Citizens Initiative Review

Our faith in democracy is at an all-time low. Can citizen assemblies help?

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Jan. 16, 2025 – Dana Taylor | USA Today Citizen assemblies involve ordinary people participating in crafting policy solutions to community problems and have been around for over fifty years. Is this potentially a solution to restoring faith in our democratic institutions and reinvigorating healthy debate? Linn Davis, a program director at Healthy Democracy, a

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A Model for Democracy in Polarized Times Comes to Life in Fort Collins

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Photo Credit: City of Fort Collins The First Weekend of Fort Collins’ First-Ever Civic Assembly In an effort to strengthen and reimagine local democracy, the City of Fort Collins launched its first-ever Civic Assembly last weekend. This bold initiative brings together 20 residents—selected through a Civic Lottery to reflect the diversity of the city—to tackle

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What Could Citizens’ Assemblies Do for American Politics?

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An Oregon county is looking for solutions to youth homelessness—so it convened a random selection of residents to come up with ideas. December 31, 2024 by Nick Romeo | ast July, an unusual letter arrived at Kathryn Kundmueller’s mobile home, in central Oregon. It invited her to enter a lottery that would select thirty residents of

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How will Fort Collins decide what to do with old Hughes Stadium? It’s trying something new

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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

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Civic Assembly on Youth Homelessness wraps up its final discussion, preps proposed solutions for leaders to consider

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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

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Selection Event for First Civic Assembly in Central Oregon

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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

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More than 12,000 Deschutes County households invited to help launch Civic Assembly on Youth Homelessness

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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

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Asambleas ciudadanas locales comenzarán en el otoño

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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

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Launching a first-of-its-kind Civic Assembly in Deschutes County, Oregon, USA 🇺🇸

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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

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Editorial: Does Deschutes County need a do over on setting policy?

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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

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Citizen Assemblies Concept Proposed for Central OR

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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

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Opinion: Citizen Initiative Review Commissions Provide Deeper Involvement in Democracy

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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

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Podcast // Facilitating Public Deliberation: Episode 32, Citizens’ Initiative Reviews with Linn Davis

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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

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

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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

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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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Citizens’ Initiative Review Needs Legislative Funding

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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

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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?

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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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