Over the past few years, the City of Wichita has been deliberate in its efforts to encourage citizen engagement. This began in response to a 2010 Soul of the Community Report by the Knight Foundation which suggested that Wichitans were less attached to our community than residents in other cities. Among the strategies implemented by the City to address this issue was an increased emphasis on City department partnerships with neighborhoods and civic groups intended to encourage citizens to become more involved in community problem-solving. A new partnership with Wichita Independent Neighborhoods and the City’s Office of Citizen Engagement is one of the Library’s initiative toward achieving this goal.

City 101 is a series of classes held in several Library locations. Sessions are taught by neighborhood leaders and focus on these topics:

1. How Wichita Works (parts of City government and how to be involved in important decisions);
2. City Departments (who to call when help is needed and how to best achieve neighborhood improvements);
3. Forming Non-Governmental Organizations (how to start or re-start a neighborhood association);
4. Meetings and Attendance (how meeting management encourages participation); and
5. Leadership Skills and Styles (how to develop skills to build and guide effective groups).

Initial response to this first series of classes has been excellent, generating feedback such as “excellent class,” “very educational,” and “a must for any community leader in Wichita.” Candidates for City Council and Wichita School Board are among those attending this first training series. Short term outcomes of City 101 are expected to be improved relationships between the City of Wichita, its departments and neighborhood associations, increased interest in participation in the City’s District Advisory Boards and growth in the number of active leaders of neighborhood associations. Longer term outcomes to be achieved are increased citizen engagement on difficult community issues, increasing scores on the “opportunities to participate in community matters” rating on the National Citizen Survey.