MAP 150

When citizens are “co-producers” in the public good, policies will look different and outcomes for the common good will improve. This is the premise upon which the Citizens League MAP 150 project is built. Policy is now primarily set by experts and vested interests, which leads to excessive partisanship, gridlock and policy stagnation. The goal of the Minnesota Anniversary Project (MAP 150) is to reinvent policy-making by reconnecting the vision, values and voices of Minnesotans with policy-making on the issues that matter most to our future. MAP 150 is a special project of the Citizens League.

Large, complex public policy issues, such as education, transportation, healthcare and land use, are not being managed or solved. New, well-planned solutions and tools for the management of ongoing dilemmas are needed to transcend special interests and gridlocked politics to drive towards solutions. But, citizens today are not seen as part of the solution, but little will happen without their consent.

Minnesotans are looking for meaningful opportunities to get involved to change things for the better.

• 54% said that citizens have more to offer to help solve problems, but they are often not listened to or given a chance.
• 63% believe that citizens should have a greater responsibility in solving public problems.
• The number one barrier to more civic participation is “too much talk and not enough action.”

The Citizens League and its MAP 150 project operate according to the following principles:

• People impacted by a problem should have a role in defining the problem.
• Every project must advance the state-of-the-art in citizen engagement.
• Education takes place through engagement, not as an “entry price.”
• Only involve citizens if they have a meaningful opportunity to shape outcomes, not just to market an idea or a foregone conclusion.

The Citizen League believes, and always has, that citizens will act to promote the common good given the opportunity. When citizens are involved in co-producing their society and future, policies will look different and the outcomes will improve. The purpose of MAP 150 is to improve Minnesota’s problem-solving capacity by developing tools and processes that place citizens more fully in the role of “co-producers” of the public good. It seeks to put into practice “the wisdom of crowds” in the public arena–processes virtually nonexistent in the public sector.

	Typical Citizen Processes	MAP 150 Process
Role	Experts “educate” citizens	Citizens are assumed to contain “the wisdom of crowds”
Accountability	Citizens are involved because “we’re supposed to”	Expectations about value and use of citizen influence are made explicit
Objective	Get citizen “buy in”	Common understandings and creative solutions that can expedite approvals and improve projects
Input	Citizens comment on predetermined proposals	Citizens explore various scenarios and their implications
Consequences	The trade-offs of options are not made clear	Citizens express their values by “optimizing” situations
Discussion	One way communications	Citizens discuss with and learn from each other and experts
Access	Opportunities for input are limited, and site and time specific	Opportunities for input are 24/7, and can be limited or extensive
Outcomes	Citizens feel they’ve been railroaded, so decision-makers face controversy and anger	Citizens feel the process is fair and they understand the compromises inherent in making decision for the common good

We’ve done a lot of work and research so far, including a statewide statistically valid poll, interviews with hundreds of Minnesotans, research into the true “facts” around many of Minnesota’s most daunting issues. We’ve used these findings to identify the following priorities for Minnesota to focus on in preparation for its 150th anniversary:

1. How can politics become more useful in solving citizen’s shared problems?
2. What can students teach us about how school needs to change so that we see dramatic improvements in student achievement?
3. How can we make our health care system more affordable and secure, regardless of a person’s work situation?
4. How can we remove the mystery from how our taxes are used?

We’re now working to develop short-term solutions and long-term strategies that find common ground on each priority. See the demonstration projects section for more information.