BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

125. The reasons for this growing concern on the part of citizens are
complex. This paper has mentioned a few of them in generalized terms.
In brief there is a reaction against the middle class and universal sameness
and anonymity which accompanies technocracy.
126. The characteristics of dissent are widespread and indisputable.
In developing nations as in the highly industrialized countries, citizens
are identifying themselves with communities. In some cases these communities
are geographic. (I live in such and such a place, and our neighborhood
has distinct and recognizable characteristics.) In other cases,
people form a cluster or community of concern around certain issues. (I
want better education for my children so I have jointed a vigorous group
of concerned parents.) In either case strong local characteristics
emerge, identities of language, environment, culture, and hmman skills and
resources.
127. The coincidence of these two major trends - increasing co-ordination
among bureaucracies, and citizen dissent - provides unique and unparalleled
opportunities for administrators and their citizen-constituents to come together
and solve mutual problems in joint action.
128. Although all of the examples in this paper have been drawn from the
United States, their basic characteristics are widely shared. The Southeast
Alternatives model in Minneapolis, for example, is an obvious prototype,
not simply for the United States but for cities in several countries,
of how-citizens and public bureaucracies can work together to develop a
network of community resources, and co-ordinate them administratively in
terms of a series of dynamic programs. Similarly the inter-sectoral and
community processes which occurred in Pontiac or in East Orange could take
place in most countries and situations in which capital construction is
programmed. The Pontiac model shows that even in a community torn by
violence it is possible to gather citizens and various bureaucracies together
in a single process, and develop programs and plans in a climate of
mutually agreed goals and mechanisms.
129. There are two principal keys to processes in which citizens and public
bureaucracies work together towards mutual goals:
- the inclusion of citizens should begin right at the very beginning
of the project; it should be open and without "hidden agendas"
(if the citizens sense that they are being "manipulated" by the
public sector, the loss of confidence that results will cripple
the process); and the citizens should perceive that their inputs
are being listened to and carry real weight in the outcome;
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