Lottery-Selected Panels are gaining traction worldwide as a way for governments to engage their residents in collaborative and inclusive policy decisions deeply.
ELGL and Healthy Democracy are excited to announce a new cohort coming in January 2023, Lottery-Selected Panels: How to Instigate Inclusive and Deliberative Participation in Your Community.
Often called Citizens’ Assemblies or Citizens’ Juries, these processes combine two key design elements that fundamentally transform public decision-making:
- a ‘democratic lottery’ selects a Panel that is demographically representative of the community and fully supported to participate
- A deliberative process allows Panelists to consider many perspectives and collaboratively produce a well-informed policy recommendation.
Participants in this cohort will work closely with Healthy Democracy staff to design a lottery deliberation engagement plan for a project in their communities.
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Through weekly sessions, weekly group work, one-on-one coaching in 2 half-hour sessions, and resources from Healthy Democracy’s international network of partner organizations, cohort participants will walk away with:
- An appropriate policy topic for deliberation;
- A draft framing question or process for creating one;
- Strategies for garnering political support to convene a Lottery-Selected Panel;
- Preliminary demographic targets, population data, and ‘democratic lottery’ plan; Critical design decisions about Panel size, duration, and deliverables;
- An assessment of need for equity-driven design adjustments;
- A draft plan for stakeholder engagement;
- Clear next steps for implementation
Who should apply?
This program is best suited for government staff and public engagement practitioners interested in building new tools and strategies for innovative public engagement in their communities.
Cohort dates
We will provide more information about the cohort in late fall, with a January 2023 start date. So stay tuned for more details!
Cost and Commitment
The fee for this training is $500, due upon acceptance into the program. A discounted rate is available for organizations with three or more participants; please reach out to allie@elgl.org for more information.
We aim to create a robust cohort representing various organizations and communities around the country. While we hope to include as many interested as possible, this is a competitive application process. Please complete the form fully and, if accepted, plan to participate for the duration of the cohort. The anticipated time commitment is 2-3 hours per week.
Apply Now
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis.
Meet the Presenters
ALEX RENIRIE, PROGRAM CO-DIRECTOR
Alex co-leads Healthy Democracy’s programs department with a focus on process design, facilitation, and partnership development. After working as a moderator for two H.D. projects in 2019 and 2020, she joined the team as staff in 2021. She holds dual Master’s degrees in Conflict & Dispute Resolution and Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, and a B.A. from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Prior to Healthy Democracy, she spent seven years working with a wide range of environmental and social justice non-profits as an organizer, trainer, and administrator on grassroots advocacy campaigns. All her work centers around one simple principle: involve more people in the policy decisions that affect their lives.
KACEY BULL, DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS
Kacey joined Healthy Democracy in June 2021 and manages our various outreach and communication projects. She builds and maintains relationships with Healthy Democracy’s outside partners and leads educational programs about the work that we do. She studied deliberation throughout her master’s coursework and undergraduate degree at Colorado State University. She was exposed to H.D.’s work as a research assistant for Dr. Katherine Knobloch at CSU, who studies the efficacy of the CIR process, and attended 4 CIR events between 2012-2014. She also worked with CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation, where she was trained and volunteered as a public facilitator, worked on process design and outreach, and engaged in over 5 years of deliberative events in Northern Colorado.
LINN DAVIS, PROGRAM CO-DIRECTOR
Linn co-leads program development and process design at Healthy Democracy, a US-based nonpartisan nonprofit that brings together everyday people – selected by democratic lottery – to tackle tough policy questions. He co-coordinates H.D.’s complex public processes and consults on deliberative democracy projects in the U.S. and abroad.
Since joining Healthy Democracy in 2016, he has helped manage over a dozen of Healthy Democracy’s projects, from city-level Lottery-Selected Panels to statewide Citizens’ Initiative Reviews. He holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and a B.A. in History from Grinnell College. In his spare time, he plays music and volunteers as a fire lookout in the Central Oregon Cascades.
About Healthy Democracy
Healthy Democracy is a U.S.-based nonpartisan nonprofit that works to elevate the voices of everyday people in public decision making. As a leader in the field of deliberative democracy for over a decade, its flagship Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) program has provided meaningful public engagement on citizen ballot initiatives in five U.S. states and two countries abroad. Healthy Democracy now uses democratic lotteries and deliberative processes to transform decision making at the local government level. Committed to inclusivity, collaboration, and true empowerment, Lottery-Selected Panels tackle our most difficult policy issues – from housing to health care.