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Public Participation Adopting a pet is one way to get involved in making our city better. There are many others. My adnQ:inistration believes in the power of public participation. It can sometimes be messy and take a little longer, but in the long run it produces the best results. Over the years we have involved residents in making public policy decisions through DTSB and the Commercial Corridor program. Our city engages residents at neighborhood organizations and partnership centers. We have a Neighborhood Resa~ce Corporation which provides advice, training and support to grassroots groups. Police and Fire both offer "academies" to inform residents about the operations of these key departments. Two special initiatives bring this commitment to a new level: the Local Government Academy and City Plan. In 2004 The Legal Department designed a ten week Local Government Academy to introduce residents to City operations and encourage them to participate in local government. The Academy is a way to communicate the broad responsibilities of the City to community leaders and the public at large. City employees served as the faculty and the "classroom" traveled to the Street, Police and Fire Departments, O'Brien Center, Century Center, the Morris Performing Arts Center, the Palais Royale and Human Rights Office, the Near Northwest Neighborhood Center, Rose Brick ~ Material, and the Common Council Chambers, where class members presented a resolution at a mock Council meeting. The class also took a bus tour of several redevelopment, public works and neighborhood projects. The Academy showed people parts of the City they had never seen and how the City is working to serve them. The next session begins January 26. City Plan is an inclusive comprehensive planning effort that is creating a bhieprint far South Bend's growth during the next twenty years. It has involved the most intense outreach effort in the history of the city. Hundreds of citizens have come together to make this process and lecture series a resounding success. Involvement and collaboration between the public and private sectors are A-21