Home

Goals and Elements

The 2010 Community Matters Campaign has drawn to a successful close. Stay tuned to SeattleCityClub.org for details about CMC 2011, coming in Fall.

 

CMC photo 1At CityClub, we believe knowledge, trust, connectedness, and action are the key ingredients of civic engagement. Our mission is to advance these assets so that King County residents can find common ground and achieve their visions of the common good.

CityClub’s fall Community Matters Campaign (CMC) presents a portfolio of programs and tools to motivate individual and communal civic engagement. The campaign has an annual theme – a topical issue or issues of vital concern to the well-being of King County residents. Programs  – public forums, small group dialogues, and election debates – are organized to educate participants about the focus theme and motivate their involvement as voters, volunteers, philanthropists, neighbors, teachers and workers. Live programming is complemented by online civic engagement tools and invitations for individual commitments to civic expression and action.

Unlike other CityClub programs throughout the year which are sited in downtown Seattle and are fee-based, the CMC dialogues at the heart of this campaign are free of charge and occur in community centers, churches, schools and homes throughout King County. This program design reflects a strategic commitment for CityClub programs to reach and represent the diversity of our community.

The Community Matters Campaign opens on September 21st with a Conversation with David Gregory, Host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ends on Election Day (November 2, 2010). In 2009, over 7,200 individuals, organizations and community groups participated in the campaign.

 

  • Forums, Debates and Online Resources – We will present in-depth, non-partisan information and opinion in King Winners of the 2009 People's Choice AwardsCounty offered by experts, community leaders and policymakers. Online web resources will include opportunities for individuals to learn more, connect, and take action on issues presented in the campaign. 7-9 live public forums and candidate debates will explore topics such as: immigration policy, the future of elections, the promise and privacy concerns of biorepositories, and a debate for US Senate. The Community Matters Campaign Kick-off will be September 21 – A Conversation with David Gregory, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press”. Each program will be rebroadcast on cable television statewide, streamed and podcast.
  • Dialogue and Deliberation – We will host 30-35 facilitated conversations—conducted live at diverse community gathering places including community centers, churches, non-profit organizations, businesses and residences. Citizens are invited to weigh in on their personal observations and recommendations.
  • Living Voters Guide – New this year, CityClub is partnering with the University of Washington Center for Communication and Civic Engagement and Department of Computer Science and Engineering to create a “living voters guide” to be developed by and for the public on the initiatives on the fall ballot. Through community deliberation, participants will create opinion statements and recommendations for fellow voters. 
  • People’s Choice Awards – At in-person forums, dialogues and online, Community Matters Campaign participants will vote to determine the winners of the annual “People’s Choice Awards” recognizing progress on the most valuable strategic initiatives advancing public trust.
  • Community Report – A report to policymakers, media and the public announcing the People’s Choice Awards and summarizing common ground observations and recommendations from participating individuals and organizations over the campaign’s duration. The report will be documented and archived on CityClub’s website and disseminated to journalists, community leaders and voters.