Citizen Participation—Lessons from a Local United Way Planning Process

Abstract

This research evaluated a local United Way planning process that was designed to provide a forum for citizen participation in United Way policy decisions. Study participants were randomly assigned to high, moderate, or low levels of participation. High level of participation represented the traditional mechanism by which United Way has elicited citizen contributions to planning decisions. The researchers predicted that as a result of participation, participants at the high level of participation would exhibit a relatively strong sense of empowerment, congruence with United Way policy decisions, and sense of community. Results indicated a significant effect of participation related to sense of empowerment, but no differences between the groups at the high, moderate, and low levels of participation in either the congruence of their attitudes with United Way policy decisions, or their sense of community.