Speak your peace: A communications strategy for changing community culture

Abstract

"Speak Your Peace: The Civility Project" (SYP) was developed by the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation and the Millennium Group to improve the civility of public discourse, under the premise that this would strengthen community decision making, expand civic engagement, and increase residents' interest in elected office. The SYP campaign used a multi-modal approach to promotes nine principles (or "tools") adapted from Forni's book Choosing Civility (e.g., pay attention, take responsibility, apologize, give constructive criticism). Public and governmental groups that adopted these principles did engage in more civil interactions, and there is some evidence that this has spread to other citizens who are active in local public affairs.