Community Matters Campaign

From Left Maya Enista Smith of Mobilize.org and Monica Guzman, Journalist and Community Strategist, discuss young adults, social media, and citizenship. Photo Courtesy of Candace Winegrad.

"While many young adults today are criticized for their constant need to use technology, Smith believes that it is a tool that can help advance efforts to solve problems.

'Social media is the next generation of community media. … I think (having) information at our fingertips is really challenging nonprofits, elected officials and political parties to relate in a way that’s much more authentic, and much more transparent.'

Though technology clearly offers people a way to accomplish many things a lot quicker, Smith said it should not replace our real contact with one another.

'You now just press a button and go into your home, and you don’t need to engage with anyone else,' Smith said. 'So the steps I would suggest is to just look up from your computer every once in awhile. … Value human interaction and taking the time to talk to people.' "

Read more on the UW Department of Communication Website. Article by Candace Winegrad, Student at the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.

Be part of the CityClub community on social media. Friend us, like us, or follow our tweets. We look forward to talking with you at our forums and online.

We are so grateful to be building community connectivity together. Wishing everyone a happy holiday this weekend.

Hey Seattle! I'm so looking forward to seeing you this week. My name is Maya, and I have the honor of serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize.org. On November 17th, I'll be at UW for CityClub's Community Matters Campaign Finale – what an honor! I can't wait to learn more about Seattle and the amazing work that your citizens, non-profits and institutions do. 

I've spent the past 10 years of my life working in the non-profit sector, and if all goes well – I'll spend the next 50 years doing so as well. At 17 years old, I got my first job with an organization called Rock The Vote and registered over 30,000 young people to vote. As the daughter of Romanian immigrants, working in civic engagement gave me the opportunity to share how grateful I was for the rights, opportunities and freedoms that I had been born into and appreciate the struggles of my family in helping to ensure I had those. I decided to spend the rest of my life working to get other young people engaged and creating the campuses, communities and democracy that we envision. I have been with Mobilize.org for almost 7 years, and our mission is to empower and invest in Millennials (young people, ages 15 – 35) to create and implement solutions to social problems. 

We'd love to do some work in Seattle, but first – I need to learn more! How do you think we should Mobilize Seattle? What do you think makes Seattle different from other places around the country? What do you think I should know about your region and unique personality before I arrive? I’ve heard about ‘the Seattle process’ – what’s that about? When have you been the most inspired to get involved? Where have you seen effective examples of Millenials in action locally? What about you Boomers, what do you think I should know? Most importantly – how can I help? I look forward to a conversation with you on the 17th, and please feel free to find me on Twitter (@menista + @mob_org) (this event is #mayamobilize) or send me an email at maya@mobilize.org.

I can’t wait to hear from you and look forward to seeing you on the 17^th!

You can register for the free event by clicking here.

The election is over, but there are a lot of ways to stay engaged all year long.

Get your thumbs ready!

One week from today we will host Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org at the Community Matters Campaign Finale on Thursday, November 17th.

We will be asking questions between now and the 17th to learn what you think we can do to better mobilize Seattle.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU – SPREAD THE WORD TO WIN! Get the most twitter and facebook responses to our daily questions by the end of the event on Thursday, November 17th - and win 2 free tickets to our Annual Year in Review at the Seattle Westin on December 2nd.

Today's question: What makes Seattle different?

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CityClub

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SeattleCityClub

Play the GREAT CITIZENSHIP GAME

When you play, everybody wins

CityClub’s annual Community Matters Campaign takes on important issues by This year’s theme is: What are the ingredients of great citizenship? Between September 14 and November 17, would you host a dialogue and help us collect community wisdom on great citizenship? We need your voice at the table! Here’s how you can get involved:

How does it work?

Our program is 60-minutes. We supply a facilitator and all program materials and you supply up to 20 participants at a location you designate. (If you have more, great; we’ll send more facilitators!) The program is structured as a social game. Participants will work together to design a formula for great citizenship and receive invitations to exciting civic programs and action opportunities leading up to and beyond this year’s election. They’ll also gain civic knowledge, connection and trust– key ingredients to boost their engagement and our community’s civic health. The participants may be work peers, friends, church members, members of a community organization, neighbors. The program could be open to your group only or open to the general public, per your convenience. 

Why is it important?

CityClub and Guiding Lights Network are launching an initiative to revitalize civics education because, currently, it’s absent from most students’ school experience. We feel this is a serious problem for our democracy. We’re committed to advocate and develop programming for renewed civics education, but we need your help to create a smart platform for what it should look like. The community input we receive from this year’s Community Matters Campaign will directly inform that platform.

How can I host a program?

Simply  email or call us at CityClub to signify your participation by September 15. We’ll send you a scheduling form and assign a facilitator.

We hope you can participate!

Diane Douglas                                                                        Jessica Jones

Executive Director                                                                 Program and Operations Manager

ddouglas@seattlecityclub.org                                                jjones@seattlecityclub.org

                                                     206.682.7395

Have you had a chance to see the results of our 2010 Community Matters Campaign (CMC)? Throughout CMC we heard calls for strengthened trust in government, media, neighborhoods, and more.

A key piece of strengthening trust became very clear  -  people want to hear the positive stories of elected officials and others, not just the negative stories they feel like they hear all the time. This recent opinion article from David Brook and The New York Times does just that. We invite you to read David’s positive story of effective government action on the housing crisis within the messy realities and limitations of over-lapping barriers to housing for veterans.

But don’t stop there! Read the article and then join us on Monday, May 9^th  to get engaged with this issue! CityClub hosts an intimate conversation with Seattle native, General Peter W. Chiarelli, current Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army at the Washington Atheletic Club in Downtown Seattle. Find out directly from the General what is being done for the nearly 13% of Washingtonians that are veterans and bring your questions. Stay after the event and get connected with our Co-presenting partners to get involved and take action on a variety of veterans issues.  Register today and join us! 

Panelists from Left: Abdullahi Jama, Mike Fancher, Henk Campher, Tim Burgess, and host C.R. Douglas. 

Thank you to our speakers, guests, friends, and volunteers for partnering with us on the 2010 Community Matters Campaign on public trust. On Friday, April 22, 2011 we were pleased to release the CMC Final Report at a forum event that covered public trust topics including: media, government, business, and more. See more on public trust in the Puget Sound in the 2010 Community Matters Campaign Final Report.    

Washington News Council Reported: "Diane Douglas, executive director of CityClub, opened the program with a summary of CityClub's 'Community Matters Campaign' which this year focused on how much people trust government, police, neighborhoods, other individuals, and the media. 'In all areas, there is a call for greater trust,' she said...

...In the Q&A session, I noted that all the panelists had used the words transparency, accountability and openness as keys to trust in government, business, police and other institutions." -John Hamer (read full article here).  

A special thanks to all of our -

Co-presenting organizations:  Alliance for Education; Center for Communication & Civic Engagement, University of Washington; Journalism that Matters - Pacific Northwest; Knowledge as Power; Public Eye Northwest; Public Health - Seattle & King County; University of Washington Department of Communication and Washington Lawyers for Sustainability; and Washington News Council. 

Click here to see our live tweets from the event!

Video coming soon click here to Watch!

How do you feel about the media and government? Do you trust your elected officials to be open and transparent about decisions? What about business? And non-profit organizations?

Register today and don't miss out on this one-of a-kind event on public trust.

Join us this week on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 12:15p for a lunchtime forum and discover who your neighbors and community members trust. Hear the final results of the 2010 Community Matters Campaign and talk with an exciting line up of panelists as they address the many issues we face as a community in regard to trust. Then, take away from the event a hard copy report on public trust with what we discovered in many interviews, polls, and forums last fall that engaged over 17,300 people of all ages and backgrounds from across the Puget Sound Region.

Here is a taste of what community members had to say:

“How can you trust the government if you can’t trust your source of information about the government [the media]?” - CMC dialogue participant

“I don't think anyone can rely on the police or government to take care of everything.  We need to be able to look out for ourselves as well as our neighbors.” - CMC public trust poll participant

You may be surprised by the findings. Don't miss out.

For a look at public trust through a wider lense a recent study by Edelman on the subject of public trust covers responses from participants around the globe: http://www.edelman.com/trust/2011/uploads/Edelman%20Trust%20Barometer%20Global%20Deck.pdf

An interesting tidbit: Results from all global participants on the question "How much do you trust the following industries to do what is right?" - the Technology Industry ranked the highest by far at 81%. (Edelman Report pg. 13).

Find out what we found here in the Puget Sound on similar questions. Register today to engage with leaders from government, media, non-profit, and business sectors in the Puget Sound region and from the wider community on the subject of trust.

Do you vote? How much trust in government do you think the act of voting requires? Join our panel of experts at our April 22 forum on public trust, "Who Do You Trust?"  We will examine trust through the lenses of government, media, business, neighborhoods, and you. Here’s a sneak peek on the work of one of our panelists.

Abdullahi Jama, Board Member at OneAmerica, has worked for many years with the Seattle Muslim community to establish trust in government and political processes.

"He tries to instill the importance of political participation in those who come from countries where such activities, even voting, may have been dangerous. " - Seattle Times Reporter, Janet I. Tu.  See more on Mr. Jama's work in this area in this article from the Seattle Times.

(Abdullahi Jama, Panelist)

Who do you trust? Bring your own questions for our panel and learn about the results of the 2010 Community Matters Campaign.

It’s not too late to attend! Register now to join us next Friday, April 22, 2011! 

Looking for an internship? Well that's excellent - because we're looking for interns! We've got two internships open and we're ready for your resumes. Our Civic Health Index Program Internship starts ASAP, and we're accepting resumes for our 2011 Community Matters Campaign Internship, which will begin in the summer. See below for more info!

  Civic Health Index Program Intern

CityClub recently published Civic Health Index (CHI). This groundbreaking study (click the link to read!) reports six metrics of community engagement in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties: volunteering, neighborliness, belonging to groups, philanthropy, political voice and voting.

 We're seeking an outgoing and detail oriented intern to help market - and educate the community about - our findings. Our CHI Intern will assist the Executive Director in designing and implementing a marketing plan and tools (e.g. power point presentation, speakers bureau, etc) to publicize the study and its results in the greater community with the goal of building commitment to continue tracking civic health and boosting civic engagement.

Internship will begin as soon as possible! A full job description is attached in PDF form. To learn more and apply contact Sara Neppl at sneppl@seattlecityclub.org.  

Community Matters Campaign Internship

Each year, beginning with United Way’s Day of Caring (mid-to-late September) and ending with Election Day (early November), CityClub hosts an annual fall campaign called the Community Matters Campaign. Each year we chose a timely theme and explore it through forums, election debates, community dialogues, web resources and an online living voters guide. Past themes include community engagement, education & economic opportunity, and public trust. Visit our website (http://seattlecityclub.org/node/415) to learn more about the campaign.

Our CMC Internship begins in the summer and lasts through November. This is a part-time, unpaid internship. The intern assists the Program & Operations Manager on all aspects of the campaign, and takes the lead on coordinating community dialogues, a critical component for the campaign. Applications are accepted starting in January for the summer/fall ahead.

We are currently accepting applications for a 2011 CMC Intern! A full job description is attached in PDF form.  To learn more and apply contact Jessica Jones at cityclub@seattlecityclub.org.

We're still feeling the high of having completed another successful Community Matters Campaign just last month - and we're already thinking about next year!

As we continue to learn from our community partners, we realize the more lead time we have - and the more lead time we can offer others - the better! In that spirit, we're thinking of all you college and graduate students out there... yes, you! You're about to go on holiday break, maybe? And you thought you'd spend a little time looking around, maybe, for summer internships?

How about spending your summer with CityClub?

Our Community Matters Campaign intern will start in June of the coming year, helping us with community outreach, taking the lead on our community dialogues, and more! The internship lasts through November of 2011. The attached PDF is a full job description, with information on how to apply. We look forward to seeing your resume!