Greg Crowley
"Making Citizen Participation Count: Practical Issues in Local Deliberative Polling"

Thursday December 7, Time: 4:30
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Porter Hall 100

Sponsored by The Humanities Center

Abstract:

"Social researchers in academia are increasingly interested in creating tools that can be used to solve problems of relevance beyond the university community. Jim Fishkin created one such tool, the Deliberative Poll, to address political inequality and the lack of informed discussion in existing forms of citizen participation. Yet Fishkin and his research colleagues have used Deliberative Polling mainly as a method of inquiry into public opinion and democracy. Significant opportunities exist to utilize the Deliberative Poll as a civic engagement strategy. Drawing upon experience in the development of Deliberative Polls for public decision-making in Pittsburgh, the talk will discuss key challenges that have to be met in order to fulfill the promise of the Deliberative Poll as a tool for strengthening democratic accountability."

Profile:
Greg Crowley is director of research at the Coro Center for Civic Leadership in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has held research and visiting positions at Oberlin College and the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of The Politics of Place: Contentious Urban Redevelopment in Pittsburgh (2005) as well as numerous articles and reports on urban politics and civic engagement. He is co-director of Carnegie Mellon's Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy, an applied research initiative to incorporate the informed voice of citizens into local policy and program decisions.