New formula for local democracy mixes old and new

The 18th century principles and 21st century tactics of Portsmouth Listens

by Matt Leighninger

June 27, 2011 | | Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Photo: Rich Beauchesne

Jane Fithian and Karina Quintans, members of the Islington Creek Neighborhood Association in Portsmouth, stand in their community garden working to make National Night Out a "zero waste" block party.

Portsmouth, N. H., one of the oldest cities in New England, has found a formula for local democracy that combines its town meeting traditions from the 18th century with 21st century tactics. “Portsmouth Listens” started out as a temporary effort to address a single problem, and over 10 years, has become a sustained arena for dealing with a wide range of community decisions and challenges.

Staffed entirely by volunteers, Portsmouth Listens shows that public engagement processes do not have to be “owned” by government – that they in fact may be more effective and sustainable when they are jointly owned and supported by a broad range of leaders and organizations. In that sense, it harks back to a time in New England when public life was as much a function of community as politics. But in its application of modern group-process techniques, it reflects much more recent public engagement tactics.

Portsmouth Listens – and public life? – starts with parents

As in most other communities that have experimented with new forms of democracy, the original impetus for their work had nothing to do with democracy. The issue that first galvanized local lawyer Jim Noucas, in 1999, was the problem of bullying among students at Portsmouth’s middle school. Noucas and other concerned parents began working with Everyday Democracy, then known as the Study Circles Resource Center, to engage students, parents, and educators.

In the 10 years since they began their planning, the Portsmouth Listens approach (as it came to be called) has been used to address a range of issues, as described in the following chart:

The total number of participants in Portsmouth Listens has reached more than 1,200. Given that each circle requires 6-8 hours of participation, this means that Portsmouth residents have devoted 7,200-9,600 hours of their time to public deliberation about the future of their city.

This total does not include the many people (and hours) involved in the various kickoffs, action forums, candidate forums, and other events organized as a part of deliberative public life in Portsmouth. It also does not include the time spent on the many action efforts – from policy changes to volunteer projects – that have emerged from the deliberations.

Replanting the village oak?

When compared with traditional New England town meetings, or with the city council proceedings, public hearings, and school board meetings held in almost every American city, the merits of Portsmouth Listens seem obvious:

• Widespread, fairly diverse participation.
• Meaningful, time-intensive dialogue and deliberation, featuring good group process tools such as neutral facilitation, ground rules set by the group, and discussion. materials that offer participants and facilitators a ‘malleable structure’ to follow and/or adapt.
• Small-group sessions that allow for storytelling, learning, and action planning, punctuated by large-group sessions providing inspiration and accountability.
• The belief that citizens can and should take action on public problems, in addition to making recommendations for government to implement.
• A bridge between the traditional forms of representative government and more participatory, democratic exercises.
• Public arenas that are jointly owned by a range of leaders and organizations, rather than an extension of local government, the school system, or any other institution.

Portsmouth Listens provides an example of how to handle the struggle to capture and sustain democratic values in a modern setting.

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