EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 9:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, April 11, 2018.

EVENT: Students from the U-M School of Information will share the work they have been doing to support citizen engagement in Lansing and Ferndale, Mich., through the Citizen Interaction Design program.

CID connects students with Michigan cities to develop information tools that support citizen involvement with their city governments. The program started in 2013 with a three-year partnership in Jackson, Mich. Since then students have tackled projects in Ferndale, Traverse City, Royal Oak, Ann Arbor and Lansing.

Some of the projects to be presented:

• Students are working with Lansing city staff and neighborhood resources on the Southside Champions project, exploring opportunities to better connect youths and their parents around the influences and risks that pervade modern life, including violent and mature messages in the media, peer pressure, availability of drugs and alcohol, and the consequences of engaging in sexual activity before adulthood.
• Another student team is working with Lansing staff to improve the website LansingNeighborhoods.info, to change it from a one-way information source to one that facilitates action and engagement among neighbors and city government.
• A Planned Natural Landscape program in Ferndale offers a new way to reduce flooding and surface water pollution but it is underutilized. Students are creating a solution to support and encourage use of the program.
• Students are working with Ferndale on a Safe Routes (and clear sidewalks) 2 School project to reverse the decline in children walking and bicycling to schools, increase kids’ safety and reverse the nationwide trend toward childhood obesity and inactivity by encouraging community members to contribute to and maintain safe walking routes.

The Lansing projects and upcoming internship opportunities were developed through a new partnership with the Department of Neighborhoods and Citizen Engagement at the City of Lansing. CID has been working with the city of Ferndale since 2016.

PLACE: Lansing City Hall lobby, 124 W. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Mich.

INFORMATION: citizeninteraction.org