Listening Session with Obama’s Open Government Initiative

A meeting was convened by Beth Noveck, the new director of the White House open government initiative. Participants included members from Demos, the Personal Democracy Forum, the Cato Institute, AmericaSpeaks, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, IAP2, the Partnership for Public Service, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), the National Civic League, the League of Women Voters and the National Academy of Public Administration all had representatives there.

Beth Novak said:

We’re looking at how we can create a “21st century government.” We’re interested in what we (the administration) can do for civic engagement organizations, and what “we can do for each other.” It’s important to figure out what we can do together, because we have a huge agenda, and not enough time, money or staff. “So you have to help.” The open governance initiative will soon have a public website where you can submit information to us. We’ve started an interagency discussion process already.

We are approaching this challenge from different angles:

1. Policy / legislative agenda
2. Technical issues like identity management (sign-ons on government websites, usability issues)
3. Cultural issues, like getting people comfortable with a participatory agenda, with participation earlier in the decision-making process
4. Implementation issues. Science advisory boards are an example of an older model that has been replicated widely. “What are the new models of participation?” And how can we best achieve them?
5. Accessibility - regarding both online participation as well as offline

In other news, there was money for AmeriCorps in the stimulus package, and the GIVE Act (HR 1388) has made its way through the House. According to Peter Levine, this is the equivalent of the Senate's Kennedy-Hatch Serve America Act. It would dramatically enhance the quality and quantity of service opportunities and would direct federally-funded service toward three major social objectives: carbon reduction, health care, and high school dropout prevention.

Peter Levine thinks other important planks should include:

• National (and also local) discussions of issues that involve recruited citizens who represent the population as a whole.
• Training programs and conferences that help federal civil servants to collaborate day-to-day with community-based groups.
• Changes in key federal policies such as the Federal Advisory Committee Act to encourage and improve events like public hearings.
• Grants programs within the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, and the National Science Foundation that promote citizen work.
• Greater focus on the acquisition of civic skills in the US Department of Education and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (lately known as NCLB).