16 Dec 2024 Aided by communities of interest, City of Fort Collins staff, and others, the Civic Assembly Delegates will engage in a learning phase in which they become informed on a wide range of community perspectives and land use possibilities. Through a series of collaborative discussions, input from community members, and internal deliberation on
Community Guides: Invitation to Participate Read More »
Rebecca Powell, Fort Collins Coloradoan | Published 5:01 a.m. MT July 23rd, 2024 | Updated 7:54 p.m. MT Aug. 20, 2024 UPDATE: Fort Collins City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday, Aug. 20 to use a “civic assembly” process to help determine what the former Hughes Stadium land should be used for. Council member Kelly Ohlson and
An effort in Bend, Ore., backed by big funders looks for answers to youth homelessness. George Anders, October 3, 2024 — BEND, ORE.Eliza Wilson is a little nervous as she draws the microphone close to her, but she is determined to share her life story — and its larger lessons — with a vital new
Can Ordinary Citizens Solve Our Toughest Problems? Read More »
Kelsey McGee, October 6, 2024 — BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — An innovative new way for Central Oregonians to weigh in on one of the region’s most pressing issues wrapped up its fifth and final day Sunday, preparing proposals for area officials to consider. The Civic Assembly on Youth Homelessness gave a representative sample of 30 Deschutes County
October 17, 2024 — From 14 September to 6 October 2024, a Civic Assembly on the topic of youth homelessness took place in Deschutes County in the US state of Oregon. On 6 October, Members of the Central Oregon Youth Action Board received the assembly’s recommendations. Later on, delegates from the assembly will deliver their
“Thanks for giving me hope” Read More »
July 30, 2024 — The Central Oregon Civic Action Project (COCAP), Healthy Democracy, and the Central Oregon Youth Action Board are excited to announce a Lottery-Selection event for Central Oregon’s first-ever Civic Assembly. The event will take place on August 1, 2024, at 6pm at the Deschutes Public Library. During this event, 30 delegates will
Selection Event for First Civic Assembly in Central Oregon Read More »
City Club Forum Floats Idea of Citizens Assembly to Tackle Topics in “Bend” Way Simon Mather, May 9, 2024 — A recent City Club of Central Oregon forum asked whether Citizens Assemblies — an idea which has been gaining significant traction worldwide — could be a fresh way for local residents to own complex issues
Move to Give Community “Seat at Table” Read More »
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Central Oregon Civic Action Project and Central Oregon Youth Action Board have mailed 12,500 letters to randomly selected households in Deschutes County to participate in a Civic Assembly focused on solutions for youth homelessness. Here’s their announcement, in full: The Civic Assembly is a democratic innovation in which communities involve
La primera asamblea se enfocará en encontrar soluciones para los jóvenes sin hogar Julianna Lafollette | Translated Jéssica Sánchez-Millar, June 26, 2024 — El Ayuntamiento de Bend y la mesa de comisionados del condado de Deschutes aprobaron un Memorando de Entendimiento con el Proyecto de Acción civil del Centro de Oregón (COCAP por sus siglas
Asambleas ciudadanas locales comenzarán en el otoño Read More »
12,750 invitation letters have been mailed to residents in our first project to institutionalise a Citizens’ Assembly in the US July 10, 2024 — Last week, with official support from city and county governments in Central Oregon, more than 12,750 letters were sent to residents inviting them to be in the lottery for a Civic Assembly on
Launching a first-of-its-kind Civic Assembly in Deschutes County, Oregon, USA 🇺🇸 Read More »
May 19, 2024 — When the Bend City Council agreed Wednesday to join an effort by the Central Oregon Civic Action Project to examine solutions to youth homelessness we had questions: Who is this group? Where is the money coming from? The effort will be like jury duty for setting government policy. It’s similar to something from
Editorial: Does Deschutes County need a do over on setting policy? Read More »
HEATHER ROBERTS BEND, OR — A concept to engage the public in government policy decisions rarely seen in the U.S. could be coming to our area. City Club of Central Oregon Executive Director Kim Gammond says Citizen Assemblies are more common in Europe, “It’s a way for people to actually impact policy decisions beyond the one or two
Citizen Assemblies Concept Proposed for Central OR Read More »
Guest opinion article written by Sue Malek for the Missoulian: Should we enact Citizen Initiative Review Commissions (CIRCs)* in Montana? A bipartisan bill in the Oregon Legislature established CIRCs in 2008. Twenty-four citizens, randomly selected to serve, are paid salaries and expenses for participation in groups that study initiative issues and publish a statement describing
Opinion: Citizen Initiative Review Commissions Provide Deeper Involvement in Democracy Read More »
From Facilitating Public Deliberation: Linn Davis leads Healthy Democracy’s program development and process design. He coordinates Healthy Democracy’s complex public processes, trains its facilitation teams, and consults on deliberative projects in the U.S. and abroad. In this episode, recorded prior to the pandemic’s impact, Linn explains the Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) and the skills needed for excellent facilitation
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
Citizens’ Initiative Review: Helping Citizens Make Better Informed Voting Choices Read More »
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
Practical Values for Virtual Participation Read More »
I wanted to take a moment this month, in this extraordinary time in our country, to do a simple check in with our fellow democracy advocates. One of the things that the current health crisis in the United States has done is to remind us that we are all in this together, just as we
Democracy as Community: Pandemic Edition Read More »
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.
It’s a pretty cold time of year to surf real waves in the North Atlantic, so it’s a good thing this one is metaphorical. Healthy Democracy’s colleagues in Europe are calling it a “Deliberative Wave,” and that’s no exaggeration. Across the continent, from Poland to Spain, randomly selected citizens’ assemblies are breaking new ground in
Catching the UK’s “Deliberative Wave” Read More »
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
Citizens’ Initiative Review Needs Legislative Funding Read More »
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
Podcast // Democracy Nerd: Exploring Oregon-Style Democracy Read More »
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
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
Swiss town tests citizen panel to help voters analyse information Read More »
From The Constitution Unit at University College London: The report, Doing Democracy Better: How Can Information and Discourse in Election and Referendum Campaigns in the UK Be Improved?, is a response to widespread dissatisfaction with the quality of political discourse and the information available to voters during recent election and referendum campaigns. The authors, Alan Renwick
New report: Doing Democracy Better Read More »
From Knowable Magazine: As hard as it may be to believe — especially in times of government shutdowns and partisan paralysis — people of different backgrounds and beliefs really can get together to discuss tricky issues and reach a consensus. Productive political discourse isn’t just a utopian fantasy. Recent history has shown that rigorous, thoughtful debate
A deliberate fix for democracy Read More »
