Diverse group being trained to be civic influencers
On a Saturday in April, Board of Education member Colin Hosten gave 18 Norwalkers, ages 15-72 from diverse backgrounds, a one-hour civics lesson on local government, complete with charts and graphs. When he displayed an organizational chart of city government, the box at the top said The People — all elected officials report to the people. When he showed a chart of the Board of Education, The People was the top box — all elected Board members answer to the people.
But the Norwalkers in the room were frustrated, saying politicians do whatever they want; they don’t listen to the people. Hosten pointed out that only 22 percent of eligible voters actually voted in the last municipal election.
“I hear you when you say politicians don’t even care about what we say,” he said. “But guess what? We’re not saying anything!”
The purpose of this meeting and two others in May and June is to change that dynamic, to empower people to vote, speak at meetings, get onto commissions, and maybe even run for office. Norwalk ACTS, a partnership of more than 200 individual people and organizations, is sponsoring these civic influencer workshops.
At the end of the three sessions, all participants will create a personal action plan, said Jennifer Barahona, CEO of Norwalk ACTS, and they will continue to check in with each other in quarterly meetings. Then, she said, another cohort will be trained and then another.
“We are building toward having hundreds of
people that have been trained and ready to use their voices to weigh in on issues they care about,” she said.
Three members of this cohort are high school or college students. Maanav Patel, a 16-year old Norwalk student at the Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering, a magnet school in Stamford, said he is a member of Norwalk ACTS. He cares about the future of Norwalk. “I’m active in youth engagement activities, like Teen Nights Out, and I went to the middle schools to talk about the survey they would take about how they feel in school,” he said.
Alejandra Castro, a 15year old sophomore at
Brien McMahon High School, said she came because she feels it’s important to learn how to be effective in making change. “In the future, if I have any ideas about things, I need to learn to speak out,” she said.
Her mom, Ivett Castro, an immigrant from Bolivia, sat next to her at the meeting. “I decided to be the best mom I can be. That’s why I’m here — to teach my daughter to learn more about how life is here in the USA.”
Jim Martinez, currently an educational consultant with Edu-Solve and formerly the education administrator for school counseling in the Norwalk Public Schools, is the facilitator of these sessions. He
has a great deal of experience with civic engagement as a former member of the Monroe Board of Education and treasurer for his town’s Democratic Town Committee, and he’s done lots of campaigning with candidates.
His goal for the participants is empowerment. “I want them to know they can really make a difference and then give them the tools to move forward to pursue any type of civic engagement,” he said.
The first session focused on the skills and knowledge active citizens need. “The primary skill set is to help them understand and appreciate the various types of people in Norwalk, and then to get a clearer understanding of
our government,” he said.
The program was designed by Julie Corbett, a former member of the Norwalk Board of Education, who is currently getting her PhD from American University. Because of her concern about serving on an all-white Board of Education in a school system that is more than 60 percent people of color, she began studying how to break down the barriers that make it harder for people to get involved in local government. “Many folks who could be effective board members and public officials think they don’t have the skills and professional qualifications to get involved,” she said.
The three-part program aims to help people recognize and value their own experiences, empower people to use their voices effectively, and learn about things that might be intimidating, like finance and Robert’s Rules of Order.
Now that the program, which is part of her doctoral studies, has begun, her role is to “stay in the background and work as a researcher-observer during the sessions,” she said.
“I was really happy with the first session,” Corbett said. “I was impressed by the willingness of the participates to engage with each other, in a cordial and curious way.”
People from all walks of life, from different racial and ethnic groups, and of different ages, shared their experiences, their frustrations with government, and their desire to be part of the solution to problems.
Chris Mahanna, age 51, has been active on school governance councils, but he wants to do more and learn how to be effective. “My wife is a social worker and she’s always saying, ‘Put your money where your mouth is,’ so here I am.”
Hosten was there to help them learn to navigate the system. After showing slides about the changing demographics and income levels in Norwalk, he showed slides that explained how city government works.
He urged them to see the big picture. “Half the battle is just showing up. When 75 percent don’t vote, the folks who do get outsized influence,” he said. “If we actually show up, we have power.”