THE PATH FORWARD FOR CHANGE

PHASE I. REBUILDING AWARENESS IN DEMOCRATIC NORMS: STATE-BY-STATE PUBLIC CIVICS CAMPAIGNS

The By the People, for the People (BPP) initiative is directed by a National Advisory Board comprised of nonpartisan civil society thought leaders, leading democracy scholars and communication experts. The National Advisory Board will direct an extensive nationwide communications campaign that engages the American people with the overarching goals of the initiative, building faith, trust and hope over time as the initiative builds toward a national People’s Assembly (see Phase 2). The board will work in collaboration with BPP’s Community Council and Youth Council.

The National Advisory Board and initiative staff will also facilitate the start-up of the state campaigns and the identification of coalition leadership in each state. The National Advisory Board will assist states with creating and executing their public civics campaigns, including providing sample nonpartisan civics materials and general campaign messaging for customization. Each state coalition will be responsible for customizing, refining and implementing their respective public civics campaign, while working in partnership with the National Advisory Board and region-specific initiative staff. 

In all 50 states, state coalitions formed will include a broad spectrum of nonpartisan, civil society groups (civic, voter advocacy, business, faith-based, education, environmental, health, etc.) that are representative (demographically, geographically and by political affiliation) of resident populations. A select number of individual residents not associated with specific organizations will also be among coalition members. Research partners will be available to assist with rapid message testing (when requested), of campaign materials and messaging.

Each state coalition will include a leadership board, recruited through outreach to be representative of its broader membership. State coalitions will be governed according to by-laws that commit the coalition members to focus their public civics campaigns solely on the topics of democratic norms and government functions. These “basic civics” campaigns will be widely accessible in content and avoid unrelated topics, including those that could be divisive or distracting. Coalition members will also establish a set of agreements (built into their by-laws) ensuring that their work be conducted in a nonpartisan, deliberative and collaborative manner.

State coalitions will conduct their public campaign efforts inclusively, with broad reach and with accessible materials for their state’s many communities. Campaign activities could include activities like billboards, TV ads, text and digital ad campaigns, influencer outreach efforts, podcasts, media relations, as well as business, university and community partnerships. The By the People, for the People initiative leadership will regularly seek ways to assess and aid the reach of the state coalition campaigns.

In addition, initiative staff, in partnership with select state coalition members, will conduct listening sessions with communities in each state asking attendees to share their opinions of American democracy and the tangible outcomes (e.g. topics of economics, heath, education, etc.) they would like to see from a reimagined democracy. This collective information will be summarized and then provided back to communities and all state coalition members to help inform their on-going community-based work. This information will also be provided to the People’s Assembly at the start of their deliberations (Phase 2) so that the direct voices of the American people will help inform their development of the Democracy Roadmap.

After three years of developing and conducting the state public civics campaigns, the first-of-its kind national People’s Assembly will be convened in Washington D.C.

Delegates to the People’s Assembly will be selected by the state coalitions in a consistent and transparent process agreed upon in advance by all state coalitions. The national People’s Assembly will deliberate for one year, producing a comprehensive Democracy Roadmap of democratic, common-ground institutional reforms for implementation by both the public and private sectors at the national, state and/or local levels. The goal of these reforms will be to achieve a strong, responsive and truly representative democracy engendering high levels of trust, engagement and accountability in government.

The People’s Assembly deliberations will be aided by an advisory council of leading nonpartisan democracy scholars (convened by initiative leadership), who will share established academic research on the recognized pros and cons of proposed democracy reforms. An advisory committee of nationally respected former policymakers will also be available (if requested) as a resource to address delegates’ questions during their deliberations.

In addition, the People’s Assembly delegates will be provided with a current library of impactful reports and resources on the topic of democracy reform generated by nonpartisan pro-democracy efforts in the U.S. Delegates will determine how best to utilize these materials so that they inform and potentially facilitate their deliberations.

Finally, the delegates will be given the summarized information from the state community listening sessions so that the direct voices of the American people will help inform their development of the Democracy Roadmap.

Once a draft of the Democracy Roadmap is completed, it will be publicly released nationally for input. Americans will be asked to express their reactions via the initiative’s website, as well as through comments/discussions at public meetings. State delegates will bring the draft back to their respective state coalitions for dissemination through the local communication channels previously established by the coalitions. State coalitions will also present the Democracy Roadmap to the people in each state through community meetings that provide opportunities for questions and dialogue. State-specific initiative staff will assist the state coalitions with this dissemination process.

Engagement with congress, state legislatures, state and local governments, and the private sector will be an integral part of the process, as recommendations will likely involve these different arenas. Each state coalition (and possibly other state stakeholders) will then decide how best to work toward adoption of the Democracy Roadmap and whether they want to edit/adapt the recommendations for their specific state or local context.

Each state coalition will have the option to include a summary of the state-specific response/ adaptation to the Democracy Roadmap in the finalized released report. Some groups (in or out of the coalitions) may decide to specifically advocate for some sections of the Democracy Roadmap, while others could individually decide to not pursue sections. All of this will be considered part of a successful, democratic adoption process.

Democracy Roadmap adoption and implementation at national, state and local levels will be tracked over time by the initiative and publicly shared through an annual report. Ultimately, it’s the American people who will advocate for the Democracy Roadmap’s reforms and work for their adoption and implementation.