E-Democracy.org – Project Blog

This past Sunday members of the E-Democracy Team spent the day tabling and doing outreach at the Hmong American Day event at the Lao Family Community Center in St. Paul. The first part of the day was a memorial service and program dedicated to the Hmong cultural history and the secret war in Laos. The second part of the day was an Open Mic Night with performances from mostly-Hmong youth (and even some members of the E-Democracy team).

There are dozens of upcoming events coming up this summer: fairs, fests, and farmer’s markets. E-Democracy team members are going to be at as many of them as we can, so look out for us! But, as we begin the organizing for our summer outreach plan, there’s a few things you can do to help! Check it out:

1) If you’ve got a neighborhood event coming up, post it on the forums and let people know!
2) If you’ve got an event coming up and you want E-Democracy there to talk how how great a resource and meeting space the forums are and how we can work with you, let your neighborhood forum volunteer, forum engagement leader, or me (Cirien Saadeh) (at ) know! Make sure to include the whens, wheres, whats, and contact information.

Also, please check out some of the photos and video from the Hmong American Day Open Mic Night below!

I had never heard of the term “civic hacking” before this past weekend. I had always considered “hackers” to be those breaking into things on the Internet. I had never considered that civic hackers are just individuals who help make this country’s democracy more open and more impactful. As a new member of the E-Democracy staff team, I spent the weekend with over 600 hundred other journalists, coders, advocates, and civic hackers at Transparency Camp 2013, discussing the ways that organizations like E-Democracy can help build a better country.

Transparency Camp 2013 is an unconference hosted by the Sunlight Foundation, an organization that aims to make government more transparent and accountable. At Camp, participants gather to talk about ways in which we can work to make policies and software that bring transparency to government and engage citizens in government decision-making processes.

Session photo

So what does transparency and open government have to do with inclusive community building? In short: everything. Longer: the work needed to create more inclusive communities means knowing what all the pieces on the board look like. Whether you be advocate, journalist, or citizen, understanding what is going on with the government, who is making decisions, and what decisions are being made are key to understanding how we build better communities together. If anything Transparency Camp 2013 taught me that there are questions everyone should be considering: what do you want from your community, what are your thoughts on how to keep building a “more perfect union,” and what are you going to do about it?”

As a student of issues related to transparency, the most thrilling experience this week was the dozens of different workforces and countries represented and that no matter their work, we all had the same goal. Because I am trained as an organizer, however, I want to keep calling on all these fantastic organizations to continue hiring and training individuals and groups from marginalized communities to do this work. The future of civic hacking, the future of open and transparent government, belongs to every community and every voice.

I made sure to assign some homework to myself as I left Transparency Camp. I had to, I had so many ideas on projects to research and build and conversations to have that I needed to organize my work right away. My homework goals for coming weeks:

1) Researching the concept of civic hackathons and the ways I ways I can be active in the “National Day of Hacking” occurring in Minnesota on June 1st and June 2nd

2) Creating a research plan that provides transparency on issues related to food policy here in Minneapolis-St. Paul and then sending that information out into the world. (This is an issue in which I am personally involved and passionate about.)

3) Researching and presenting information to the E-Democracy community on the ways that they can participate in the work for a transparent and open government.

Expect to hear more about both these things and ways that you can participate in the coming weeks.

For those of you who are interested in learning more about the work that occurred at Transparency Camp 2013, check out some of these great organizations and projects below:

1) ElectNext, a political platform that is working to provide transparency on candidates, organizations, and legislation by analyzing political data available online. Check out their Digital Political Baseball Card program on their website, https://electnext.com/

2) CivicMedia: Check their website out to study the was that data can be used to support advocacy campaigns and story-telling: http://civicmedia.info/guide/

3) Reconstitutional Convention’s “Governance Future Lab,” which is bringing together social inventors to design “better systems of governance.” http://reconcon.govfutures.org/

4) MapLight, this organization studies the impact of money on politics, providing a database to analyze campaign contributions and voting records, http://maplight.org

5) National Day of Hacking, http://hackforchange.org/

For now, I urge you to check back here for more posts related to Transparency Camp 2013 and please, more importantly, keep thinking of new ways we can work together to build stronger and more inclusive communities.

Group Photo-TCamp13

Discuss report on Twitter #pewCivic  - Discuss report on Facebook
Discuss report on LinkedIn - Join E-Democracy’s Project Group

The new must-read Civic Engagement in the Digital Age study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project makes it clear to me:

Those who already show up in political life continue to dominate online – it is ”politics as usual” for most even if empowering a few. Closing this digital civic engagement divide is a challenge for our generation to solve.

Every few years, like their Neighbors Online report, the Pew Internet and American Life project releases game changing numbers that help us re-calibrate our priorities and investments to build civic and democratic good.

Quick Numbers

After many hours of pouring through the report, these are the numbers that stood out to me.

Good: 49% of all adults participated in online “civic communication” and/or are a “political social networking site” user in 2012

10% only did online “civic communication” (34% total)

16% only were political sns users (39% total)

23% did both

More on the political sns users below – Report author Aaron Smith sent us the breakdown above and other tidbits which are not detailed in the main report.

Bad: Huge online civic communication gap based on income - Households over 75K at 47%+, 20K to under 30K only 24% – Almost half the participation rate participating civically online, report shows huge education gaps as well

Really Bad: Whites 38% compared to Blacks at 23% and Latinos at 17% – Action oriented online civic communication helps citizens have a voice, power, and influence in democracy

Bad Foundation: For offline “civic communication” Whites 43%, Blacks 31%, Latinos 26% - Survey does find better Black – White racial equity with direct involvement in offline civic groups/activities. It is essential to point out that many differences in race are more related to income and education levels than anything else – but the impact is that same, important voices are not being heard.

Clift Notes: Everything about the Internet, from raising voices to organizing to information access to convenience, makes it a great equalizer for democratic participation. Today with far greater minority access to the Internet, why is the civic communication gap larger online than offline?

The online gap based on race is 3% larger for Blacks and 4% for Latinos.

What is it about the design, technical assumptions, perceived relevancy, marketing, and inclusive outreach with online civic engagement that is not working make democracy stronger and more equitable? Why are the clear democratic benefits of the digital age not leading to a more representative and participatory democracy for all? If we seek to engage not just more people from a small pool of the most educated and wealthier citizens, but instead want this digital opportunity to provide more democratic opportunity for all, we are going in the wrong direction.

Promising: 44% of 18-24 year olds do online “civic communication” compared to 38% offline; 38% of those 25-34 also engage online with 33% engaging offline – Compared to 34% online and 39% offline among all adults. On the other hand as you go up in age, the online “civic communication” divide becomes a real problem (if you agree that online engagement is crucial for the will of the people to be heard in the halls of power)

Noted: Net users signing an online petition in 2012: 20%, 19% in 2008 – WhiteHouse.gov e-petitions and sites like Change.org are still relevant

Noted: Online donors up 9% from 30% in 2008 to 39% in 2012, but political donors overall drop 2% to 16% of adults

Bad: In 2008 25% of Internet users contacted a government official about an issue via email in – Dropped to 20% in 2012 even with texting added to email as an option

Bad: 10% in 2008, dropped by half to 5% of Internet or text message users having sent a “letter to the editor” to a newspaper or magazine online, by email, or by text message in 2012

Very Good: 2012 survey explored many new questions for social networking site users – 60% of all U.S. adults use a social networking platform AND 39% of adults are considered “political social networking site users.”  That is up from 26% adults in 2008 who “took part in some sort of political activity” on a social network. (Considering the overall growth in Facebook and Twitter, the growth isn’t so dramatic.

In 2008, 11% of SNS users (not adults overall) posted political news. In 2012, 28% posted links to political stories and 33% said that they reposted other types of political content on SNS’s.

In 2008, 12% of SNS users had friended a political candidate. In 2012, 20% of users said that they have friended or followed a candidate or similar political figure.

In 2008, of SNS users 13% started or joined a group on a social networking site organized around political or social issues. By 2012, it rose to 21%.

Clift Notes: More private life but political social networking may be displacing contacting elected officials directly and sending letters to the editor. Very interestingly political sns users at 39% outnumber the 34% who engaged in online “civic communications.” (with 23% doing both). That leads to the question – are the 16% of adults who are only engaging as political sns users more or less having private political discussions with trusted friends and family or are they also seeking to take action in “public life.” My take – it is good that more people talk politics, but if you want to make change it has to also extend to taking action in expressly public life situations. Getting your political opinions off your chest among your friends is not the same as sharing our desires with our community or the representatives and governments who spend our tax money and pass laws that govern us.

Good: In terms of racial online engagement equity of the 39% overall, 40% of Whites are political SNS users, 37% of Blacks, and 31% of Latinos

Not Good: If you want reach older Americans, while 67% of those 18-24 are political sns users, only 24% of 55-64 and 13% of 65+ are engaged that way

Clift Notes: Online group communication is a powerful catalyst for democracy – the freedom of assembly is what makes authoritarian governments nervous because that gives speech an audience where people become motivated to take action. I believe what I said in 1998 more than ever, “The most democratizing aspect of the Internet is the ability for people to organize and communicate in groups.”

Groups take you from more private missives on “your wall” (Facebook status updates on your timeline or whatever it is called this month) or email chain letters into a group commitment.  Be that a Facebook Group or becoming a Twitter hashtag “regular” or joining a trusty email list you’ve joined in. That 21% number of SNS users who started or joined an online group is hugely positive.

Very Good: In 2012, 43% of SNS users decided to learn more about a political or social issue and 18% took action involving a political or social issue based on that they read on those sites

Not as Bad: The racial gap in “learning” about issues is less here than in other areas – the 43% breaks down to 46% of Whites, 38% of Blacks, and 34% of Latinos

Really Bad: Taking action based on SNS “learning” drops almost in half from 20% for Whites and 12% for Blacks and 11% for Latino

Clift Notes: Addressing this democratic digital divide on taking action may be the biggest opportunity for investment with technology for engagement. A past Pew Government Online study from 2010 found similar divides except that African-Americans and Latinos were twice as positive about saying it is “very important” for government agencies to post information and alerts on social networks (Whites 17%, Blacks 31%, Latino 33%).

This parallels input from our inclusive forum engagement team members on the importance of Facebook for trusted connections and bonds within their ethnic community. We often hear disdain from our Somali and Hmong friends about public online newspaper commenting where vitriol and “immigrants go home” comments abound. They speak about the relative feeling of more safety and trust with people they know in their communities via mostly private Facebook connections. As our BeNeighbors.org neighbors forums are an independent micro social network with very public and integrationist online approach, these numbers suggest an opportunity to adapt our model, share our lessons, and seek to further integrate our expressly public life take action approach with Facebook beyond simple feeds to Pages. The challenge you need to help us with is how to then also maintain the engagement of older citizens.

Email Still King: At least in terms of how people are asked to take a civic action – 31% via email versus 16% on a social networking site and 5% via texting. The eNonProfit Benchmark study will tell you why.

Silver lining? The demographics of folks who have political discussions online in general and offline are far more racially equitable. We can build on that.

Also in terms of equity, Whites, Blacks, and Latinos are statistically identical at 11, 10, and 9% with posting pictures or videos online related to political/social issues

8% of all adults or 17% of political SNS users are only politically involved online and not offline nor other places online – the demographics are lower income, younger, and less educated – Might this be a gateway activity to bring new people into civic and political life online and off (I am digging into the data to better understand more about this 8% of adults)

Extended Commentary

Going back to my statement from over a decade ago, “Where we end up in forty years will be based on our democratic intent and the actions we take, or the Internet despite its positive potential, will expand the democratic divide not close it.”

So with two decades dominated by:

• Dramatic spikes in online election campaign activity (I wonder what a 2013 survey might disclose with online politics for example)
• The continuous roar of red meat online advocacy, and
• Divided government which often blames too many angry emails from partisan constituents as among the reasons they can’t compromise

… is it no wonder the awesome potential of the Internet to raise new and significantly more diverse voices in our democracy has not been met?

How do we better leverage our amazing ability to access government information on-demand and share more relevant knowledge to actually improve the outcomes of democratic governance?

Should you give up? No. Do we give up? Heck no.

For those of us experiencing the “positive potential” here and now, we have an obligation to share this experience with all people.

We must share it, extend it, build it, improve it, continue to innovate and experiment if we truly believe in a democracy of, for, and by the people.

With “open government” and civic technology “open to all” in theory but in reality reaching only a narrowcast some, we must dedicate ourselves to aggressively sharing democracy online with ALL. We must work to make it far more relevant to less represented groups in society. If we don’t, our investments of time, energy, and passion will further empower the empowered and unintentionally deepen our civic and democratic divides. Digital civic engagement dominated by the most partisan or well off, no matter your political leans, is bad for our nation.

Stepping off my soapbox, I’ve put together some more questions spurred by the excellent PewInternet.org report to frame our reflections and debate in the coming years:

 1. Why invest in open government, online community engagement, or seek to improve democracy generally with civic technology and information if they do not appear to be an agent for greater public participation by new people or missing voices?

 One might acquiesce and say, digital politics is just a new battlefield for those in power and those who want it to fight it out. It is their playground and simply not of interest to most people – particularly less represented communities. One might say, equity aside, with greater access to information and elected officials, better public decisions are being made. Of course, I do not believe this. Open government investments without active inclusion strategies and dedicated outreach resources may be contributing more the democratic divide than providing solutions. That is the wake up call from this Pew report.

 2. What are the greatest gaps in online political participation and what more can we determine from the report data about those gaps?

 3. What areas of online activity show some evidence of more equitable participation across income, education, and race (… for example are certain people of color such as those under 30, higher income, or better educated participating more online than in-person and working to raise less heard voices)?

 These next two questions suggest that digital engagement should and can be shaped to raise new voices and build a better democracy. These questions suggest we look first to find the largest gaps in participation to identify where we should target our scarce digital engagement resources in order to make the greatest gains. Second, we can sort through the data and see where there are spikes of promise and areas of least resistance to move us away from the status quo democratic divide.

As noted above, looking at the report numbers in terms of race and political social networking users, there is greater equity with discussion and learning, but almost a 2 to 1 divide between White and African-American/Latinos (20% v. 12/11%) social networking users on taking action based on what was learned online. That is one huge gap to close with efforts that build on some of the most promising equity in the report.

Four more big questions are missing from this debate:

 5. For whom is online engagement an entry-level form of political participation that can then be shape to lead to a broader base of traditional as well as sustained online political engagement? (Can we break the ice online more cost-effectively than other interventions?)

This section on page 11 of the report is a huge opportunity to explore in terms of promoting greater democratic engagement:

“17% of political SNS users — representing 8% of the total adult population — engage in political activity on social networking sites but in no other online or offline venues. Demographically, this ‘politically active on social networking sites but not elsewhere’ group tends to be younger, less affluent, and less well-educated than the larger group that participates politically on social networking spaces and also other venues.  (Page 11)”

 6. Can we find evidence on which online features, content, or interventions lead to greater engagement by less represented groups?

 7. On its current track, if we leave online political engagement for the higher income highly educated folks, will the online-generated amplification effect or power concentration impacts make things even worse in terms of the distribution of power and government resources?

 8. Will the positive civic results from those who have “Worked with fellow citizens to solve a problem in your community” offline or online be concentrated in better off areas or is there an opportunity to use online engagement as an accelerator or multiplier to help lower income and very diverse communities solve more community problems together?

 I confess. As someone who has both experienced the fundamentally empowering impact of online group communication, timely and personalized access to government information and decision-makers, and having spent two decades working to shape “e-democracy” so new voices can be heard and more people can help meet public challenges, I am quite biased.

As E-Democracy.org (the world’s first election web site in 1994) has gone deep with inclusive community engagement online with major support from the Knight Foundation building on pilot support from the Ford Foundation, we’ve focused our funded work on lower income, racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods and immigrant communities.

We serve all kinds of communities with public Neighbors Forums (our additional all volunteer efforts are clearly stronger in middle income areas) and reach up to 25% of households ~daily by mixing practical community life exchange with open and civil dialogue on very local public issues. We’ve officially partnered with the City of St. Paul based on their expressed interest in connecting with and hearing from diverse voices not just those who already show up. Our view is that digital engagement, if done right (including major in-person outreach) is one of the most effective ways to make up the gap in overall political participation and community engagement.

So as you read the Pew report, I encourage you to ask what you can do to change the status quo with civic engagement online and work to extend what works with greater more democratic participation online in your own neighborhood, city, state, and nation. Let’s use the power of the Internet to make real democratic change to truly reach new people, raises diverse voices, and ultimately improves the lives everyone around us.

Join our 2013 “BeNeighbors” Community Outreach Team! – APPLY BY MAY 8!

We are deepening our Knight grant-funded inclusion campaign to grow our St. Paul forums with the greatest diversity possible to over 10,000 members. We’re also planning fundraising to include Minneapolis and other communities in future years.

• Do you care passionately about building inclusive community?
• Do you believe commitment to diversity is an important institutional value?
• Do you want to be part of raising diverse voices?

If so, consider applying for one of 5 part-time, contract outreach positions. These new outreach staff will work both individually and with a team to recruit members for our neighborhood forums primarily among African-American, Southeast Asian, African immigrant, and Latino communities.

Location: Saint Paul with some travel in the Metropolitan Area

Description: Work as part of a team to develop and carry out diverse community outreach. Tasks are likely to include tabling at community events and venues (including outdoor events in sometimes inclement weather), interacting with attendees and/or presenting at neighborhood meetings and events, door knocking and posting flyers, and conducting face-to-face, phone, and online recruitment. The team goal for the summer is to recruit 2,000 new members to the Saint Paul neighborhood forums by focusing efforts on our most highly diverse, low income neighborhoods. Imagine the possibilities for empowering all voices!

Your outreach efforts will be supported by initial training, weekly team debriefs, coordinated outreach strategies and activities, and shared lessons in inclusive outreach and digital technologies. You will also work closely with other E-Democracy staff, contractors and volunteers to develop, refine, and further the goals of the inclusive outreach campaign.

Time Commitment: 12 weeks from late-May through mid-August 2013. Contractors will work 10-20 hours per week and must be flexible, reliable, and able to work mostly late afternoons, evenings, and weekends, sometimes with short notice.

Rate: $12.50/hour. As an independent contractor, you are responsible for all of your own Federal, State, Social Security taxes, and any insurance you choose to carry.

Requirements:

• Passionate and enthusiastic; positive outlook and willing to lead. Inspires other contractors and volunteers to do high-quality organizing and outreach work
• Proven ability to work as part of a team. Willing to pitch in to help others with day-to-day project tasks (event logistics, preparing/delivering materials, record-keeping, data entry, etc.).
• Excellent personal accountability and follow through. Can meet deadlines and manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced work environment; highly flexible and able to handle high-stress situations. Highly self motivated, self directed, and organized.
• Effective communicator.  Values and fosters open communication; uses and understands the importance of active listening skills, and is an effective public speaker with above-average English-language writing skills.
• Detail oriented and respectfully work with volunteers
• Willing to learn and values self-improvement. Able to accept and offer praise and critical feedback; seeks and offers feedback and evaluation.
• Reliably and consistently available via email and mobile phone
• Must have reliable transportation to anywhere in the Twin Cities, including ability to haul materials for events and activities

Desired Qualifications and Experience

We are looking for exceptional people who may have talents in the following:

• Experience or training in leadership development, multicultural outreach and communications, political science, online civic engagement, digital technologies or other related fields
• Field outreach or organizing in diverse communities (tabling, door knocking, etc.)
• Bilingual in Hmong, Spanish, Somali,Ethiopian, Burmese, Oromo, etc. (Not required.)
• Deep connections to the targeted communities in Saint Paul, including involvement in neighborhood/community organizations
• Proficient with Google Apps, social media, and digital video devices

How to apply: Send a cover letter describing your qualifications and how you heard about the position. Also, attach your resume with three references to by Wednesday, May 8, 2013. We will make the final decision shortly thereafter. Use the subject line: Community Outreach Leader Application. Include any questions in your email. No calls please. For more information, about this effort, please our website, and click on both “Blog” and “About”.

If you see this posting late, check here to see if the position is still open.

E-Democracy builds online public space in the heart of real democracy and community. Our mission is to harness the power of online tools to support participation in public life, strengthen communities, and build democracy.

Join us on April 10 at 1:45 p.m. at our session at the Minnesota Non-Profit Technology and Communications Conference. It is the day before our Happy Hour after the opening of the national non-profit technology conference.

Inclusive Online Engagement: Diverse Voices, Immigrant Integration and Open Local Communities

Let’s get real about inclusive online community engagement. From online neighborhood communities in low income areas to the use of social media by immigrants to connecting digital inclusion that raises voices and builds bridges across diverse populations, this panel will explore what works and lessons learned. The session will start with E-Democracy’s well funded BeNeighbors.org highly inclusive outreach effort to engage 10,000 participants daily across St. Paul’s network of Neighbors Forums. The panel will include leaders of grassroots efforts using social media with diverse communities and other BeNeighbors.org partners.

Corrine Bruning, outreach coordinator, and Steven Clift, executive director, E-Democracy.org; and Julia Opoti, host, Reflections of New Minnesotans, AM950

In addition to Julia developing her own slides, we will be adapting these slides for this session:

Minnesota’s non-profit tech community (they hang out here) is mixing it up with #nptech leaders from around the United States and beyond in our home base of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

We’ve organized a happy hour for folks from the Twin Cities interested in digital engagement and inclusion to mix it up with national folks involved with similar issues. (See the Eventbrite site for RSVPs thus far.)

Join Us! RSVP Here

Join national and local supporters of inclusive digital engagement along side the national Nonprofit Technology  Conference in Minneapolis at this unofficial rogue networking event.

This is a great opportunity for local community members and conference attendees interested in digital inclusion, online community engagement, online neighbor connecting and immigrant intergation with local social media to mix it up.

• Who: NTC Attendees, local digital inclusion/engagement buffs, local E-Democracy/BeNeighbors.org participants (and folks working to build the world’s most inclusive local online community engagement effort starting in St. Paul)
• What: Happy Hour, Great Conversation
• When: 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Officially, we can linger.), Thursday, Apr. 11Their official happy hour prices go until 7:00 p.m.. Beer/wine starts at $3, Special appetizer prices (they are famous for gourmet meat balls).
• Where: Devil’s Advocate Bar (half block from Mpls Downtown Hilton)
• RSVP: Via Eventbrite. Please RSVP so we know who to expect (room capacity is 60).
• SPONSORS:  YOU! Free to attend. Cash bar/food.However, if your organization wants to chip in toward free food to share, contact E-Democracy with the amount and we will be sure to give you a nice public thank you at the event!

DEVELOP YOUR THIRST FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION

Prior to the Digital Engagement Meatballs Happy Hour, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Hilton (the NTC Conference Hotel), there is a gathering of community technology advocates hosted by the Technology Literacy Collaborative (Twin Cities) and the Community Technology Network (San Francisco) called Building Bridges that Span the Digital Divide.

It is open to local non-conference attendees as well. So, go there first and then join the party after just one minute down the street.

MORE LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES

Our friends with MAP TechWorks are also organizing a happy hour on Friday, April 12. Check it out.

Last summer Dan Gordon of our summer outreach team wrote this article on BeNeighbors/E-Democracy for La Prensa. Below is the article in Spanish (on La Prensa) and below also in English. Note our BeNeighbors information page in Spanish.

On a related note, we seek Spanish speaking volunteers as well as candidates for our current Latino forum engagement position. In the Summer of 2013, we will have additional outreach positions.

E-Democracy es una organización con una meta sencilla: crear un espacio en el Internet donde cada barrio puede tener su propio voz, sin costo. Fundado en 1994, hemos crecido poco a poco con la ayuda de donaciones, becas, y voluntarios.

Ya tenemos más de 40 foros sobre Minneapolis y St. Paul, con más de 15,000 vecinos participando. Cada foro es un lugar para discutir cualquier asunto que se aplica a la comunidad. Ahora mismo la mayoría de la conversación es en Inglés, por nos gustaríamos que hay comentarios en Español y cada otro idioma hablado en el barrio. Algunos han tenido éxito en usarlo para encontrar una mascota perdida, otros para anunciar que hay un negocio local nuevo que viene al barrio, y otros para discutir la delincuencia y maneras para combatirlo con otros vecinos.

Somos “E-Democracy” porque creemos que la verdadera “democracia” tiene que empezar con encontrando soluciones locales a los asuntos que todos enfrentamos como vecinos. Por la primera vez, gracias a una beca de la Fundación Knight, tenemos un grupo que está dedicado a hacer alcance comunitaria, para asegurar que nuestros foros representan toda la diversidad de cada barrio.

Hemos pasado este verano tocando puertas, visitando a organizaciones comunitarias, y dando charlas sobre nuestra misión-creando un sitio de web donde todos pueden participarse como iguales. La comunidad Latina representa una gran parte de los barrios en Minneapolis, especialmente en Powderhorn (32%), Phillips (31%), Corcoran (28%), y Whittier (20%). En San Pablo, tenemos el West Side (27%), y Dayton’s Bluff (14%), que también tienen una población muy significante.

Tenemos foros en cada uno de estos barrios, y nuestra esperanza es incluir más voces Latinos en las conversaciones que están tomando lugar sobre su barrio por el Internet. Para inscribirse, sigue a www.beneighbors.org. O, si te gustaría ayudarnos con nuestro alcance, contacta a E-Democracy. ¡Bienvenidos a tú barrio de Internet!

Meeting with your neighbors by Internet E-Democracy!

E-Democracy is an organization with a simple goal: to create a space on the Internet where each local area can have its own voice, without cost. Founded in 1994, we have grown gradually with the help of donations, grants and volunteers. We already have more than 40 forums on Minneapolis and St. Paul, with more than 15,000 participating neighbors. Each forum is a place to discuss any matter that applies to the community. Right now most of the conversation is in English, but we may comment in Spanish or any other language spoken locally in the neighborhood. Some have succeeded in using it to find a lost pet, others to announce  a new local business in the neighborhood, and others to discuss crime and ways to combat it with other neighbors.

We are “E-Democracy” because we believe that true “democracy” has to start with finding local solutions to the issues we all face as neighbors. For the first time, thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation, we have a group that is dedicated to including all, to ensure our forums represent the diversity of each neighborhood. We have spent this summer knocking on doors, visiting community organizations, and giving talks about our mission, creating a web site where anyone can participate as equals. The Latino community is a big part of the neighborhoods in Minneapolis, especially in Powderhorn (32%), Phillips (31%), Corcoran (28%), and Whittier (20%). In St. Paul, we have the West Side (27%), and Dayton’s Bluff (14%), they also have a very significant population. 

We have forums in each of these neighborhoods, and our hope is to include more Latino voices in the conversations that are taking place in your neighborhood by the Internet. To register, follow www.beneighbors.org. Or, if you would like to help us with our power, contact E-Democracy. Welcome to your neighborhood Internet!

MAR 19 UPDATE: Applications are coming in, but we need your help to spread the word in particular in the Latino and African-American communities.

Be an Inclusive Engagement Leader – Apply Now

We believe in building strong, inclusive and connected neighborhoods. This can happen in many ways like having great public spaces such as playgrounds and trails decorated with public art. This can also happen by creating opportunities for all neighbors to be able to connect with one another and build the kind of community in which they want to live.

Our Neighbors Forums are online spaces where neighbors connect with one another, learn about local events, ideas, or issues they can be involved in and build real community. In Saint Paul, we already have over 7,000 diverse forum members across 17 active online forums focused on different parts of the city.

We are looking for passionate community builders in Saint Paul who are highly skilled in communications and community organizing, and are strongly connected to their cultural communities. We have four contract ~5 hours a week positions for individuals who are interested in bringing these Neighbors Forums to life with community content and dialogue reflecting the great diversity of our neighborhoods.

National statistics on neighbor connecting online demonstrate a huge income gap and some dramatic ethnic gaps in terms of participation. We expressly seek to address that problem by building online and in-person bridges among neighbors from ALL cultural communities as well as immigrants and lower income residents.

Each Engagement Leader will work at the intersection of race/ethnicity and place with a focus on different cultural communities in Saint Paul, including:

• Latino communities – Focused on the West Side and East Side
• East African communities – Working primarily on the lower East Side, but also in other areas with concentrations of East African community members
• Southeast Asian communities – With an emphasis on Frogtown, the North End, and the East Side
• African American communities – With special attention to Summit-University (Rondo), the East Side and Frogtown

E-Democracy has additional team members involved with general outreach to all community members.

We seek resumes and letters of interest from those who can help us pave the way for multicultural dialogue in these communities.

Position Description

Title: Diverse Communities Forum Engagement Leader

Context: Your efforts will be supported by initial training and regular team meetings, coordinated engagement strategies and activities, and shared lessons in inclusive online engagement and digital technologies. You will work closely with other E-Democracy contractors and volunteers to develop, refine, and further the goals of the inclusive online engagement campaign.

Scope: The Inclusive Community Engagement Online project is primarily focused on the lower income, higher immigrant, and/or highly diverse neighborhoods of Saint Paul, but opportunities can include events and activities throughout Saint Paul as well as in other Twin Cities communities.

Key Roles

• Intentional content seeding: Join targeted Neighbors Forums as assigned and post information relevant to the cultural communities with significant populations within the forums.
  • Attend community events and share short stories/summaries of the event with photos (with permission) or short YouTube videos; training will be provided.
  • Monitor ethnic press and cultural organization websites and share links to important news and information with the Neighbors Forums with a local connection. Knowledge about Google News Alerts and monitoring web feeds will be useful.
  • Meet with and train cultural organizations and community groups on how to join, post, and generally use the forums to reach out to the community; provide ongoing coaching and support to organization staff, as needed.
  • Build transferable relationships with community organization leaders and staff.
• Promote community dialogue:
  • Identify and build relationships with diverse forum members initiating conversations to mentor/coach inclusive forum engagement and provide support for overcoming barriers to participation. Identify and promote intentional online discussion topics to promote digital storytelling about community life experiences and happenings across the community.
  • Collaborate with other E-Democracy contractors to provide digital capacity building training/tools to the community.
• Deepen community engagement:
  • Encourage diverse community members to join area forums of interest.
  • Help the community feel empowered to raise their voices by recruiting volunteers to help build community in their neighborhoods via the forums.

Secondary Activities: Additional activities include field outreach, grassroots organizing, team communications and reporting, project evaluation and lesson sharing. More information will be provided.

Requirements

• Highly values personal accountability and reliability. Can meet deadlines and manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.
• Highly self-motivated, self-directed, and organized. (As part of the contract process we will ask candidates to sketch out a rough work plan.)
• Excellent written communication skills, preferably with a background in or experience with journalism.
• Effective communicator. Values and fosters open communication; uses and understands the importance of active listening skills and is an effective public speaker.
• Bilingual in one of the many languages spoken in Saint Paul, such as Spanish, Somali, or Hmong, and able to connect as a liaison with your primary cultural community.
• Deep connections to the targeted communities, including involvement in neighborhood, community, or cultural organizations. Applicants with both deep Saint Paul and cultural community connections are strongly encouraged to apply. Residency is not required, but regular and consistent connections to Saint Paul are a preferred.
• Passionate and enthusiastic; positive outlook and willing to lead. Inspires others to do high-quality work.
• Deeply believes in the power of community building.
• Willing to learn and values self-improvement. Able to accept and offer praise and critical feedback; seeks and offers feedback and evaluation.
• Reliably and consistently available via email and mobile phone.
• Must have reliable transportation to anywhere in the Twin Cities, including ability to haul materials for events and activities.

Desired Qualifications and Experience
We are looking for exceptional people who may have talents in the following:

• Experience or training in leadership development, multicultural outreach and communications, political science, online civic engagement, digital technologies or other related fields.
• Field outreach or organizing in diverse communities (tabling, door knocking, etc.).
• Proficiency with online technologies, including online forums/social networking, Google Apps, social media, and digital cameras/video devices, uploading video to YouTube, etc., preferred.

Time Commitment: 200 hours from April through December 2013 averaging 5 hours / week over the course of 38 weeks. Contractors must be reliable and able to work on a flexible schedule.

Rate: $15.00/hour. As an independent contractor, you are responsible for all of your own Federal, State, Social Security taxes, and any insurance you choose to carry.

To Apply: Send a statement of interest describing your qualifications and resume with three references to . Use the subject line: Inclusive Engagement Leader Application. Be sure to include any relevant work samples and/or links to online content you’ve generated (blog posts, articles, digital media, etc.). Include any questions in your email. No calls please.

Deadline for Applications: We are looking for applications NOW and are conducting interviews in March. However, these positions will remain open until the people with the right skills, community connections, and time availability are found. To apply after March 25, email  to ask if there are still openings.

For more information, about E-Democracy, please visit the Blog and About pages at http://e-democracy.org

Attend the next Volunteer Orientation/Training on Wed. March 13, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. and you can be a community builder too!

(Or April 18th or May 16th, same time and place.)

E-Democracy is launching a new Volunteer Program. For years, we’ve relied heavily on committed volunteers to successfully build the neighbors and issues forums. Now, as our forums have grown larger and more resources have allowed us to go deeper into Saint Paul neighborhoods, we’ve found it essential to bring in even more skilled neighbors as volunteers.

Are you interested in being a part of a stronger and even more connected neighborhood? Would you be willing to volunteer an average of 2 hours a month from home? Many of our new volunteer positions involve sharing important information online with your neighbors, helping to build a welcoming and neighborly atmosphere on and offline, or sending a review of that new restaurant in the area.

Take a look at these exciting new volunteer positions and ask yourself what you could do to help make your neighborhood an even greater place to live!

• Local Forum Manager (needed for Summit Hill, West Seventh and four Minneapolis neighborhoods)

Monitors announcements and discussions, encourages participation, and objectively enforces the forum rules to maintain civility. As a forum leader, they work in conjunction with E-Democracy staff to involve forum volunteers in generating community value from the forum.

• Neighbor Greeter

This personable volunteer is the kind of the person who brings cookies over to the new neighbor in the “real world.” Their role is to invite, welcome and support new forum members. They are an outreach ambassador at community events and help build a welcoming atmosphere on the forum.

• Community Reporter

This information-seeking volunteer has a passion for community news, happenings, and history. They monitor, read and share news and announcements from different sources that have local relevance. They might also love sharing neighborhood photos and finding historical stories of how the area grew over time.

• Cultural Connector

This volunteer has a deep passion for cross-cultural communication, connections, and understanding. Whether they share information from local ethnic organizations or introduce local cultural activities of their own or other diverse groups of neighbors, this volunteer is a bridge builder. This volunteer supports the goal of raising all local voices and assisting immigrant forum participation. An example might be sharing information about local events in the Holy Month of Ramadan or prompting a Muslim member of the community to share their experience of the celebrations.

• Social Coordinator

Although we are primarily an online organization, one of our goals is to use our online networks to bring neighbors together in-person. We see ourselves as a “virtual icebreaker.” This volunteer organizes in-person events for forum members to get together, have fun, build community, and engage in local conversations. Forum potlucks and picnics are a great way to build forum engagement and increase neighborliness online.

• Neighborhood Linker

This volunteer gathers web links from community groups, etc. across the neighborhood and adds them to the Neighbor Forum’s community links page. They may also produce a regular round-up of very local events compiled from community websites (weekly or monthly).

Volunteer Orientations/Trainings are held monthly. The next training will be Wednesday, March 13th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Kings Crossing Senior Living Apartments (on the corner of University Ave and Dale St, Saint Paul). If you are interested in attending this training or another, please fill out this form and you will be contacted by the Volunteer Coordinator. You can also email her directly at .

E-Democracy.org was honored to assist the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge road show on Open Government in St. Paul. Below is the video.

The deadline for submissions is March 18. They first launched with an “inspirations” phase in which Steven Clift with E-Democracy made a number of contributions.

For the event we had an impressive RSVP list and about a dozen last minute Central Corridor Neighbors Forum members who filled the slots for those unable to travel due to cold weather.

Here are the event details and attendee list: