Fostering civic engagement is critical to the work that municipalities do. It often requires time and resources that can pose barriers to doing it effectively. And that’s why innovative approaches and cross-sector collaboration are needed. Flint recently won the esteemed Engaged Cities Award for its leadership in implementing inventive and inclusive civic engagement efforts.
Neighborhood stabilization through blight removal was identified as a goal in the city’s master plan adopted in 2013. The master plan was created through a robust community visioning and engagement process called, “Imagine Flint.” Building upon the spirit of community engagement sparked during the master planning process, Flint is engaging residents to meet this goal. The city, in partnership with the Genesee County Land Bank and funding from the C.S. Mott Foundation, LISC, and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, launched the Flint Property Portal in 2017.
This goal of the Flint Property Portal “is to increase public access to property information in order to strengthen engagement, transparency, and trust between residents and local government in Flint,” according to the portal website. This platform allows residents to submit comments, data, photos, and questions about properties in their neighborhoods right from a smartphone, tablet, or computer. The Flint Property Portal is gathering data in real time that is necessary to achieve the goal set by residents and empowering residents to take ownership in the process.
Cities of Service awarded Flint, MI the 2019 Engaged Cities Award on October 28 this year for the creation of the Flint Property Portal. Flint was one of three cities from the Americas and Europe to receive this award. Other winners included the cities of San Francisco, California and Plymouth, United Kingdom.
While this prize comes with $75,000 for each city, the data collected through the Flint Property Portal has helped the city leverage over $100 million in public and private dollars to improve its neighborhoods including a $60 million blight elimination grant through the U.S. Treasury Hardest Hit Fund.
The impact is so much greater than just the dollars leveraged by this project. Over 4,000 blighted homes have been demolished, improving both real and perceived safety. In a testament to the success of this community engagement effort, there have been more citizen comments submitted to the Flint Property Portal than there are residents in Flint. To date, over 120,000 citizen comments have been submitted to the Property Portal which includes residents reporting their own individual maintenance and cleanup efforts.
Former mayor Karen Weaver talked about the impact of civic engagement, “you can see the difference that it makes in people and how they view their city and how they view the people that are here in city hall working on their behalf.” In a community with limited resources, this tool is more powerful and effective because residents have access to it.
I see neighbors being more friendly. I see neighbors keeping their property up, making their community look much better.
– L.W. Miller, Flint resident
This relatively simple database tool gives residents the chance to take real ownership in their neighborhoods, giving them a sense of control over their surroundings and their city’s destiny. That sense of ownership and inclusion is creating a ripple effect of positive change in the community.
“I see neighbors being more friendly. I see neighbors keeping their property up, making their community look much better,” says Flint resident L.W. Miller in this promotional video for this project.
Like any city, Flint will continue to have challenges to address and opportunities to leverage. This recognition though, should ignite hope that Flint will approach these things with similar interest in building civic muscle and lifting community voices. Flint is modeling for other communities that putting power in the hands of residents can foster faith in government and lead to lasting change.
As Flint resident and volunteer Dawana Taylor put it, “I love my neighborhood. And I’m going to be glad to know that I was part of getting things done in the city. And we’re proud to say we’ll be a part of the change. And it’s coming. It’s coming.”