Connecting Neighborhood Councils and City Agencies: Trust Building through the Learning and Design Forum Process

Abstract

Though citizen trust in government is very important for the legitimacy of the government, there is evidence to show that citizen trust in government is decreasing, not only in the United States of America but also all over the world. Scholars argue that citizen participation and collaborative processes involving citizen stakeholders in government decision-making could lead to increasing citizen trust in government. However, the argument that citizen participation in governance and citizen-government collaboration can lead to increased trust in governance from a conceptual or macro level perspective is difficult to visualize or establish empirically. We suggest that this collaboration and participation has to be at the experiential micro or local government level rather than at the conceptual macro level. Citizen participation in general has to translate into collaborative relationships between specific micro-level citizen organizations and city or local public agencies. We also propose that citizen participation mechanisms like collaborations and cooperative arrangements as well as the processes of collaboration are critical to establish the participation-trust causal relationship. We then present our Learning and Design Forum model as a process that facilitates a sustainable agreement between neighborhood councils and city agencies model for developing mutual trust and collaboration.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pradeep Chandra Kathi

Pradeep Chandra Kathi, ABD, is a doctoral candidate in public administration at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development, University of Southern California. He has a master’s degree in management from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon. He was the co-principal investigator and lead research assistant on the Collaborative Learning Project, which aims to connect city agencies and neighborhood councils of Los Angeles.

Terry L. Cooper

Terry L. Cooper, Ph.D., is the Maria B. Crutcher Professor in Citizenship and Democratic Values in the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development. Cooper’s research centers on citizen participation and ethics in government. Currently he is director of the USC Civic Engagement Initiative and is a co-principal investigator in the USC Neighborhood Participation Project conducting research on the role of neighborhood councils in governance in the City of Los Angeles.