The Latest & Greatest
Keep up to date with our latest Blog posts, Press releases, News coverage, Podcasts, and more!
Staff Transitions
The last three years at Healthy Democracy have been a triumph in collaboration. The art of practicing…
Hot off the Press!
“Lottery-selected democracy is no panacea, but it is an example of a complex design that directly counters…
Randomly Chosen Panel Should Guide Airport’s Future, Officials Say
JORGE CASUSO “September 25, 2023 — The future of Santa Monica Airport should be hammered out –…
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Behind the Scenes at HD
Since you haven’t heard from us much lately, we thought we’d share a glimpse of what’s inspiring…
Reinventing Democracy: How Hometowns Are Strengthening America
Mayors, city councilors, select board members, city and town managers, county executives, and other local government officials…
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What if the People Governed? How Citizens’ Assemblies Can Restore Trust in LA City Government
This introduction to citizens’ assemblies and how they can empower breakthroughs in local democracy was co-hosted by…
Creating a Healthy Democracy For Everyone – Omni Win Podcast
How can we include everyday people in political decisions? Duncan welcomes Alex Renirie, Linn Davis and Kacey…
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Guaranteeing Representation: Reimagining Community Participation through Democratic Lotteries — Webinar
In this webinar, held on November 18th, 2021, Healthy Democracy teamed up with experts from across the…
A Tribute to Ned Crosby
Ned Crosby’s Memorial Facebook Page Healthy Democracy is grieving the loss of Ned Crosby. Ned was not…
Here’s how the controversial new Petaluma fairgrounds planning process will work
AMELIA PARREIRA ARGUS-COURIER STAFF March 2, 2022, 12:15PM To form the panel of 30 to 40 residents,…
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Let the People of California Solve the State’s Homelessness Crisis
A Citizens Assembly Could Unify People Around a Thorny Problem and Succeed Where Politicians Have Failed by JOE MATHEWS | FEBRUARY 22, 2022…
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Community Matters: Finally, a novel approach to resolving the Petaluma Fairgrounds quandary
TYLER SILVY ARGUS-COURIER EDITOR February 9, 2022 Eager to find a solution to the quandary, Petaluma City…
Democracy Rising 8: Deliberative Democracy — Power
By Susan Clark, originally published by Resilience.org Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) gives an old system a much-needed update. The initiative…
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Opinion: Citizen Initiative Review Commissions Provide Deeper Involvement in Democracy
Guest opinion article written by Sue Malek for the Missoulian: Should we enact Citizen Initiative Review Commissions…
City of Eugene Review Panel Publishes Guiding Principles on Housing, as Part of Innovative Public Engagement Process
EUGENE — A first-of-its-kind Review Panel has completed the first phase of a public engagement process designed…
Podcast // Facilitating Public Deliberation: Episode 32, Citizens’ Initiative Reviews with Linn Davis
From Facilitating Public Deliberation: Linn Davis leads Healthy Democracy’s program development and process design. He coordinates Healthy Democracy’s complex public…
Assuming Democracy: Adam Says Hello
After too many years working in the advertising industry as a Creative Director, one day I came…
“The Hope and Promise of Our Democracy”: Robin Says Goodbye
It has been my great privilege to have served the Healthy Democracy organization over the past 4…
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Podcast // Democracy In Crisis Part 2: Mini-publics, Citizens’ Assemblies and Juries
Democracy in Crisis is a special online series of global roundtable discussions about the use of randomly-selected…
Annabelle’s Reflection on her Nevins Fellowship with Healthy Democracy
Over the summer, Healthy Democracy was grateful to welcome Annabelle LaRosa as our 2020 Nevins Fellow. The…
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First Virtual Oregon Citizen Assembly Shares COVID-19 Recovery Recommendations August 27
For Immediate Release August 12, 2020 Media Contact: Robin Teater, Executive Director Ph: 503-841-6865; Email: robin@healthydemocracy.org …
First Statewide Online Assembly Will Look at Coronavirus Recovery
From Portland Tribune: Forty Oregonians, just under half the size of the Legislature, will meet online during the…
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Oregonians to weigh in on COVID-19 recovery issues in ‘virtual citizen assembly’
From KTVZ News Channel 21: PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregonians from all walks of life will participate in…
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Oregon Citizens to Weigh-In on COVID Recovery: Healthy Democracy & Oregon’s Kitchen Table Convene First Virtual Citizen Assembly
For Immediate Release June 30, 2020 Media Contact: Robin Teater, Executive Director Ph: 503-381-1196; Email: robin@healthydemocracy.org …
Citizens’ Initiative Review: Helping Citizens Make Better Informed Voting Choices
From medium.com/participo: Linn Davis is a program manager at Healthy Democracy, a US-based nonpartisan non-profit that designs and…
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Practical Values for Virtual Participation
Everyone is talking about online engagement these days. Yes, those are eight different links to eight different articles, all from one quick dive into…
On the Other Side of the Crisis . . . Thoughts from John Frohnmayer on Life After the Corona Virus
Healthy Democracy’s good friend and former Board member, John Frohnmayer, shares his thoughts on what we are…
Democracy as Community: Pandemic Edition
I wanted to take a moment this month, in this extraordinary time in our country, to do…
Observations on France’s Citizens’ Convention on Climate: Unrivaled Influence & Unresolved Questions
In early-March 2020, HD’s Linn Davis observed France’s national Citizens’ Convention on Climate. He reports on the potential influence of the Convention, and suggests questions for deliberative practitioners to consider.
Catching the UK’s “Deliberative Wave”
It’s a pretty cold time of year to surf real waves in the North Atlantic, so it’s…
Citizens’ Initiative Review Needs Legislative Funding
The Oregon legislature just started their short session on February 1. Senator Arnie Roblan, who sponsored the…
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Do you trust your fellow citizens more than your leaders?
From swissinfo.ch: A Swiss experiment bringing together a group of citizens to prepare an informational sheet for February’s…
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Podcast // Democracy Nerd: Exploring Oregon-Style Democracy
From Democracy Nerd: In this episode, Jefferson Smith talks with Linn Davis, Healthy Democracy Program Manager. Linn…
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Bridging the Urban Rural Divide
From Ruralite: On a Saturday morning in August, Mike and Jeanney McArthur gather in their living room…
From ancient Athens to the town hall: Can a new wave of deliberative democracy save the world?
From Salon: . . . What’s a good regional example? At the regional/state level, it is worth…
Milwaukie jury: Pay elected officials more
From Clackamas Review: Milwaukie city officials this month received a ruling from a Citizens Jury on Council Compensation…
Citizens Jury Panel Presents Recommendation on Milwaukie City Council Compensation
Media Contact: Robin Teater, Executive Director Ph: 503-381-1196, email: robin@healthydemocracy.org (Milwaukie, OR) — A diverse cross section…
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Politicians & Public Participation — Tackling a Quintessential Design Problem
For a few weeks in September, we had the pleasure of hosting a visiting undergraduate student, Jillian…
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A Reflection on Month Two in the U.S.
Farres Alkhaiyer joined Healthy Democracy in August as a fellow with the 2019-2020 Community Solutions Program, a prestigious…
Learning. Livability. Leaning in.
On September 21 at Concordia University, Healthy Democracy hosted the 3rd, and final, component of the 2019…
Civic Saturday reflections . . . It’s magic y’all
On Saturday, September 14, at the C Bar C Ranch in Powell Butte, Oregon, Citizen University, Healthy…
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First-of-Its-Kind Citizen Panel Will be Selected to Study Milwaukie City Council Member Compensation (New Dates)
UPDATE: The Milwaukie Citizens Jury Selection Event – Sept. 11, 6PM, at Milwaukie City Hall – will…
Swiss town tests citizen panel to help voters analyse information
From swissinfo.ch: The municipality of Sion in southwestern Switzerland is planning a participative democracy experiment, first tried out…
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Welcome to Farres Alkhaiyer . . . Dreams away from screams
Monday, August 12 marked Farres Alkhaiyer’s first day with Healthy Democracy. Farres joins Healthy Democracy as a fellow…
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New Dates Announced: Milwaukie Citizens Jury on City Council Compensation
The Milwaukie Citizens Jury on City Council Compensation will now take place Sat, Nov. 9 to Tues.,…
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Milwaukie Citizens Jury Postponed to Fall 2019
Due to a low response rate, Healthy Democracy and the City of Milwaukie have postponed the forthcoming…
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First-of-Its-Kind Citizen Panel Will be Selected to Study Milwaukie City Council Member Compensation
UPDATE: Due to a lower-than-typical response rate, we did not received sufficient replies to form a citizen…
Citizens Jury is coming to Milwaukie, Oregon
Five thousand randomly selected Milwaukie households were mailed a letter this week, giving individuals in those households…
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Eight Suggestions for Democracy – John Frohnmayer’s Keynote Speech
John Frohnmayer was the keynote speaker at the Healthy Democracy 10th Anniversary Celebration on April 8, 2019.…
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New report: Doing Democracy Better
From The Constitution Unit at University College London: The report, Doing Democracy Better: How Can Information and Discourse…