Civic participation and citizen engagement at the local
level will be the focus of the 20th Conference on the Small City and Regional
Community, to be held at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County in Wausau,
October 6-7, 2015.
With a theme of “Re-Imagining Public Engagement: Civic
Participation in Local Governance,” the conference begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday,
Oct. 6, with a keynote address. It continues Wednesday, Oct. 7, with a full day
of workshops and panel discussions.
The keynote address, “Small Cities: Centers of a
Democratic Renaissance,” will be given by Harry Boyte, a senior fellow at the
University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and director of the
Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College.
Among session topics Wednesday are governing and
governance, cultural engagement for community development, youth involvement,
needs analysis and planning, brownfields redevelopment, social media, policy
issues and alternative transportation methods. A panel discussion on
“Overcoming the Citizen-Government Gap: New Strategies for Successful
Communities and a Successful Democracy” will feature Boyte as well as David
Holwerk, director of communications for the Kettering Foundation, and John
Dickert, mayor of Racine.
Nearly 50 speakers in 15 sessions will address various
issues associated with American democracy at the local level, said
co-organizer, Bob Wolensky of UW-Stevens Point. “The conference is intended for
citizens, officials, professionals, researchers and others interested in public
participation and civic advancement in small cities and towns.” For the full
conference program and registration information, go to http://go.wipps.org/smallcities2015.
The
conference co-sponsors are the UW-Stevens Point Center for the Small City, the
Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service and the North Central
Regional Planning Commission. The Small Cities conference was founded at
UW-Stevens Point in 1978. For more information, contact Wolensky at rwolensk@uwsp.edu or go to www.uwsp.edu/cols-ap/smallCity.
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