Citizen Participation and Empowerment

Chapter Overview Definition of Citizen Participation & Empowerment Description of Citizen activists study Proposition of a sense of community model Research and conceptual issues

Citizen Participation a process in which individuals take part in decision making in the institutions, programs, and environments that affect them (K. Heller et al., 1984, p. 339) Does this sound like your group experience??? Institutions, programs and environments includes work places, health settings such as hospitals or mental health centers, schools etc

What Citizen Participation IS NOT: Volunteering (ie: field trip, nursing home) Social support or mutual help for individual adjustment (ie: alcoholics anonymous) Voting Holding the power to control all decisions Static characteristic of persons or of organizations

What Citizen Participation IS: A process Member input for group decisions Occurs in a diversity of forums Serving on a community coalition to address prevention of ______? Means (technique) or end (value) (ie: mandatory community advisory committees) Competes with economic efficiency

Empowerment & Community Psychology a process, a mechanism by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their affairs (Rappaport, 1987)

Cornell Empowerment Group an intentional, ongoing process centered in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical reflection,, caring, and group participation, through which people lacking an equal share of resources gain greater access to and control over those resources (cited in D.D. Perkings & Zimmerman, 1995, p. 570, and by Rappaport, 1999).

Citizen Participation vs. Empowerment Participation is a behavior involving actively engaging in decision making within a group, or organization, or environment Empowerment is a broader process that includes variables that may lead to citizen participation, accompany it, or result from it

Qualities of Empowerment Multilevel Construct Bottom-Up Perspective: (ie: grassroots organizations) Contextual Differences Process of Empowerment: “not a personality trait” Collective Context: not a solitary process

Contributions and Limitations The process of empowerment may promote ends such as justice, equality, respect for diversity, or sense of community May be used to promote self-advancement without regard for one’s community or for others

Stages, Outcome, & Themes of Psychological Empowerment (Kieffer, 1984) Era of Entry: strong sense of community threatened direct provocation to the self-interest or wider community Era of Advancement: role model,grassroots org., critical awareness Era of Incorporation: integrating learning and experiences into a changing sense of personal identity Era of Commitment: full integration into one’s own life and personal identity

Outcome of Developmental Stages Participatory competence Involves 3 Factors Self perception of having skills for citizen participation Critical understanding of the sociopolitical environment Cultivation of individual and collective resources for community action

Citizen Participation Sense of Community Citizen Participation Empowerment

Elements of Psychological Empowerment Involves cognition, behavioral skills or competence & motivation, commitment to values etc. Develops through the interaction of personality factors and social experiences Critical Awareness Participatory Competence Sustaining Participation and Empowerment

Empowering Community Settings Empowering Settings and Personal Development Group-Based, Strengths-Based Belief System Opportunity Role Structures Peer Social Support Systems Shared, Inspiring Leadership Overall goal is to strengthen the internal sense of community within the setting

Empowering Settings and Community Change Conflict and “Coempowerment” within an organization Activating resources Appreciating interdependencies Inclusive decision making Boundary spanning Benefits of costs participation

Qualities of Empowering Community Settings Group-based, strengths-based belief system Opportunity role structures, participatory niches Peer social support systems Shared, inspiring leadership Coempowerment Coempowerment Activating resources Appreciating interdependencies Inclusive decision making (through citizen participation) Boundary spanning Maximizing benefits, minimizing costs of participation Overarching theme: Sense of community within setting

Benefits and Costs of Participation Dilemmas in Creating empowering Settings Challenges of “Success” Inequalities of Resources Top-Down Empowerment

Figure 12.1 ENVIRONMENT Provocation Citizen Participation Sense of Empowering Setting Provocation Citizen Participation Sense of Community Psychological Empowerment INDIVIDUAL