ABSTRACT

Neighborhood organizations are positioned to intercede between private interests and public purposes by facilitating citizen participation and promoting civic engagement in municipal governance. However, it is not clearly understood to what extent these organizations engage a more active populace and contribute to democratic outcomes. This article reports the findings from an exploratory and qualitative case study of a population of neighborhood organizations, or District Councils, within the City of Saint Paul District Council system, which is located in Minnesota, U.S. Study participants described dualistic and competing roles in managing their nonprofit organizations while meeting neighborhood needs, and accounts of diminishing civic participation. The findings also point to several organizational and neighborhood contingencies that might have influenced civic engagement capacities including the size of District Council boards of directors. Overall, this study revealed constraints on civic engagement capacities throughout the Saint Paul District Council system. This study contributes to extant research regarding civic engagement and public participation, and the findings bring attention to needed improvements within municipal civic participation systems.

摘要

街道组织的定位是通过促进公民参与和促进公民参与城市治理来协调私人利益和公共目的。然而，尚不清楚这些组织在多大程度上吸引了更活跃的民众并为民主成果做出了贡献。本文报告了对位于美国明尼苏达州圣保罗市区议会系统内的社区组织或区议会群体的探索性和定性案例研究的结果研究参与者描述了在管理其社区组织和区议会方面的二元和竞争角色。非营利组织同时满足社区需求，以及公民参与不断减少的情况。调查结果还指出了一些可能影响公民参与能力的组织和邻里突发事件，包括区议会董事会的规模。总体而言，这项研究揭示了整个圣保罗区议会系统公民参与能力的限制。这项研究有助于现有有关公民参与和公众参与的研究，其研究结果引起人们对市政公民参与系统中需要改进的关注。