people. A third might be identifying vehicles for getting people to work together, such community councils, civic organizations, and neighborhood groups. Identify key networks. Ask yourselves: how do we reach out to those organizations and get them to work together? It’s important to think broadly about this: think about the local skateboarders group, and the seniors who walk together every morning. And then, listen to them: what’s their passion? What do they care about?
DD: How do you maintain community engagement over time? What sustains it?
JD: Everyone has gifts to offer. There are gifts of the head – special knowledge, gifts of the heart – particular passions, and gifts of the hands – special skills. Identify what they are, and help people utilize them. And while this is a cliché, think globally and start small. Having victories is really important. People need concrete and immediate evidence that they are making changes. The more local, the better. For example, if you call a general meeting in Kingston, only a small percentage of people will show up: folks will count on others to go for them. But if you organize a block gathering, neighbors will hold each other accountable. And within your local groups, think beyond the usual categorizations of activities. Instead of organizing a block watch just for crime, ask: how can we support sustainable development? Latch-key kids? Trees? We don’t gain security by locking ourselves up. We gain security by opening ourselves to the community, and to supporting it. Tap the network. Look for strengths that you can build on. The whole idea is to focus on what’s already here, rather than on what is missing.
DD: What other lessons have you learned over the years about community engagement?
JD: It should be fun. Too often civic engagement becomes a burden, a cross to bear, with only a small group of people hanging in there, miserably. These ‘grim determined’ activists, or GD’s, often defeat their own purpose. A colleague of mine often says, “Why have a meeting when you can have a party?” Figure out different ways to come together. Act outside the experience of the target. Figure out another way to make your point. It’s fine to go through channels, but at a certain point just do it. It’s important to realize how much power a community has if they assume it. With that in mind, it’s important to really have the community with you: that’s what it means to get back to democracy. Often at public hearings you’ll find 15 to 20 people whose mouths are much bigger than their constituency. Do the work to build community. And remember to give credit to those who step up and get the work done, including those inside government, many of whom also care very much about communities, or they wouldn’t be doing the work they’re doing.
