National Civic League and Civic Action Lab Host Webinar on Parkersburg Engagement Project — September 23, 2026

The National Civic League and the Civic Action Lab, formerly known as the SHIFT Action Lab, are hosting a webinar examining how bridging, community organizing, and participatory democracy combined to drive civic change in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The session builds on a recent National Civic Review article exploring the Parkersburg Engagement Project, a year-long pilot that engaged hundreds of residents on the issue of substance use and generated more than 500 community ideas that were turned into a concrete action plan. Speakers include leaders from the Civic Action Lab and steering committee members who led the Parkersburg initiative firsthand, offering practical insight into how three distinct civic fields can work together more effectively than any one alone. The webinar takes place September 23 at 1 pm ET, 10 am PT, and is open to anyone in NCDD's network interested in inter-field collaboration and community-driven engagement. For NCDD's audience, the event offers a concrete case study in how bridge-building, organizing, and participatory democracy can be woven together to address a shared community challenge and build lasting civic infrastructure. Readers can register to attend and hear directly from the practitioners who carried out the work; read more in the blog post below

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The National Civic League, an NCDD member organization, is partnering with the Civic Action Lab to host a webinar on lessons learned from the Parkersburg Engagement Project, a year-long civic pilot in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The project set out to test what happens when bridging, community organizing, and participatory democracy are combined rather than pursued separately, using all three approaches to engage residents around the issue of substance use in their community. The webinar builds on a recent National Civic Review article that examines the pilot in depth, and offers NCDD's network a timely opportunity to hear directly from the people who designed and led the work.

The Parkersburg Engagement Project engaged hundreds of residents and ultimately translated more than 500 community ideas into a concrete, community-driven action plan. The webinar will explore how the three fields, bridging, organizing, and participatory democracy, each brought distinct strengths to the effort, strengthening local leadership, helping the project navigate challenges, and ensuring that resident input shaped the final outcome. This kind of inter-field collaboration speaks directly to NCDD's broader interest in how dialogue, deliberation, and collaborative action can be combined in practice, particularly around difficult, community-defined issues where no single approach is sufficient on its own. Speakers include Laura Rigell of the Civic Action Lab, Ryan Echols of the Civic Action Lab, and Parkersburg Engagement Project steering committee members Lisa Doyle-Parsons, Wendy Tuck, and Jason Earl.

The webinar takes place Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 1pm ET, 12pm CT, 11am MT, and 10am PT. NCDD's network is encouraged to register and take part in a conversation that offers practical, field-tested lessons for anyone working at the intersection of community organizing, bridge-building, and participatory governance. Readers can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/m4Nizid8QfKHynA5aUIdsg