At this week's Round Table, Jack, Kenisha, and Vanessa spoke with Betsy MacLean, the first Chief Engagement Officer of the City of New York. Betsy previously ran her own non-profit organization called Hester Street that sits at the intersection of communities and the government. From cultivating diverse relationships between staff to drastically increasing the national and international scale of their projects, Betsy played a crucial role in helping city agencies engage communities in ways that are inclusive, equitable, and accountable. She strongly believes in the need for communities to work very closely with the government, particularly low-income, marginalized communities that have been historically left out of the policy and decision-making process. This is an outgrowth of her work in East New York over many years, developing housing and directing broader community planning and development. From all of her insightful experiences, she talks about the inspiration she draws from communities working together to create something bigger than themselves, referring to this as a path to “collective liberation.”
Betsy shared why she loves her job: she strongly believes that “We have to have a government that works for us, that works with us, that is powered by us, because it is the entity that can make significant change at scale.” She recognizes that people often feel alienated when it comes to the government. A key issue that needs to be addressed is that there is no central hub for all of the city’s engagement work to be coordinated and no real opportunity for all city agencies to directly communicate with one another to address constraints being experienced by communities.
Betsy spoke with us about how her work aims to address these ongoing issues in order to build city-wide civic trust and well-being. Getting agencies to promote open communication and collaboration with communities will not only result in better policies, but also lead to better outcomes and the closer connection between communities and government that is necessary for true democracy. We must get better at addressing the challenges that groups of individuals experience and blending all of these together to create inclusive, equitable, and effective solutions for our city. Thank you for listening!
