Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement's first e-Newsletter

In practical terms, the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement’s long-term goal is to change the way that public decisions are made in Hampton Roads.

For the Center, there are multiple underlying operating assumptions:

1. First, that the inclusion of citizens in the public choices related to their region’s quality of life and future enhances the quality and sustainability of public decisions and supports accountability and transparency.
   
   
2. And second, that citizens have both rights and duties to participate in the shaping of their community and all public decision making will be improved by the informed engagement of citizens.

To read more and see HRCCE's first issue of their electronic newsletter: http://www.hrcce.org/publications/May2009Newsletter.html

Using Hip Hop to Reach Youth in Norfolk

The City of Norfolk's Public Library uses Hip Hop to engage youth and the entire community with the library. Thanks to this program, they know the library exists and it has something to offer them.

Using Hip Hop to Reach Youth in NorfolkView this presentation in a new browser window; click on "Full" to view full screen; click on "Download" to download the presentation to your own computer.

Posted and reprinted by permission of the City of Norfolk Communications Department. Originally seen by the City's residents in the print publication "Norfolk Quarterly," the Communications Department is allowing us to offer this information to the entire region.

SmartRegion.org welcomes other information about local community engagement efforts for the benefit of the entire Hampton Roads region! Please submit to: Contact@HRP.org

Calling all Hampton Roads Bloggers!

Are you a "citizen journalist"? Are you willing to link your blog with Hampton Roads SmartRegion.org and gain access to a national / global audience?

If you write at least one post per week, then send us your "blogger resume" ... which consists of a link to your blog and a 1-2 sentence byline.

Not a blogger now, but interested in sharing your local reaction to national news AND local reflections on categories of national interest? Perhaps we can help... read on:



Background: On April 4th, the first Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit held by the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement (HRCCE), in cooperation with the Hampton Roads Partnership, WHRO, The Planning Council, and the Future of Hampton Roads, presented us with the beginning of a conversation about where we are, where we want to be, and what will be required to get “there” as a region.

The results of HRCCE’s Batten Survey were released at the Summit and reveal that in Hampton Roads we have:

• Opportunities…civic capital in Hampton Roads is plentiful…our job is to cultivate it and capitalize on it, as a region;
• Disconnectedness…citizens say they are somewhat or very interested in working with others to solve regional issues, yet they don’t feel invited; however, civic leaders say they want citizens to educate themselves, participate more in civic matters when invited, and let their views be known;
• Paradoxes…we agree on major issues such as the economy and transportation and want to solve our regional problems, but as a result of this survey, citizens say we lack a mean by which to come together as a region to work on these problems, together. Furthermore, while citizens follow news about local government and public affair somewhat or very closely, a majority of respondents say there is no reliable source or don’t know if there is a reliable source of information.

Citizens in attendance working in small groups at the Summit had these solutions to recommend for better civic engagement:

• Increase trust, honesty, transparency and the flow of information;
• Provide more regional emphasis by governments and media;
• Decide who/what organization is the regional voice;
• Develop a region-wide blog involving issue experts and citizens;
• Develop a regional website with links to each government agency and organization;
• Use information technology to increase citizen’s access, to educate/improve conversation between citizens and elected officials to make representative democracy work better;
• Provide an information portal, a common shared repository for data, information and opinion, accessible to the public in a variety of ways.

SmartRegion.org could be a means to that end, that ONE reliable source of information, a portal to connect all of Hampton Roads’ organizations, citizens and civic leaders alike, and to present Hampton Roads to a global audience as well.

Hampton Roads’ SmartRegion.org has been selected as the new “Military Bastion” for Patchwork Nation with the upcoming re-launch of the project on the PBS NewsHour’s website. The NewsHour, in partnership with WHRO, joins the Christian Science Monitor's Patchwork Nation project to provide coverage of local economic impacts as a way to build a local-national
collaboration model incorporating citizen journalists (bloggers).

With the pending re-launch as an expanded, multi-faceted, truly regionally-cooperative blog, SmartRegion.org will be the face of Hampton Roads to the nation and beyond.

Expanded Categories:

About Hampton Roads
Arts & Culture
Business Community
Economy
Education & Workforce
Government & Citizens
Hampton Roads History
Military Bastion
Research & Technology
Transportation & Planning

Organizations all over Hampton Roads are being asked to pool valuable resources and join this effort to provide blog articles (i.e. “posts”) and broad distribution of a regional electronic Newsletter, similar to (and replacing) the current HRP e-News.

The idea is NOT to create more work for each organization but to work smarter, not harder, to offer access to citizens and outlets for information like never before, to answer our citizens’ call for ONE regional focus, ONE regional resource.

Next steps? Contact HRP Communication Manager, Missy Schmidt, today at Missy@HRP.org or (757) 625-4696 for more information and/or to be a part of this unprecedented effort.

A Citizen's Hampton Roads Vision Statement

by Grayson Savage, active Hampton Roads forum participant on UrbanPlanet.org

The Hampton Roads Metro currently has a population of around 1.7 million and is maturing right in front of our eyes. Downtown Norfolk has emerged as the business, transportation, and cultural hub of the region.

At the same time, Virginia Beach Town Center is becoming a great place to live, work, dine, and conduct business.

The City of Norfolk has composed a “Downtown 2020 Plan” in which they address connectivity of the urban street grid, the continuation of urban infill projects, and the importance of transportation to the region.

The City of Virginia Beach is creating the “Pembroke Implementation Plan” focusing on the development of Town Center and surrounding areas. Two of Virginia’s largest and most economically important cities are doing great things these days and I think they have many great years ahead of them.

By the next decade I really see Hampton Roads as one of the strongest metros in the South. Here is my vision for the region:

Hampton Roads is an economically strong, transit- oriented, developer friendly metro with a population of approximately 2.1 million. Hampton Roads Transit has light rail moving citizens through the urban areas in the regions, commuter rail moving people from suburban neighborhoods to the business hubs, express buses adding to the connectivity of the transit system, bus rapid transit traveling on dedicated lanes running frequently and on time, and ferries moving people along our waterways.

Downtown Norfolk has continued infill projects resulting in the dramatic rise in population, national businesses have opened, and a “grand central station” is located at Harbor Park connecting higher speed rail to our regional transportation. The city has a nationally recognizable skyline that we can take pride in.

Virginia Beach Town Center has become more of a downtown. Transit Oriented Developments have popped up all around Town Center and the growth has sparked a professional sports team to relocate to the largest area without one. The Oceanfront is a beautiful resort area after many infill projects have been completed and the benefit of light rail and bus rapid transit.

Civic Engagement, the results are in

The Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement's Batten Surveys: A Regional Civic Capital Assessment 2008 - 2009 "Civic engagement is more than just attending a meeting or a public hearing. It's not a passive concept; it's an active concept. It's when people actively engage in their neighborhood or community either by doing something or really engaging in the thinking around doing something that allows them to create some positive change." -Chris Gates, Executive Director, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement

Complete Survey Results (56 pages)
Survey Summary (12 pages)
Slideshow showing the results of the Batten Surveys (21 pages)
Slideshow showing the opinions of Summit participants (26 pages)

Note: Figures in red are actual demographic statistics for Hampton Roads
Click on links above to view presentations in a new browser window; click on "Full" to view full screen; click on "Download" to download the presentation to your own computer.


The Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement (HRCCE) structures and facilitates civic engagement processes that provide for the productive collaboration between the citizens and their governments.

By encouraging the inclusion of more citizens in the public choices related to their region’s quality of life and future, the Center’s work enhances the accountability and transparency of public agencies.

The Center is a neutral source of information to support fact-based dialogue on the thorniest of regional issues. Our work helps boost regional understanding and brings into the public dialogue voices that have long been overlooked.

Building "Civic Muscle"

Learn how to apply to serve on city boards and commissions at a public forum sponsored by Project Inclusion Leadership Development Program, United Way of South Hampton Roads on Thursday, April 30th, 6:00PM – 8:00PM, at the Norfolk Workforce Development Center, 201 E. Little Creek Road, Norfolk.

The forum agenda includes:

Remarks on Community Service by Bernard Henderson-Senior Deputy Secretary, Commonwealth of VA

Keynote Presentation - Civic Boards & Commissions Panelists:

• Velma McNair, Deputy City Clerk of Chesapeake
• Katherine Glass, City Clerk of Hampton
• Mabel Washington-Jenkins, City Clerk of Newport News
• Shelia Wilder, Deputy City Clerk of Norfolk
• Debra White, City Clerk of Portsmouth
• Erika Dawley, City Clerk of Suffolk
• Ruth Hodges Frasier, City Clerk of Virginia Beach

Moderator: Delores “DeeDee” Gee-TV Show Host: “My Good Lyfe”

Project Inclusion aims to serve as an advocate for inclusion within the community and to build and promote cultural diversity among the United Way member agencies and other non-profit agencies to positively impact the quality of life for others.

Forum Take-Aways:

• Learn which boards have current vacancies in your city.
• Gain an understanding of board application processes.
• Obtain useful tips for gaining board appointments.
  

Refreshments will be served at this free event.

RSVP your attendance to J.R. Locke, Director of Project Inclusion, at 2515 Walmer Avenue Norfolk, VA 23513-2604, ebmincllc@msn.com or call 757-853-8500 ext 134.