Although negative stereotypes about young people persist, their “non-expert expertise” is irreplaceable. This article highlights promising practices and examples, drawn from the author’s two decades of work supporting aspiring teen problem solvers in the public policy arena.
A business must be efficient to drive profits. Government, however, is more like a nonprofit organization. It exists to provide the services we collectively agree are needed. As citizens, it is our responsibility to ensure those services are delivered effectively and at reasonable cost.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform our democracy, but there are important questions that remain unanswered. It is important not only to acknowledge what innovations have been accomplished, but also critical to address those questions.
National service is the hard work that protects democracy one person, one community, at a time. In an era when our democracy faces its gravest threat, national service isn't just a good idea. It's critical to national security.
Addressing the problem of homelessness requires a multi-sectoral, multi-jurisdictional and multistakeholder strategy. In the Los Angeles region, reforms are being implemented to bring more coherence to “top down” governmental efforts and to foster greater horizontal alignment across jurisdictions and service providers.
When public opinion and policy decisions don’t line up, what are the reasons? The question, and the answers, matter because they reveal not only how lawmakers make choices but also why the public so often feels unheard.
The success of public participation is not only dependent on the strategies, tools, and creative forms of engagement that policy professionals prepare in advance but also what happens informally and often unintentionally during the “in between” moments of those processes.
In 2025, the National Civic League invited communities across the geographic and political spectrum to share how they are strengthening local environmental sustainability alongside residents and local partners. Communities showed that despite waning public attention and shrinking funding, tangible progress is possible through creative, inclusive, and sustained action.
A political outsider and a self-described “radical collaborator,” Yemi Mobolade brings his experience as a faith-leader, nonprofit founder, and small business coordinator to his job as mayor of Colorado’s second largest city.
