If you are a local public agency, nonprofit or business leader, how do you think about the people who live in your area? Are they voters? Donors? Customers of your product? Of a service? Volunteers? Leaders and staff at agencies routinely use language and practices that regard residents in terms of the function they play in [...]
When it comes to providing information on complex issues, such as housing, it can be hard to know where to begin. Some people seem to know a lot, some not very much and confusion feels prevalent. Click the image above to see a larger version of Half Moon Bay's housing background handout. For the [...]
Redwood City Public Library Director Derek Wolfgram and the entire RCPL leadership team are committed to inclusion. The first of the library's five operating principles is: "Our community is welcoming and inclusive, celebrates the diversity of our population, and enjoys a friendly, neighborly community spirit. The Redwood City Library has been using innovative programming to build relationships [...]
As cities throughout the Bay Area determine how to address the region’s housing needs, multi-sector collaboratives are helping to guide the way. Over the past two and a half years, Common Knowledge has walked alongside members of Home for All, a county-wide collaborative, as they work to improve the climate for housing decisions in San Mateo [...]
Susan Stuart Clark was recently interviewed by Mary Leong for the PlaceSpeak blog. The conversation focused largely on Common Knowledge’s approach to community-driven design. Below are excerpts of the full interview; click here to visit the original. What’s the difference between user-centered design and community-driven design? User-centered design is really popular these days, and Common Knowledge [...]
A student from Berkeley Reads looks over the 2016 Easy Voter Guide. "This one is a lot better than the other one," he said. "It is simpler to understand." Busting the apathy myth: an origin story The seminal project that launched Common Knowledge over 20 years ago was the "Key to Community Voter Involvement Project." [...]
Common Knowledge was originally founded to put a more inclusive “public” in public participation. Over the years, we’ve grown to see it’s equally important to put more “unity” in community. At Common Knowledge, we’ve designed hundreds of programs and trainings that bring people together to listen together and learn together. This cumulative experience leads us to [...]
