Collaborative governance, or co-governance, refers to a broad range of practices that elected officials, community leaders, bureaucrats, and organizers are adopting as they figure out how to govern together. Going beyond demands, co-governance represents a willing shift of power and trust among two typically adversarial parties. Instead of representatives and those represented on either side of a line, both see themselves as partners working together to build the world we want to live in. 

On December 15, Philadelphia City Council Member Helen Gym, former Gainesville City Commissioner Gail Johnson, State Innovation Exchange Co-Executive Director Jessie Ulibarri, and Texas Organizing Project Strategy Director Crystal Zermeno joined New America's Hollie Russon Gilman and Local Progress's Sarah Johnson to discuss best practices, identify promising strategies, and highlight lessons from their on-the-ground experiences with co-governance in the U.S. The conversation moves beyond the dichotomy of "inside" and "outside" power to how those in government can share decision-making with movement partners. 

 

Share

Created with Sketch.

About Hollie Russon Gilman

Created with Sketch.

Hollie Russon Gilman is a Fellow in the Political Reform program at New America and teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is the author of Democracy Reinvented: Participatory Budgeting and Civic Innovation in the United States. She served in the Obama Administration as the White House Open Government and Innovation Advisor in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She holds a PhD from Harvard’s Department of Government and a BA in political science from the University of Chicago.
 

About Sarah Johnson

Sarah is the Executive Director of Local Progress. Prior to joining Local Progress, Sarah served as the Managing Director at the Working Families Organization where she helped develop a senior management team to guide organizational strategy and as the Elections Director for the New York Working Families Party where she helped recruit, train and elect progressive elected officials at all levels of government and contributed to doubling the size of the Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council. Sarah got her start as a political organizer for SEIU 32BJ where she managed member-to-member political programs and supported the union’s equitable development advocacy work, including the passage of a prevailing wage bill for New York City building service workers

Related Articles