Quality of Life Indicators
Category Name:
Effective Government Engagement Data
Civic responsibility includes having the ability to effectively participate in the governing process; while the diversity of elected or appointed members of community boards, councils, commissions, as well as government staff, demonstrate that government is representative of and responsive to our citizens. This is a new indicator identified by the community in the 2006 update process.
citizen engagement -- new 5/19/11
citizen involvement with local government -- updated 7/4/09
diversity in local government
diversity on community boards, councils & commissions
citizen engagement -- new 5/19/11
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Citizen engagement through volunteering is an important part of civic life. Social connectedness with your neighbors helps citizens think about new ideas and ways to solve community problems.
citizen involvement with local government -- updated 7/4/09
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Effectively participating in the government process is central to a democracy. According to a recent report, 21.3% of people in Nevada engaged in civic life in 2006 (6.2% of whom attended public meetings), ranking 51st across states in the Civic Life Index. Understanding barriers to meaningful participation could increase future engagement. [Corporation for National & Community Service, Volunteering in America: 2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life]
Additional measures have been suggested (inventory of e-government transactions capable of being conducted online, number of nontraditional government office hours, number of government offices outside traditional central facilities, inventory of leadership opportunities) and although these measures indicate government accessibility, there aren’t central data sources, and the data could fluctuate greatly over time. As available, TMT will attempt to track additional measures.
According to TMT’s December 2007 community survey of Washoe County residents, aside from voting, 29.4% reported participating in the government process in the last year, while 67.8% did not. Of those participating in the government process, 25.2% reported general community service/meetings, followed by 20.4% corresponding with officials, 20.4% lobby/campaign/donations, 8.2% committee/board member, 6.8% jury duty/legal system, 4.1% flyers/petitions/protest, and 2.7% general volunteering. With the switch to digital broadcasting, Washoe County's public meetings are now archived and available for citizens to watch at their leisure through "video-on-demand." Citizens can also "jump to" an agenda item rather than watch an entire meeting. The new technology now allows increased access of county programming to the citizens of Washoe County.
diversity in local government
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Levels of participation and inclusion in local government can be influenced through outreach campaigns and leadership training to widen future government employee recruitment. TMT surveyed the three local governments and will post data on the diversity of staff, as available from the Cities of Reno and Sparks, as well as Washoe County..
diversity on community boards, councils & commissions
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Levels of participation and inclusion in local government can be influenced through outreach campaigns and leadership training to widen future candidate pools, for citizens.
TMT surveyed the three local governments and will post data on the diversity elected and appointed members of community boards, councils and commissions as available from the Cities of Reno and Sparks, as well as Washoe County.