The Orton Family Foundation’s new Planning Tool Exchange (PlanIt X) is a free, community-driven website designed to help people find and share tools and resources to support community planning and civic engagement. PlanIt X is written by you and for you – contributions, edits, comments and improvements all come directly from our users – and it’s only as good as you make it. Visit PlanItX at www.orton.org/tools/planning_tool_exchange. PlanIt X is a community planning database owned and administered by the Orton Family Foundation. PlanIt X embraces ... (continue)

EngagingPlans is a powerful and comprehensive tool for creating and maintaining a public involvement Web site. From Urban Interactive Studio, EngagingPlans is a powerful, feature-rich website package that allows planning firms and government agencies to facilitate broad-scale public outreach and participation. (continue)

The Collaboration Project, an initiative by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), just released a new resource: Tools for Online Idea Generation: A Comparison of Technology Platforms for Public Managers.  This latest document compares ten online tools for idea generation (one of which hasn’t launched yet), including key benefits and pricing information. The past several years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of web 2.0 tools at all levels of government. Beyond simply using them as communication vehicles, many public managers have adopted these ... (continue)

AmericaSpeaks recently launched a new effort to support U.S. officials who seek to involve citizens in shaping policy. They’re partnering with leading Canadian citizen participation firm Ascentum to offer a set of services and tools that they believe public officials need to create meaningful opportunities for citizen participation. You can find these at ASonline.org. (continue)

Joseph McCormick, co-founder of Reuniting America, and humorist Steve Bhaerman have just released a new e-Book directly relevant to our national situation, Reuniting America: A Toolkit for Changing the Political Game. As old top-down ways of governing prove inadequate in the face of increasing complexity, it is a manifesto for a transpartisan “grassroots up-wising.” (continue)

The Yarra River Values Forum was convened by Institute for Sustainable Futures as part of an investigation by the Victorian Smart Water Fund. Dr. Annie Bolitho shared this case study with NCDD... (continue)

The Coast Shire Council Citizens’ Juries on Roads Management was convened by Surf Coast Shire Council, Victoria in 2007. Dr. Annie Bolitho shared this case study with NCDD... (continue)

The Loddon Riparian Frontages Citizens Panel was convened by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries and the North Central Catchment Management Authority. Dr. Annie Bolitho shared this case study with NCDD... (continue)

This post includes details on a new National Issues Forums documentary film on how schools can use deliberation to uncover the best ways for them to address the achievement gap. The film will be aired on PBS stations around the country in 2011, and you can (1) request a free copy of the film and (2) help make sure your local PBS station airs the film. (continue)

Led by the Danish Board of Technology, World Wide Views on Global Warming (2009) is considered the first in-depth global citizen consultancy on climate change. WWViews established a model for the future inclusion of the world’s citizens in global policymaking. The novel and practical project design made it potentially possible for all nations on the planet to take part and to produce comparable results that can be clearly communicated to policymakers. World Wide Views on Global Warming involved roughly 4,000 citizens in 38 countries spanning ... (continue)