SPECIAL | Our faith in democracy is at an all-time low. Can citizen assemblies help?
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.1 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
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 non-profit organization that promotes this innovative method of public engagement, joins The Excerpt to share recent learnings about how we can keep the public's engagement in our government both robust and accountable.
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Transcript
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| 1:14.6 | Hello and welcome to the excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. |
| 1:20.9 | Today is Wednesday, January 15th, 2025, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. |
| 1:51.1 | Citizens' assemblies have been around for over 50 years. Their purpose is essentially to tap the wisdom of the civilian crowd and crafting solutions to some of society's most stubborn problems. Recent project in Oregon to tackle the problem of youth homelessness is a case in point. Are there synergies to be realized when communities are asked to step up and play a role in creating policy-based solutions to issues in their region? |
| 2:03.3 | Here to help us understand the structure and impacts of citizens' assemblies is Lynn Davis, a program director at Healthy Democracy, a nonprofit that facilitates this way of engaging the public. |
| 2:05.3 | Thanks for joining us on the excerpt, Lynn. |
| 2:06.5 | Thanks, I've been. |
| 2:14.8 | Your organization was centrally involved in a recent Citizen Assembly experiment in Oregon regarding homeless youth. |
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