comments and response -PADM-08

23 May comments and response -PADM-08

Comments: What are some ways public servants can encourage citizen participation? (Add 5)

Response one-PADM-08

Rather than the old ‘New Public Management’ theory that focused on citizens as clients that receive service from the government, the ‘New Public Service’ focusses on making active participants in governance, policy formulation, and implementation. This theory makes much sense because it is based on human behavior attributes like trust, dignity, empathy, citizenship and service, and it calls for the perfection of equity, fairness, empowerment and responsiveness since they are as important as effectiveness and efficiency (Schwalbe, 2016).  Therefore, the NPS is realistic though it is challenging to achieve.

Since the NPS is a system of governance that is based on involving citizens in governance, engaging them should be the greatest thing to consider. How shall the government know how citizens want things to be done if they don’t engage them and get feedback? Whenever NPS has been implemented the major theme has been, “to try to find new and innovative ways to improve citizen engagement and build communities around a framework of shared values and democratic dialogue” (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2007).

Citizen involvement can be largely improved through active engagement of citizens in meaningful and interactive dialogue by politicians and other public service officers. The forums of engagement that have been there are mere jokes. This is because they have been used to collect feedback and opinion from the citizens but the citizens never get any feedback from the other end. For instance, the local governments have tried to get the input of citizens but communication is always one-way (Schwalbe, 2016). The government should also diversify the channels it uses to reach out to the citizens. They should not stick to online platforms only because very few people use these channels (Schwalbe, 2016) Citizen engagement levels can also be boosted by the positive response to their response, not through letters and memos of acknowledgement but through actual implementation and evident changes in service delivery. If a clear way of contributing to service with the public interest at heart and the building of active citizenship, it will not only change the attitude of citizens about work but also their level of engagement in public forums (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2007). Communication, prompt and accurate response to feedback, and evident policy implementation will boost the levels of citizen involvement of local politics.

The government should formulate ways of making citizens know that all the civic affairs concern them. The mentality on citizens that they should only engage in public issues or even engage the national leaders they elected when issues with negative impact to then affect them (Schwalbe, 2016) should be discouraged strongly. It is the responsibility of the leaders to fully embrace and implement the servant leadership that is advocated for in NPS and fully engage the citizens in public issues. It is only when citizens will feel that their input is needed when they will rise to the occasion and take their rightful place in national public issues.

My active participation on politics and issues of governance can only be aroused by active engagement by public officers and politicians. The available forums should be actively used and complemented with more channels that will necessitate healthy dialogue with the public officers. This should be complemented with proper response and practical implementation of the agreed upon issues, which will translate to improved public service delivery.

Part 2:

The part two of this assignment I had no idea what I wanted to do but I know I want to do something that was going to matter. I feel like most officials get thousands of letters a day and honestly I don’t even feel like they’re the ones that read them. So I decided to attend the meeting/workshop. I heard of this program in Philadelphia called the black Women’s Health Alliance. They teach parenting classes, healthy living and relationship classes. They were doing a session on healthy relationships so I decided to attend. So many young girls don’t understand the definition of real love so they are willing to deal with anything. The purpose of this workshop was to teach young girls and men how to have healthy relationships to know what the warning signs are for domestic violence and understand that they don’t have to deal with that to be loved. I myself learned a lot from this workshop. I feel like I’m a little bit more prepared to deal with some of the conversations that needed you have with some of my case load. I plan to look into more Workshop like this the game was skills.

 

References

Denhardt, J. V., & Denhardt, R. B. (2007). The New Public Service: Serving, Not Steering. M.E. Sharpe.

Schwalbe, S. (December 19, 2016). Why Aren’t Citizens More Interested in Local Government? Retrieved from In Homeland Security: https://inhomelandsecurity.com/why-arent-citizens-more-interested-in-local-government/

 Response two-PADM

New public service is not realistic in  ideology but has a realsitc foundation of ideas. Denhardt details that using public, private, and non profit organizations to achieve policy objectives through coalitions instead of using existing agencies or incentivizing private and non profit agencies,is the new way of handling public service. This model relies heavily on the collaboration between public, private, and non profit agencies using various approaches to serve the shared values of citizens (Denhardt, 2015). These core values are realistic but low civic engagement will make it difficult to have a productive dialogue about the shared values of citizens. Even when using the most viable resources for civic engagement, social media, politicians generaly do not respond to citizens and citizens have low turnout at city council meetings (Schwalbe, 2016).

 

Citizen engagement is critical to the dialogue on public interest and the role of the government to serve the community through community shared values. Citizens and the community as a whole are important to public service because they are who is being served. For government to be useful, and to effectively do it role, the citizens must be active and politicans have to make it a priority to participate in the mediums that citizens use to communicate their interests, needs, and values.

 

What variables affect the level of citizen involvement in local politics?

There is a growing youth and young voter population that does not use traditional methods of communications and the demographics of politicians is not reflective of the voter demographics. The newer age voters mobilize and communicate heavily through social media, with two of the largest social mobilizations in the last ten years being organized online (Kahne, et. al 2016). Politicians can use these social  media outlets to genuinely engage with citizens. Some social media platforms allows users to post

 

I would be more interested in becoming active in local politics if I felt that legislators cared deeply about things that I value or that they were interested in making a difference in a meaningful way. I find that politicians are not easily accessible in the way that you can speak to the manager of a store upon request and that deters myself and those I know from bothering to try. I understand that they wont know my name or even know my neighborhood by name but I do believe greater efforts could be made to connect with constituents outside of timed social media posts.

 

As a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated , a sorority rooted in service, I spend a lot of time planning and participating in public service initiatives. Every February, the sorority acknowledges “Go Red for Women”, a movement by the American Heart Association that highlights and promotes an end to heart disease and stroke in women. This past Saturday an alumnae chapter hosted its annual Go Red initiative that had zuumba instructors, blood pressure tests, a chef showing healthy meal recipes, and information on preventative measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of incidence of heart disease. I had the pleasure of attending and interacting with different women about their health interests and personal concerns. It gave me a chance to connect with different people of all ages, as young as seven years old, and listen to what they thought of our event and what other things they would like to see done.

 

References

Denhardt, J. V., & Denhardt, R. B. (2015). The new public service: serving, not steering. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Kahne, J., Hodgin, E., & Eidman-Aadahl, E. (2016). Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of Democratic Engagement. Theory & Research in Social Education, 44(1), 1-35. doi:10.1080/00933104.2015.1132646

Schwalbe, S. (2016, December 20). Why Aren’t Citizens More Interested in Local Government? Retrieved February 21, 2018, from https://inhomelandsecurity.com/why-arent-citizens-more-interested-in-local-government/

Response three PADM-08

I believe that New Public Service is an idealistic goal to obtain, however, not every citizen will want to participate in their local government and play a part in the decision-making process. In addition to increasing citizen engagement, the public will also have to be willing to collaborate, not only together, but with their public administrators as well. A few solutions that Denhardt and Denhardt (2015) suggest are utilizing citizen surveys, sharing information with small groups, utilizing social media as an interactive tool, engaging existing homeowners and neighborhood associations, and creating more organizations that facilitate collaboration and participation. The implementation of such changes does make New Public Service a realistic option, although, much would have to change in order for it to be successful.

As previously stated, citizen engagement is a current issue that we should be paying attention to in our local governments. As Dr. Schwalbe (2016) stated, most citizens have great difficulty finding the time to dedicate towards their local governments, especially if topics are being addressed that they have little to no interest in. The increase use of online web pages and social media accounts were established in order to create more a convenient means for citizens to communicate with their governments, however, this means of communication has mostly been found to be ineffective. Unfortunately, the citizens who use these tools to voice questions and concerns, generally go unacknowledged. This is a major issue that public administrators should be addressing at the local level (Schwalbe, 2016).

Current technological advancements, and the introduction of smart phones, is one variable that certainly affects citizen involvement in local government. An increase in the utilization of the internet, and social media, has the ability to increase citizen engagement. We can do everything with our smart phones, from paying bills, to answering emails, so why not include the ability to participate in local government as well? This ties into the convenience variable as well. An increase in convenience for all citizens to engage in their local government has the ability to increase participation immensely. This can be improved with the increased use of online forums and local neighborhood organizations. By allowing citizens to participate in the decision-making process from the comfort of their own homes, or local neighborhoods, the government has a better chance of increasing engagement due to the lack of inconvenience it will cause their participants. Lastly, citizens need to feel that they are being heard by their local governments. Participants will quickly get discouraged if they feel that the time and effort they are putting into their local government is going unnoticed. Public administrators must address the concerns of the public if they are to hope for more citizen engagement in the future (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).

Unfortunately, I have not been as active in local government, as I had been in the past, for a few reasons, such as long hours at work, and more recently, moving overseas. Up until a few years ago I tried my best to remain actively involved in governmental processes, voted as often as I could, and called city hall with concerns that I had about various local issues. When I was still living in the states I definitely began to feel unmotivated to participate in local issues. I felt that my voice was no really being heard, and with the increase in my work responsibilities, I justified not being as active in my local government as I used to be. To me, an increase in communication, and more acknowledgment from my local government, would have made a huge difference in keeping me actively participating.

As I am technically still a New York State resident, I have chosen to reach out to New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer, about the recent opioid crisis that has been plaguing communities, such as Westchester county, which is where I am originally from. Senator Schumer recently visited Westchester county earlier this year, to discuss how he plans to secure more funds to aid in the fight against this epidemic. I emailed the Senator via his website, at www.schumer.senate.gov, asking how he plans to access these additional funds for Westchester county. I should hear back from the Senator, or one of his staff, but have yet to hear back yet (U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York).

 

References

Denhardt, J. V., & Denhardt, R. B. (2015). The new public service: serving, not steering. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Schwalbe, Dr. S. (2016, December 20). Why Aren’t Citizens More Interested in Local Government? Retrieved February 20, 2018, from https://inhomelandsecurity.com/why-arent-citizens-more-interested-in-local-government/

“U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.” Home | U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, www.schumer.senate.gov/

Response four-PADM-08

It seems that over the past decade or so, public administration has veered away from NPM toward New Public Value (NPV) or Service (NPS). NPS advocates that fairness, equity, responsiveness, and empowerment are as important as efficiency and effectiveness when making public policy. The key ideas of NPS include serving citizens and not customers; valuing citizenship over entrepreneurship; serving rather than steering; and, valuing people and not just their productivity.

The New Public Service approach is a positive movement because it aims to enhance public value and strengthen American democracy. It aims for citizens to be co-creators of public value by encouraging the public to play a significant role in policy development and decision-making process (Dahl & Soss, 2014, p.497). It allows citizens, elected officials and the public servants a platform to working together to enhance their relationship, make better policies and decision-making toward the best interest of the public.

Public servants actions on expanding their boundaries can have tremendous benefits for citizens. Public servants can be very efficient at solving problems and improve the relationship between them and the citizens. Public servants also need to know they are citizens first and public servants second. By being citizens first public servants can serve their communities better because they will know that it is an obligation to do everything possible to benefit the citizens and not themselves. Public servants voted into particular positions are expected to uphold the duties they have been entrusted to uphold and it is their obligation to help lead a community.

Government is about people. In a simple form, government is really the agreement by people to come together for the sake of a common good. They join resources in order to better manage their affairs as a community – and that community is scalable from the smallest towns to the largest nations. According to Slingerland (2015) it has been long understood by some that true power and value does not come from trying steer matters in the direction of their choosing rather, “one should opt to be open-minded to the world, and that will help dictate the way they need to choose”. Denhardt and Denhardt (2015) propose an interesting concept in the regard that “public servants have an ethical obligation to extend the boundaries of public participation in the political process in whatever way they can” (Denhardt, 2015, p. 57).  To extend the boundaries of public participation, first, the public servant first has a responsibility to reach out to citizens to encourage willful participation.

In my opinion I do agree with Denhardt and Denhardt that any public servant has an ethical obligation to expand their limit of public participation. I currently volunteer at my local VA clinic in Bakersfield, CA as driver to transport veterans to their appointments in Los Angeles, CA because some are not able to drive or cannot afford to drive themselves to the main clinic. As a veteran I feel obligated to serve to my fellow veterans and serve my community. Volunteering allows me to enhance my relationship with veterans and at the same time creates an additional platform to enhance the interest of the public to non-profit organizations. I also have volunteered in Army communities as soccer and baseball coach for their youth sports programs.

Without a doubt public service is an extension of citizenship. Public servants should be motivated and have a desire to make a difference. Public servants should be motivated to improve the lives of others. Public servants should be motivated to do something meaningful with their own lives, and lastly public servants should be motivated to do something significant.

References:

Dahl, A., & Soss, J. (2014). Neoliberalism for the common good? Public value governance and the downsizing of democracy. Public Administration Review, 74(4), 496-504. Doi: 10.1111/puar.12191

Denhardt, J. & Denhardt, R. (2015). The New Public Service: Serving, not Steering (4th ed). New York: Routledge.

Slingerland, E. (2015).  Trying not to Try: Ancient China, modern science, and the power of Spontaneity.  Broadway Books: New York

Alex Zavala