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About Public Citizen has been standing up to corporate power and holding government accountable since 1971. Visit our website at http://www.citizen.org/ Mission We represent you in the halls of power. Your support funds multiple public interest research and advocacy efforts: safe and effective health care, auto safety, good government, safe and sustainable energy, consumer safety, and fair, equitable trade and globalization. Why focus on a single issue? We do it all! Company Overview Since 1971, Public Citizen has been a national, nonprofit public interest organization representing consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. Website: www.Citizen.org Blog: www.CitizenVox.org Twitter: @Public_Citizen

The Interactivity Foundation works to enhance the process and expand the scope and health of our public discussions by bringing people together in small group discussions of broad topics of public policy concern. Our Fellows conduct Project Discussions that engage separate panels of selected generalists and specialists on a public policy topic for a year or more of private (or "sanctuary") discussions to develop and explore multiple policy possibilities, which are then worked into a Discussion Report. We also conduct and sponsor shorter series (3-4 sessions) of small group Public Discussions, which are open to all interested participants and use the possibilities from our Discussion Reports as the starting point for further exploration and development. Finally, we collaborate with certain college faculty to develop and support facilitated, student-centered Classroom Discussions.

Our goal is to provide public finance data, tools and training to local community-based organizations to strengthen their public interest and organizing campaigns. Equity in Public Funds partners with and increases the ability of community-based organizations to produce analyses of City and County fiscal inequities and advocate for reform.

Mission, Goal, Vision and Values The Institute for Local Government promotes good government at the local level with practical, impartial and easy-to-use resources for California communities. Goal The Institute's goal is to be the leading provider of information that enables local officials and their communities to make good decisions. Vision The Institute envisions a future in California in which: People value their local public institutions. Local agencies effectively deliver public services. All segments of the community are appropriately engaged in key public decisions. Decision-makers make informed policy choices based on their best sense of the public's interest.

The Economic Roundtable is a non-profit, public benefit corporation organized to conduct economic, social and environmental research that contributes to the sustainability of individuals and communities. The Economic Roundtable seeks to respect the needs and goals of all neighborhoods and communities of interest affected by its work. Research findings are made readily available to public policy makers, affected communities, and the general public.

We're a nonpartisan nonprofit that engages Americans directly to solve shared challenges and craft better policy. Our mission is to strengthen democracy by advancing informed, citizen-developed solutions to challenging public issues. We advance the public interest by creating opportunities for in-depth citizen education and deliberation that generates informed, inclusive solutions to today's toughest problems. To ensure the work of citizens makes an impact, we cultivate creative partnerships and pursue high-impact organizing and outreach strategies that help decision makers and the broader public work together effectively.

Government Reform The government should serve voters, not corporate special interests. Public Citizen works to empower ordinary citizens, reduce the influence of big corporations on government, open the government to public scrutiny, and hold public officials accountable for their misdeeds.

PublicInterestDesign.org is principally a blog about a growing movement at the intersection of design and service. In many respects, this movement is decades in the making, while it's also gained new life through a series of books, events, and exhibitions as well as the creation of new organizations and collaborations. Our hope with this new website is to share news and opportunities that the various stakeholders of the public interest design movement can take advantage of.

PublicInterestDesign.org is principally a blog about a growing movement at the intersection of design and service. In many respects, this movement is decades in the making, while it's also gained new life through a series of books, events, and exhibitions as well as the creation of new organizations and collaborations. Our hope with this new website is to share news and opportunities that the various stakeholders of the public interest design movement can take advantage of.

The Public Banking Institute was founded in 2010 to further the understanding and implementation of publicly-owned banks.

National Issues Forums (NIF) is a network of civic, educational, and other organizations, and individuals, whose common interest is to promote public deliberation in America. It includes civic clubs, religious organizations, libraries, schools, and many other groups that meet to discuss critical public issues. Forum participants range from teenagers to retirees, prison inmates to community leaders, and literacy students to university students.

The California Budget Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research group working to improve public policies that affect low- and middle-income Californians through independent research, budget and policy analysis, and public education. Since 1995, the CBP has served as a resource for policymakers, advocates, community leaders, interested citizens, and the media.

Local Progress is a national network that supports, connects, and unites progressive local elected officials and allied organizations from across the nation. We are driven by a commitment to a strong middle and working class, equal justice under law, sustainable and livable communities, and government that serves the public interest effectively.

If you work in the fields of public engagement, conflict resolution or community problem solving, the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation is here to help you stay on top of news, resources and goings-on in the field, and to connect you with other movers-and-shakers who share your interests.

What interests me is how the lessons found in the article could be applied to real world community governance in relation to the public sector. Such communities are already in existence so cannot be created outside of the box to start with, however many of the other observations can be applied especially with the use of the Internet and application of direct democratic dialogue. It should be possible to create some new disruptive innovations which such an approach and resources to create some new community paradigms.

Design Impact collaborated with the Tarsadia Foundation, Newport Beach, CA in 2013 to launch the publication Design and the Social Sector: A Guide to Partnering. Funded by the Tarsadia Foundation, the purpose of this guide is to provide practical insights, tips and tools developed specifically for designers interested in working with non-profits on social design projects. It includes a wealth of information on building healthy relationships, evaluating your own capacity, setting realistic expectations, and developing strong collaborative goals.

As part of this work, we draw inspiration from growing movements to claim and control 'the commons'. This refers to resources that are life's necessities. They include: Natural resources: land, water, air, and sources of energy Cultural resources: knowledge Economic resources: funds for investment in the public interest Social resources: relationships and activities through which we help each other participate and flourish

Systems thinking, according to HU, has two important dimensions. One is the establishment of a new paradigm that understands global issues as inherently complex, multi-dimensional, conflictive and open to outside influence and intervention. A problem like slavery, for example, may seem intractable because of the economic interests it serves; in fact, the institutional and organizational linkages-the supply chains-that comprise slavery's power structure are vulnerable. The first step in system thinking is to map those linkages to better understand how they fit together and pinpoint their likely weak points. The next step is to devise a strategy that combines public advocacy, coalition building, insider lobbying, and investigative journalism to target those linkages, forcing those implicated in slavery, wittingly or unwittingly, to reform, and weakening the larger circuit of power over time.

We build open source software. We help agencies open up their data. We report on urban issues. We offer technical assistance to public agencies, and we build communities around our initiatives in order to seed an open and evolving ecosystem of technology tools that further the public interest.

If you work in public engagement, conflict resolution and community building, the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation is a great place to connect with professionals who share your interests, and to stay on top of news and goings-on in the field.