EDGI submitted a public comment in response to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Request for Information, “Methods and Leading Practices for Advancing Public Participation and Community Engagement with the Federal Government.” Read our comment highlights and click for the full text of the comment below!
Comment Highlights
EDGI appreciates OMB’s initiative to build a framework agencies can implement to advance public participation and community engagement (PPCE). In order to do this effectively, EDGI stresses three key points:
- To be effective and worthwhile, the primary goal of advancing PPCE must be to improve the impact public participation has on federal actions and activities, not simply to increase the breadth or frequency of public participation.
- The OMB framework needs to design PPCE approaches that have the appropriate timing and depth of input sought such that the participating public has the opportunity to direct government actions as well as provide opinions on them.
- Information management must be central to these efforts. A diverse range of PPCE efforts will require different types of informational resources, but there must be a minimum standard for information management so the public may always know where to find and how to share information to effectively engage with the federal government. There must be designated places on agency websites where agencies provide informational resources to support public understanding of and involvement in critical issues.
Read the full comment here: EDGI Public Comment on OMB RFI PPCE