Data

General Issues
Governance & Political Institutions
Planning & Development
Education
Specific Topics
Citizenship & Role of Citizens
Alternative Education
Location
Toronto
Ontario
Canada
Scope of Influence
City/Town
Links
Toronto Engagement
Start Date
End Date
Ongoing
No
Time Limited or Repeated?
A single, defined period of time
Purpose/Goal
Develop the civic capacities of individuals, communities, and/or civil society organizations
Make, influence, or challenge decisions of government and public bodies
Deliver goods & services
Approach
Civil society building
Co-governance
Consultation
Spectrum of Public Participation
Involve
Total Number of Participants
175
Open to All or Limited to Some?
Open to All With Special Effort to Recruit Some Groups
Recruitment Method for Limited Subset of Population
Captive Sample
Targeted Demographics
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender
Indigenous People
Racial/Ethnic Groups
General Types of Methods
Public meetings
General Types of Tools/Techniques
Recruit or select participants
Inform, educate and/or raise awareness
Facilitate dialogue, discussion, and/or deliberation
Legality
Yes
Facilitators
Yes
Facilitator Training
Professional Facilitators
Face-to-Face, Online, or Both
Both
Types of Interaction Among Participants
Discussion, Dialogue, or Deliberation
Information & Learning Resources
Expert Presentations
Video Presentations
Written Briefing Materials
Site Visits
Decision Methods
Voting
If Voting
Preferential Voting
Communication of Insights & Outcomes
Public Report
Public Hearings/Meetings
New Media
Type of Organizer/Manager
Local Government
Funder
The City of Toronto
Type of Funder
Local Government
Staff
Yes
Volunteers
No
Evidence of Impact
Yes
Types of Change
Changes in civic capacities
Changes in public policy
Changes in people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior
Implementers of Change
Appointed Public Servants
Elected Public Officials
Formal Evaluation
No

CASE

Toronto Civics 101

23 ottobre 2021 Quinn Anderson, Participedia Team
16 luglio 2017 Kevin Um
14 luglio 2013 Kevin Um
General Issues
Governance & Political Institutions
Planning & Development
Education
Specific Topics
Citizenship & Role of Citizens
Alternative Education
Location
Toronto
Ontario
Canada
Scope of Influence
City/Town
Links
Toronto Engagement
Start Date
End Date
Ongoing
No
Time Limited or Repeated?
A single, defined period of time
Purpose/Goal
Develop the civic capacities of individuals, communities, and/or civil society organizations
Make, influence, or challenge decisions of government and public bodies
Deliver goods & services
Approach
Civil society building
Co-governance
Consultation
Spectrum of Public Participation
Involve
Total Number of Participants
175
Open to All or Limited to Some?
Open to All With Special Effort to Recruit Some Groups
Recruitment Method for Limited Subset of Population
Captive Sample
Targeted Demographics
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender
Indigenous People
Racial/Ethnic Groups
General Types of Methods
Public meetings
General Types of Tools/Techniques
Recruit or select participants
Inform, educate and/or raise awareness
Facilitate dialogue, discussion, and/or deliberation
Legality
Yes
Facilitators
Yes
Facilitator Training
Professional Facilitators
Face-to-Face, Online, or Both
Both
Types of Interaction Among Participants
Discussion, Dialogue, or Deliberation
Information & Learning Resources
Expert Presentations
Video Presentations
Written Briefing Materials
Site Visits
Decision Methods
Voting
If Voting
Preferential Voting
Communication of Insights & Outcomes
Public Report
Public Hearings/Meetings
New Media
Type of Organizer/Manager
Local Government
Funder
The City of Toronto
Type of Funder
Local Government
Staff
Yes
Volunteers
No
Evidence of Impact
Yes
Types of Change
Changes in civic capacities
Changes in public policy
Changes in people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior
Implementers of Change
Appointed Public Servants
Elected Public Officials
Formal Evaluation
No

Toronto Civics 101 was a civic literacy and engagement program launched in 2009 that aided the local public in understanding their government and their personal and community role in building a greater city.

Problems and Purpose

Toronto Civics 101 was a civic literacy and engagement program that delivered innovation by helping the local public understand their government and their personal and community role in building a greater city. Toronto Civics 101 was just one focus of the City Manager's Civic Engagement strategy which also included engaging Toronto's diverse populations and supporting corporate competencies and coordination.

The objectives of the initiative were to:

  • Enhance the public’s knowledge about how City government works;
  • Grow a base of knowledgeable Torontonians, including individuals from diverse communities and people with limited experience engaging with government, who could help shape the future of the City;
  • Learn from the public about how it sees the City and its operations;
  • Celebrate the origins of the city, understand Toronto’s current context and create a vision of our city’s future.

To meet these objectives, the Toronto Civics 101 initiative had two main components:

  • A series of six learning sessions attended by a group of registered participants, and
  • Online resources about the City, how it works, and how to get involved, to provide ongoing learning opportunities that anyone can access.

History

In 2004, the City of Toronto hosted a series of high-profile public consultations across the city called "Listening to Toronto." At these sessions, participants discussed the public's role in local decision-making and made recommendations for enhancing and encouraging civic engagement. Among the recommendations from this and subsequent consultations, participants suggested that the City do more to help the public understand municipal services and programs and encourage their involvement. These recommendations led to the launch of the Toronto Civics 101 initiative in the spring of 2009.

The Toronto Civics 101 initiative was directly related to developing and implementing a comprehensive civic engagement strategy for the City of Toronto. The need for better communication, public involvement in municipal governance and decision-making, transparency, accountability, accessibility, better resources for ongoing learning, and outreach to all of Toronto's diverse communities was promoted by the Mayor, Council, and Auditor General. Toronto Civics 101 was an important component of meeting those broader policy and decision-making goals.


Originating Entities and Funding

Nearly all of Toronto Civics 101 was delivered by City of Toronto staff. The initiative was led by staff from the City Manager’s Office and elected officials contributed to its implementation. The budget for Toronto Civics 101 included funding for outreach to the community (e.g. advertising and promotion), meetings and materials, and measures to ensure the sessions were accessible (e.g. child care, attendant care, and transportation subsidies). The total cost for the initiative, including the application process, all six sessions (site costs, refreshments, audio visuals, participant supports, etc.), and online presence was roughly $60,000.

The staff involved in planning and organizing Toronto Civics 101 worked on the project as part of their regular duties over a period of approximately one year. During the period of time in which the six sessions were running, the lead staff involved dedicated approximately 50-75% of their time to the project. In the planning stages and evaluation/reporting stages (after the sessions), the workload was approximately 25-50% of staff time.

Participant Recruitment and Selection

The target group of the project was a broad representation of the diversity of Torontonians. Outreach was designed to ensure that participants included:

  • a cross-section of ages, from youth to seniors;
  • people with varying degrees of experience with City Hall, especially people who had not been previously involved in committee work, civic processes, etc.
  • people from different neighbourhoods across the city;
  • new Canadians;
  • Aboriginal people, LBGTQ individuals, people with disabilities, those from racialized communities, people who lacked housing, and members of other groups representative of Toronto's diversity, yet historically underrepresented in civic processes.

Participants were recruited through established community networks including those involved in Neighbourhood Action Teams and Renewal Projects; recipients of City grants and other community partners; participants in past consultations; school and university populations; and community centre and library groups.

Finally, posters and information were available through City community centres, libraries, and civic centres. Copies of the ads appearing in local papers and online were available in 17 languages.

Toronto Civics 101 accepted 175 participants to take part in the six evening sessions. They were accompanied by over 30 staff, speakers, and elected officials. This amount of people was chosen to reflect the logistical limitations of providing a good environment for discussion, interaction, and learning, and to reflect the City of Toronto's 175th anniversary. The online resources created for the program were made available to anyone.

Methods and Tools Used

The Civic Engagement Office developed and customized a six-session curriculum where 175 participants (selected from over 950 applicants) learned how the City works. Sessions covered critical topics such as governance and decision-making, finance, elections, and urban planning. Presentations from Mayor David Miller, Members of Council, and senior staff solicited provocative questions and thoughtful group discussions. Participants took part in interactive sessions, learned about how they could get involved with their city, made connections between communities, and offered their ideas on how to build even better civic engagement in Toronto. Comprehensive outreach ensured broad participation (e.g. age, length of residency, cultural diversity).

In addition, a website supported online learning with extensive resources from the series including videos, presentations and materials. Evaluations were very positive: 97% of participants agreed that the sessions helped them "learn how city government works" and 94% said they would recommend the program to others.


Deliberation, Decisions, and Public Interaction

Preparing for Civics 101: Listening to Toronto

At the City of Toronto’s Listening to Toronto sessions the public provided input on their role in local decision-making and recommendations for enhancing civic engagement. In particular participants requested that the City:

  • Create a public guide to local government with clear information on how and when people can get involved,
  • Communicate Council and City information using simple clear language and disseminate it widely,
  • Provide information and encourage dialogue in clear language,
  • Encourage diversity of participants across neighbourhoods, communities and cultures,
  • Design and support school and community programs which teach kids, youth, adults and local businesses about municipal government, civic affairs and how to get involved, and
  • Provide the public with a description of what the city does and the roles of staff, councillors, committees and Council play in decision-making.

Toronto Civics 101 - In-person Sessions

From this public input, the Toronto Civics 101 proposal was developed. Municipal staff from a wide range of disciplines developed a core curriculum, while community development staff and City' engagement practitioners implemented a comprehensive outreach strategy which included communications in 17 languages, assistance in completing applications and coordinating childcare, transit and translation. 175 participants were randomly selected to attend six evening sessions at accessible, historically significant locations on municipal budgets, planning, elections, governance, decision-making, public appointments, and strategic planning. Mayor Miller provided opening remarks about the City and its global context, and moderated a concluding panel of external journalists and academics on the role of the public in local government.

Each session followed a similar process including warmup icebreakers, educational lectures, panel presentation, question and answer periods, small group dialogues, and demonstrations/exercises.

Online Engagement

The Toronto Civics 101 website (no longer available) was the central online source of information on this program. This site was created for two reasons:

  1. To share materials and resources with the participants, enhancing their learning opportunities and giving them a wealth of information at their fingertips;
  2. To make this same information available to anyone, anytime. Creating an active site of resources and information means the Toronto Civics 101 program is not limited to the learning sessions held in 2009, nor the people who were able to participate. Everything made available to the attendees was posted online so that Toronto Civics 101 acts as a home for civic literacy.

The website was designed to contain session highlights and resources where anyone can watch videos of the staff presentations, download study materials and workbooks, find links to other online sources, view pictures from the sessions, and see the results of the exercises. The Toronto Civics 101 site was also linked to the Civics 101 blog which allowed program participants to further discuss issues, post their thoughts, and continue the discussion in a public, accessible format.

Influence, Outcomes and Effects

The Toronto Civics 101 project provided people with information and resources necessary to get the most out of their engagement with the City of Toronto. By understanding how City Council functions, how decisions are made, the budget process, the basics of urban planning, rules surrounding municipal elections, and so much more, participants were able to have an impact on policy and political decisions because the governance system may no longer be abstract to them. Through this initiative, City Council could make decisions based on greater public input, meaning policies could better reflect the diverse needs and interests of equally diverse Torontonians.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

Specific Effort Made to Include Disadvantaged Groups

Extensive effort was made to address disadvantaged groups. Non-affiliated Torontonians - those with limited or no experience in politics, formal organization or government - were encouraged to participate in Toronto Civics 101. Through advertisements, the City’s website and the City’s engagement partners and practitioners already working with diverse communities, a wide range of participants were encouraged to apply. The selection process ensured the inclusion of participants with varying cultural, experiential, and social backgrounds; particularly for participants who had lived in the city for different lengths of time, in different parts of the city, and were a mix of ages. Participants were recruited through:

  • Neighbourhood Action Teams
  • Neighbourhood Renewal Projects
  • City’s grant recipients and community partners
  • Consultation participants
  • Business Improvement areas
  • Schools and universities
  • Community Centres and Libraries
  • Public advertisements

Posters and information were available through City community centres, libraries and civic centres. Copies of the ads appeared in local papers and online were available in 17 languages. Although participants were not asked to represent the interests of a particular group, participants with the following perspectives were recruited:

  • Equity-seeking groups
  • Youth
  • Seniors
  • Priority neighbourhoods
  • Business and labour

At the heart of deliberative dialogue is the belief that mutual learning by all stakeholders can create more robust, relevant, purposeful decisions. This initiative applies this principle by providing learning by and for the participants. Each session is supported by materials such as at-home reading, and are often recorded and posted on the City’s website and YouTube page to allow all Torontonians to follow along with the core group.

Secondary Sources and External Links

Civics 101 Blog https://torontocivics101.blogspot.ca/

City of Toronto Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/thecityoftoronto#p/p/7822C5731D21786D/0/Mh4...

Note

The original version of this case study first appeared on Vitalizing Democracy in 2010 and was a contestant for the 2011 Reinhard Mohn Prize. It was originally submitted by Matthew Cowley.