Policy Forum Pod

Imagine you’re a philanthropist with a big pot of money and a pressing social problem you’d like to solve in your city. You gather all the best academic knowledge on the topic, employ an army of consultants to design a cutting-edge solution, and announce the initiative to great fanfare on live television. So far so good, right? Well, if your philanthropic policy-making forgot to talk to the people who might actually be affected, you could find it does a whole lot more harm than good. Such top-down approaches to policy are all too common – and it’s partly because involving the community in decision-making can be difficult and time-consuming. On this week’s podcast, hosts Martyn Pearce and Sue Regan hear from Paul Schmitz, one of America’s most influential non-profit leaders and an expert in community engagement. Topics discussed include the best and the worst cases of community involvement in public policy, how to know whose voices to listen to, and why poor people might be experts on escaping poverty. Paul Sc