What happens when governments really listen to their constituents? Barbara Cohn Berman raises this provocative question in her new book, "When Governments Listen". In it she provides some answers, recounting her eight years of work with 70 governments in the U.S. and Canada. "When Governments Listen" follows up on her groundbreaking 2005 book, "Listening to the Public" in which she revealed what her Center on Government Performance learned about the public's perceptions of and needs from their local government, and that, without effective two-way communication, disconnects occur. In this new book she introduces us to the 70 governments and their project directors. She dubs them "Trailblazers", who use new ways to learn from the public, and then respond to and serve it better. They are the innovators and doers in a growing movement toward publicly engaged governing. Ms. Cohn Berman shares their successes and challenges - and provides insights and lessons of value to anyone who cares about how government works.
About the Author: Barbara J. Cohn Berman, recipient of the Harry Hatry Distinguished Performance Measurement Practice Award from the American Society for Public Administration, has been breaking new ground since 1995 by introducing the public's voice to government performance measurement, reporting and management. She has been invited to make presentations throughout the U.S., in the United Kingdom, Canada and in Australia about her work on publicly engaged governing. She has served on many boards and advisory committees, including a task force of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and was a member of the National Performance Management Advisory Commission. In addition to editing a special issue of the National Civic Review and contributing to journals, professional publications and textbooks, she is the author of Listening to the Public: Adding the Voices of the People to Government Performance Measurement and Reporting, the companion book to this volume, and of two volumes of a study, How Smooth Are New York City's Streets? Ms. Cohn Berman served in several New York City administrations as deputy and assistant commissioners in housing and personnel development, where she introduced innovative practices and programs and linked performance measures with productivity improvements. She helped design and oversaw major urban research. She is the founding director of the Center on Government Performance in the National Center for Civic Innovation and its sister organization, the Fund for the City of New York. She has taught graduate courses in public policy and public administration, and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University.