Building the Democracy we need for the 21st Century
I was excited to see CivicLex included in the toolkit "Building the Democracy we need for the 21st Century" from New America. Thanks, as always, to the wonderful Hollie Russon Gilman, Ph.D. for lifting up our work! 💙
"The status quo of government as usual has led to the deep distrust in government and the partisan divide that we face today. Increased outreach and representation must also be paired with true institutional change of our governing systems that go beyond surface level engagement. Richard Young of CivicLex refers to this kind of systems-level change as civic transformation, which involves altering how local governments function with more opportunities for shared power. A starting point for this work is to reimagine what is possible for our political structures and civic institutions. Cities around the world are experimenting with new models of government that invite more collective decision-making, such as through participatory budgeting and citizen assemblies. These new models of collaborative governance challenge traditional assumptions of what local government can and cannot be and who gets to decide. While structural change is challenging to achieve, elected officials and community groups can begin by recognizing the hooks and levers at their disposal to invite community members into the decision-making process."