The Sfu & city of Surrey transportation lecture program: measuring its impacts on participants

This study investigates the impact of the SFU and City of Surrey Transportation Lecture Program (TLP) on its participants' capacity to engage in local government and governance, contributing to an assessment of how broad-based civic education programs such as the TLP contribute to more collaborative and engaged local citizenship. Using in-depth interviews with eight program participants, as well as additional interviews with city and SFU staff, the study finds that participants had positive experiences and left the program with useful information, perspectives and relationships, but that they do not necessarily reflect the broader community or contribute to democratic participation more broadly. Programs like the TLP contribute in a piecemeal way to greater engagement by participants, but further development is needed to determine longer-term democratic goals.