In an age where trust in government (and indeed all institutions for that matter) is at an all-time low, the very future of local representative democracy requires leaders with a new skill – the ability to break through cynicism and mistrust to directly engage residents in local policy. From public safety, to city budgets […]
Davenport Institute Launches Public Engagement Platform
The Davenport Institute at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy works with municipal governments and civic organizations to engage the residents of California in the policy decisions that affect their everyday lives. In today’s world of easy access to information and easy connectivity to others, it is more important than ever for California’s local leaders […]
Our Local Government Model: It’s Broken, So Let’s Fix It
PERSPECTIVES If you have tried something for a couple of decades and it is not working then you should try something else. I am not speaking about our form of local government (council/manager, strong mayor, etc) but rather the way we do our work regardless of the form. My hypothesis is that the local government […]