We recently spoke with two Civic Hall Ambassadors, Tysha Vulcain-Murrell (she/her) and Asher Novek (he/him), about the Movement for Black Lives, what accountability looks like, and who's inspiring them. Civic Hall Ambassadors support our member community by serving as a connector for resources, networks, and skills. Tysha Vulcain-Murrell is a...
In my last post (Next-Generation Engagement Platforms, May 12), I covered three of the most powerful open source next-generation public engagement platforms. These platforms are compelling because they invite residents and citizens to do so much more than vote and submit complaints to governments. Each platform I covered invites its...
Almost 16 years ago, Zephyr Teachout wrote an article for the pre-pre-cursor to this site, PersonalDemocracy.com, titled, “Come Together Now: The Internet’s Unlit Fuse.” Having just finished two intense years in the trenches of Democratic presidential campaigning, first as a digital organizing trail-cutter for Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and then...
Inspiration for remotely engaging your constituency
The idea, says Color of Change's chief of campaigns Arisha Hatch, is to center Black joy and to build face-to-face teams, which now number in the thousands, of people meeting and acting locally (and having fun together).
Two weeks ago Emmanuel Macron, the French president, announced the results of the “Grand Débat” or “Great Debate,” a two-month process of intensive public consultation that garnered nearly two million comments online along with 10,000 local meetings and a series of citizen assemblies. The initiative was in response to France’s...
In just the last two weeks, newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has gained half a million new Twitter followers, zooming from 1.6M to 2.1M. On Instagram, another platform where she excels at sharing interesting glimpses of her life as an activist-turned-newly-successful-politician, Ocasio-Cortez now has 1.6M followers, putting her in...
How a radical experiment in participatory democracy came to Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The first-ever participatory budgeting process at the county level has not gone off without a hitch, but it is still going on.
