This poster session will document the process and outcome of developing a Citizens' Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for the City of San Antonio, Texas. The document was created by an Advanced Communities class in the Department of Social Work at the University of Texas at San Antonio, in connection with the Mayor's SA 2020 initiative, a comprehensive effort whose goal was to engage the citizens of San Antonio in creating a vision for the future of the city. The Bill of Rights and Responsibilities was developed as part of the Government Accountability and Civic Engagement Vision Area that was developed during the first phase of the SA2020 initiative. Students conducted focus groups and town hall meetings with citizens in each of the City's 10 Council Districts in coming up with the document. This document is notably different than similar documents developed for other jurisdictions across the country in that it contains BOTH rights AND responsibilities. This effort could serve as a model process for other communities with similar initiatives.
