Citizens’ Initiative Review: Helping Citizens Make Better Informed Voting Choices

In the Press /

From medium.com/participo: Linn Davis is a program manager at Healthy Democracy, a US-based nonpartisan non-profit that designs and coordinates deliberative democracy programs. He manages the Citizens’ Initiative Review program, as well as design and outreach for emerging local government and high school programs. The Citizens’ Initiative Review is a unique deliberative process. In the OECD’s forthcoming […]

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Practical Values for Virtual Participation

Blog, News /

Everyone is talking about online engagement these days. Yes, those are eight different links to eight different articles, all from one quick dive into social media this morning.   There is so much being written, in fact – so many weeds to get into – that I hope we don’t lose sight of a bigger picture, of what is important in planning for online deliberation. With

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On the Other Side of the Crisis . . . Thoughts from John Frohnmayer on Life After the Corona Virus

Blog, News /

Healthy Democracy’s good friend and former Board member, John Frohnmayer, shares his thoughts on what we are learning from the Corona Virus, and the opportunities that live on the other side of the crisis. Faced with the Civil War and the potential dissolution of the Union, Abraham Lincoln said: “The dogmas of the quiet past

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Citizens’ Initiative Review Needs Legislative Funding

Blog, News /

The Oregon legislature just started their short session on February 1. Senator Arnie Roblan, who sponsored the bill that put the Citizens’ Initiative Review in statute, is proposing that the legislature commit funds to ensure this uniquely Oregon innovation in democracy can be sustained. His OpEd appears below: Oregon was one of the first states

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Podcast // Democracy Nerd: Exploring Oregon-Style Democracy

Podcasts /

From Democracy Nerd: In this episode, Jefferson Smith talks with Linn Davis, Healthy Democracy Program Manager. Linn oversees the Citizens Initiative Review, in which Oregon voters deliberate a ballot initiative and provide a statement for the voters’ pamphlet. The use of citizens’ juries to weigh in on public policy has been exported to other states

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From ancient Athens to the town hall: Can a new wave of deliberative democracy save the world?

In the Press /

From Salon: . . . What’s a good regional example? At the regional/state level, it is worth highlighting the impact of the Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) model, which has been institutionalized in Oregon — and is now required before a ballot measure — and has been piloted in numerous other states, as well as in Finland and

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Citizens Jury Panel Presents Recommendation on Milwaukie City Council Compensation

News, Press Releases /

Media Contact: Robin Teater, Executive Director   Ph: 503-381-1196, email: robin@healthydemocracy.org   (Milwaukie, OR) — A diverse cross section of 18 Milwaukie residents has concluded a four-day review of Milwaukie City Council compensation and presented their findings to the Milwaukie City Council at their November 12 held at the Public Safety Building. The citizen panel was part of a

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2019 Milwaukie Citizens Jury

Events /

For the Milwaukie Citizens Jury, citizen panelists will consider this question: “Should Milwaukie City Council members be paid more than their current volunteer stipend? If so, how much should Council members be compensated?” Citizens Juries are professionally facilitated and follow a detailed format to ensure fairness, objectivity, and productivity.  Citizen panelists will meet November 9

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Politicians & Public Participation — Tackling a Quintessential Design Problem

Blog, News /

For a few weeks in September, we had the pleasure of hosting a visiting undergraduate student, Jillian Gilburne, who is a senior at Northwestern University studying political science, communication studies, and human-centered design. In an effort to better understand what motivates local officials to take on the challenge of achieving equitable, representative public engagement, Jillian

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Civic Saturday reflections . . . It’s magic y’all

Blog, News /

On Saturday, September 14, at the C Bar C Ranch in Powell Butte, Oregon, Citizen University, Healthy Democracy, Oregon Humanities, and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium partnered to host Civic Saturday, a morning filled with civic reflection, connections, and inspiration. Wendy Willis, a Civic Seminarian through the Citizen University and the Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy

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First-of-Its-Kind Citizen Panel Will be Selected to Study Milwaukie City Council Member Compensation (New Dates)

News, Press Releases /

UPDATE: The Milwaukie Citizens Jury Selection Event – Sept. 11, 6PM, at Milwaukie City Hall – will be live streamed on the internet, for anyone not able to attend in person. Simply visit the City of Milwaukie’s YouTube page here. An archived version of the live stream will appear on that same page following the

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Swiss town tests citizen panel to help voters analyse information

In the Press /

From swissinfo.ch: The municipality of Sion in southwestern Switzerland is planning a participative democracy experiment, first tried out in the US state of Oregon, that places randomly selected locals on a citizen panel in the lead up to national referendums. Various inhabitants of the canton Valais municipality will be asked to form a citizen panel that

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Welcome to Farres Alkhaiyer . . . Dreams away from screams

Blog, News /

Monday, August 12 marked Farres Alkhaiyer’s first day with Healthy Democracy. Farres joins Healthy Democracy as a fellow in the 2019-2020 Community Solutions Program, a prestigious fellowship program run by the DC-based nonprofit IREX. This program brings together 80 of the brightest community leaders from around the world for four months of intensive leadership development in

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