Civic Innovations in Public Budgeting: Oakland’s Equity Approach and Leon County’s Simulation Game 

August 27, 2024

It’s rare to hear about civic and democratic innovation in public budgeting. Often, the way in which regular capital and operational investment planning occurs tends to limit discussion to particular...

Financing Local Wellbeing   

May 27, 2024

Inequality has risen across advanced industrial democracies over several decades due to economic downturns, decreasing real wages, the restructuring of government services and finances, the rise of financial services combined...

Replacing Microphones with Deliberation

February 29, 2024

In many places official public meetings are reaching a crisis point because meeting formats are fodder for problematic exchanges between the public and elected officials. We need to think about...

Three Ways to Strengthen Neighborhood Governance

January 30, 2024

Recent research from the SNF Agora Institute reveals a significant discrepancy in the availability of civic opportunities across different regions of America. At the same time, this research maps hundreds...

If You Want to Improve Local Democracy, Start by Getting to Know Your Community

December 1, 2023

If you want community members to participate productively in public meetings, it helps to have a high level of knowledge about their attitudes, history, and networks. Where do you they...

Using Democratic Innovation to Rebuild Trust between Elected Officials and Citizens

December 1, 2023

According to Pew Research, public trust in government is among the lowest it has been in 70 years of polling. Today, 25% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they trust...

Essay IX: Mapping the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem 

November 22, 2023

  Democracy and citizenship continue to evolve, spurred by new threats and new opportunities. In order to exert some control over these changes, we need to understand the nature of...

Practitioner Lessons for the Operation of Citizens’ Assemblies

October 30, 2023

In recent years, citizen assemblies have grown in popularity across the world. In the United States, notable organizations like the Democracy Creative, Healthy Democracy, Berggruen Institute, Deliberative Democracy Lab, and...

Local Civic Leaders Report

October 12, 2023

Download the Full Report The Center for Democracy Innovation interviewed a variety of local civic leaders to better understand how they are faring amidst a variety of challenges facing American...

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