July 12 (Learning Webinar) NAC Encore - Innovations In Climate Community Engagement

What would it take to build the public support required to transform the global economy and reach net-zero emissions by mid-century? How can governments move past the polarization, misinformation and unrealistic public expectations that prevent them from accelerating climate action?

From Denmark to the United Kingdom, countries are opting for co-creating solutions with citizens’ assemblies and building consensus, rather than continuing polarizing debate. Other communities around the world are experimenting with green participatory budgeting, co-creating climate resilience programming and increasing public confidence in climate action by putting residents at the center of decision-making.

In this reprise of their popular session from the 2021 IAP2 North American Virtual Conference, Elodie Jacquet and Robin Prest of the Simon Fraser University's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and the International Climate Engagement Consortium will explore how engagement can scale to create the rapid and sustainable responses. 

You will have an opportunity to review case studies and reflect on the challenges and opportunities in your own practice.

July 19 (Bonus Webinar) -  NAC Encore - Civic Engagement 3.0: Making Public Participation Powerful and Sexy

Public meetings reinforce existing power structures where white men tend to dominate. In Western culture, men are the authoritative voice because when they speak, people listen. A 2018 Boston University study confirmed that those who engage in public meetings are older, male, whiter and wealthier than the rest of the community. Why does this matter? Because whole groups of people can feel marginalized from the process, leaving decision makers to cater to 'stakeholders' who are much narrower and homogenous in their views and interests. This can lead to further disenfranchisement because those groups continue to feel invisible or unrepresented. This vicious cycle can be turned into a virtuous circle by transforming the traditional public meeting. But first, we'll take a deep dive into the history of the public meeting, and how it was never meant be equitable or democratic.

Speaker: Nancy Pearson, Founder & Chief Transformation Officer at Mind the Gap

Nancy Pearson is a Ph.D. candidate at Saybrook University looking for participants for a qualitative academic study. Her research focuses on the disruption to municipal public meetings caused by the 2020 government shutdown, and she is conducting an academic study in the fall that asks: How can innovation disrupt the rituals of public meetings and transform deep-rooted challenges into opportunities? Study participants will engage in an online survey and a semi-structured interview with Nancy via Zoom. 

If you are interested in participating in this qualitative study, please contact Nancy Pearson at nancy.pearson@mindthegapnation.com with the subject Study Participant.

Webinar Recordings -  Available free to Members On-Demand