People-Centered Oversight
Helping those with the Most at Stake to Hold our Government Accountable
The Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is committed to preventing the recurrence of tragedies like the Flint water crisis and other failures where public officials do not pay attention to the on-the-ground results of policies they created. The water crisis revealed an oversight and accountability gap that exists across the policy landscape in which the concerns and fundamental rights of marginalized communities can easily be ignored, and residents lack the resources and platforms to effectively share how policies affect their lives and make their voices heard. The Levin Center is piloting in Flint, Michigan a new approach to oversight and accountability we call People-Centered Oversight (“PCO”) that is designed to close that gap.
Working with residents and community organizations and leaders in Flint, we are designing, testing, and evaluating strategies and technologies that empower people to share their lived experience with government programs, and to provide direct data input and feedback to NGOs, lawmakers, and the media about the real-world impacts of government policies.
Leveraging Community and Technology Between Elections
Our goal is to bring innovative technology and community organizing into the work of oversight, government transparency, and accountability. Through community workshops designed to identify issues and elevate the power of individual storytelling, we are seeking to enliven and democratize legislative oversight by giving people, especially those from marginalized communities, the opportunity to be heard and have their voices amplified.
Our pilot project was led by Chia Morgan and Jasmine McKenney, two experienced community organizers from Flint who brought a wealth of talent, expertise, and passion to empowering their neighbors to communicate their “groundtruths” on vital issues and programs. The Levin Center partnered with local community leaders, faith leaders, and media outlets to capture and amplify the words, pictures, and videos of Flint community members. This work will continue to evolve over the coming years. For updates on the pilot project, check our list of articles and our slide deck below.
Partnership with Flintside and Flint Beat - Local Solutions Journalism
We have teamed up with local news outlets Flintside and Flint Beat for a story series that aims to address the issues most affecting the Flint community. Part of our People-Centered Oversight project, the series of community stories will bring citizens’ voices into the legislative oversight process to elevate people’s stories and concerns and hold government accountable.
List of Articles
- Jan 19, 2023: Flint Beat and Flintside team up with Levin Center for people-centered oversight series
- Jan 23, 2023: Flint Beat teams up with Flintside, Levin Center for people-centered oversight series
- Jan 28, 2023: Teams complete census of people experiencing homelessness in Flint, Genesee County
- Feb 5, 2023: Looking to cut down 911 response time, UM-Flint police offer the city a data-driven solution
- Feb 22, 2023: Land Bank provides update on thousands of demolitions planned in Flint, Genesee County
- Mar 1, 2023: Flint Beat and Flintside to hold two community listening sessions in March
- Mar 22, 2023: Rev. Jerry Kerr is hopeful while looking for solutions to gun violence
- Apr 6, 2023: Every school I ever went to in Flint is gone – Addressing Flint’s ongoing urban blight as a result of school closings
- April 23, 2023: A downtown Flint vending machine is helping combat opioid overdose deaths, stigma
- May 6, 2023: Nine years later: Water crisis settlement claims delayed, residents say process is unfair
- May 8, 2023: How urban blight affects Flint residents’ health, and what the city is doing to change that
- May 19, 2023: The redemption and compassion of Flint community leader Percy Glover
