One of the National Issues Forums Institute’s issue guides, What is the 21st Century Mission for Our Public Schools? outlines this public issue and several choices or approaches to addressing the issue. National Issues Forums do not advocate a specific solution or point of view, but provide citizens the opportunity to consider a broad range of choices, weigh the pros and cons of those options, and meet with each other in a public dialogue to identify the concerns they hold in common. From the very […] (continue)

One of the National Issues Forums Institute’s issue guides, Energy Options: Finding a Solution to the Power Predicament outlines this public issue and several choices or approaches to addressing the issue. National Issues Forums do not advocate a specific solution or point of view, but provide citizens the opportunity to consider a broad range of choices, weigh the pros and cons of those options, and meet with each other in a public dialogue to identify the concerns they hold in common. The United States faces […] (continue)

One of the National Issues Forums Institute’s issue guides, The Health Care Crisis: Containing Costs, Expanding Coverage outlines this public issue and several choices or approaches to addressing the issue. National Issues Forums do not advocate a specific solution or point of view, but provide citizens the opportunity to consider a broad range of choices, weigh the pros and cons of those options, and meet with each other in a public dialogue to identify the concerns they hold in common. Health care reform is one […] (continue)

One of the National Issues Forums Institute’s issue guides, The Energy Problem: Choices for an Uncertain Future outlines this public issue and several choices or approaches to addressing the issue. National Issues Forums do not advocate a specific solution or point of view, but provide citizens the opportunity to consider a broad range of choices, weigh the pros and cons of those options, and meet with each other in a public dialogue to identify the concerns they hold in common. It seems clear that the […] (continue)

The December 2012 issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. This article is by Hartz-Karp. Participatory Budgeting (PB), an institutional innovation to promote democratic change, is a form of collaborative governance in which citizens are involved in decision-making processes about how to spend part or all of available government funds. Like the broader concept […] (continue)

This article was published in the December 2012 issue of the online Journal of Public Deliberation, which focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. From article author Brian Wampler: This essay is a reflection piece. I identify key principles at the core of how PB functions and to discuss the scope of change we might expect to see generated […] (continue)

The December 2012 issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. In this special issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation, multiple faces of Participatory Budgeting programs are revealed. The articles demonstrate that there is no standardized set of “best practices” that governments are adopting, but there are a broader set of principles […] (continue)

This 2012 report describes findings from National Issues Forums held in 2012 during which people deliberated about possible approaches to dealing with the national debt. Download the 33-page PDF here. After months of paralyzing partisan disagreement, the nation’s political system now is struggling to avert a fiscal calamity. President Obama and congressional leaders, spurred on by business leaders and a broad range of interest groups, speak of the need to find ways to act. But even amid these hopeful signs, Democrats and Republicans remain divided on nearly […] (continue)

The latest issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation (Volume 8, Issue 2 – December 2012) focuses on “The Spread of Participatory Budgeting Across the Globe: Adoption, Adaptation, and Impacts.”  Guest editors for this issue are NCDD members Janette Hartz-Karp of Curtin University & Briam Wampler, Boise State University. Here is the issue introduction: Since its humble beginnings in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in the early 1990s, Participatory Budgeting (PB) programs are now being adopted by governments across the globe. This special issue […] (continue)

This article by Celina Su of City University of New York was published in the December 2012 issue of the online Journal of Public Deliberation, which focuses on participatory budgeting and its spread across the globe. Guest editors of the issue are long-time NCDD supporting member Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia, and Brian Wampler from Boise State University. Abstract: In this thought piece, I attempt to contextualize New York City’s inaugural participatory budgeting (PB) process in the larger landscape of American political participation. I discuss how […] (continue)