About Us

Mission

How do we move forward on critically important and deeply divisive issues like policing, public safety, affordable housing, health, and more? At the Public Engagement in Governance Looking, Listening, and Learning Laboratory (PEGLLLLab), we believe that the answer lies in learning how to listen, and through creating and expanding  the conversation to include not only those who create and administer policies, but those who will live with them. This means working with municipalities and organizations to broaden the definition of public safety to include social service professionals and community members – taking a holistic approach that brings more people into a critically-important equation in our world today. At the PEGLLLLab, we work with municipalities to help them bring the public into conversations that will ultimately help us create public policies and align professional and communal practices. We believe, because we have seen it happen, that this more inclusive and participatory approach is key to keeping ourselves and our communities safe, whole, and thriving.

Process

At the PEGLLLLab, we know that our mission of facilitating looking, listening, and learning is not going to happen on its own. Our job is to create situations and environments in which these things can happen. It is all about who you can bring to the table, and then how you set that table for success. Human beings are skilled at building walls between people and communities they don’t actually know. When you put people face to face, or in these times, computer screen to computer screen, good things happen. Difficult conversations can be had. Common ground can be found. And change can be engineered. Whether we are working with city and community leaders and police departments to create a path toward policies and approaches that change not only the narrative, but the reality in a city, or simply creating opportunities for young people and police to come together in a  fruitful and non-threatening environment, the PEGLLLLab is dedicated to helping its partner communities move forward together

Looking

At the PEGLLLLab, we encourage critical introspection that challenges our own thoughts and beliefs in order to reveal what might be hidden in plain sight.

Listening

By facilitating intentional and sometimes difficult conversations, the PEGLLLLab team cultivates an inclusive environment where people feel heard and human experiences can be shared and built upon.

Learning

Leveraging the institutional and professional knowledge of the PEGLLLLab and our partners, we work to create mutual understanding between the public and those that represent them. In doing so, we aim to generate better policies and more vibrant communities.

The PEGLLLLab is housed inside the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.