Participatory Accountability is a forthcoming book about how community organizations respond to harm and conflict through accountability processes. It begins from a simple premise: when an organization creates rules, receives reports, evaluates conduct, or imposes consequences, it is not just acting from care. It is taking responsibility for governance.

Many community organizations want to offer accountability processes because they care deeply about the people, practices, and shared spaces they are trying to protect. They want to address harm, preserve trust, uphold shared values, and create communities where people can feel safe enough to participate fully. But once actual concerns arise, the work can quickly become more difficult than leaders are prepared for.

Accountability processes can require organizations to make high-stakes decisions under conditions of partial information, emotional intensity, overlapping relationships, reputational risk, limited capacity, and competing expectations. Leaders are often asked to simultaneously act as policy makers, investigators, adjudicators, communicators, support people, and consequence administrators, usually without training, clear process guidance, or meaningful institutional support.

Participatory Accountability examines why this work is so difficult, why many reporting systems fail, and how communities can build processes better suited to their actual capacities and responsibilities. It offers a model of accountability designed specifically for community organizations. Selected pre-release chapters and excerpts will be posted below as the book develops. To get updates and new writings delivered directly to your mailbox, join my mailing list.