The Public Agenda, Tallahassee, FL 1994
Partners:
Tallahassee Democrat
WCTV6 (CBS)
Florida State University
Florida A&M Universities
A three-year project, “The Public Agenda” involved thousands of Tallahassee citizens in discussing and seeking solutions to a wide range of issues facing the city.
Project leaders at the Democrat and WCTV used a host of tools – small group discussions, frequent polls, large forums and on-line chats, among them – to determine which issues citizens considered most critical and then engage those citizens in addressing the issues in a variety of ways. A community coordinator, Mimi Jones, organized citizen participation.
The partners kicked off the project in the summer of 1994 with a series of “living room conversations.” A total of 29 people were interviewed in 10 separate small groups of two to five. These findings were paired with a more formal survey of 800 residents conducted by phone in the fall. The results were reported in the Democrat in a four-part, front-page series explaining the project and inviting participation. The first large public forum, attended by more than 300 people, was held Nov. 16, 1994 – the final day of the series – at the state Capitol and broadcast on WCTV. The paper ran special reports on issues identified in the public discussions: crime, growth, jobs, education and values, race relations and teen concerns. WCTV regularly ran stories about people and ideas that surfaced.
Citizens were invited to voice opinions and submit questions to public officials through the Democrat’s “Public Agenda” page which ran periodically on the front of the Sunday editorial section and included “how you can help” boxes. The partners also held National Issues Forum training seminars to create a pool of facilitators for small group discussions on each issue. Six of the groups, each with six to 20 people, began meeting on their own and some continued to meet after the project formally ended in April 1997.
Polling continued throughout the project, in part to get feedback on how the project was perceived in the community. By year three, it found about one third of Tallahassee residents knew about the project and most of them had a favorable impression of it. Respondents also registered a positive change in their perception of Tallahassee as a city that pulls itself together.
Contacts:
Mimi Jones
Project Manager
The Public Agenda
1713 Silverwood Dr.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
Phone: (850) 942-7199
Michael W. Smith
News Director
WCTV-TV (CBS)
4000 County Rd. 12
Tallahassee, FL 32312
TEL: (850) 893-6666
FAX: (850) 668-3851
EMAIL: mike.smith@wctv6.com