AmericaSpeaks

Promoting the founding belief that every citizen has a right to impact the decisions of government, AmericaSpeaks serves as a neutral convener of large-scale public participation forums. Through close consultation with leaders, citizens, the media and others, AmericaSpeaks designs and facilitates deliberative meetings for 500 to 5,000 participants. Its partners have included regional planning groups, local, state, and national government bodies, and national organizations. Issues have ranged from Social Security reform to redevelopment of ground zero in New York.

Resource Link: http://www.americaspeaks.org

Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

The Annenberg Public Policy Center has been the premier communication policy center in the country since its founding in 1993. By conducting and releasing research, staging conferences and hosting policy discussions, its scholars have addressed the role of communication in politics, adolescent behavior, child development, health care, civics and mental health, among other important arenas. The Center?’s researchers have drafted materials that helped policy-makers, journalists, scholars, constituent groups and the general public better understand the role that media play in their lives and the life of the nation. The Policy Center maintains offices in Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

Resource Link: http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org

Association for the Study and Development of Community

ASDC is a research and development organization for community capacity building and social problem solving. ASDC represents a network of leading community development practitioners and scientists in the United States and Europe, with offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Milan, Italy. ASDC provides capacity building services to government agencies, foundations and nonprofit organizations.

Resource Link: http://www.capablecommunity.com

Brookings Institution

The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. For more than 90 years, Brookings has analyzed current and emerging issues and produced new ideas that matter?—for the nation and the world. For policy-makers and the media, Brookings scholars provide the highest quality research, policy recommendations, and analysis on the full range of public policy issues.

Resource Link: http://www.brookings.org

Canadian Policy Research Networks

CPRN creates knowledge and leads public debate on social and economic issues important to the well-being of Canadians. The birth of CPRN's Public Involvement Network (PIN) in 2002 reflects the growing conviction in policy circles that effective public policy requires effective public engagement.

Resource Link: http://www.cprn.ca

Center for Assessment and Policy Development (CAPD)

CAPD is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 to help institutions, communities and public systems craft and execute thoughtful responses to pressing social issues--particularly, improving outcomes for children, adolescents, and families. CAPD works on many issues, including education, violence prevention, community change, reduction in racism (particularly institutional racism), leadership, and civic engagement.

Resource Link: http://www.capd.org

Center for Collaborative Organizations

The Center for Collaborative Organizations, formerly the Center for the Study of Work Teams, is based at the University of North Texas and was created for the purpose of education and research in all areas of collaborative work systems. The Center officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1992, although the first conference was held in 1990.

Resource Link: http://www.workteams.unt.edu

Center for Collaborative Policy

The Center is a joint program of California State University, Sacramento and the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. The mission of the Center is to build the capacity of public agencies, stakeholder groups, and the public to use collaborative strategies to improve policy outcomes. The Center produces a quarterly newsletter called The Collaborative Edge.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/

Center for Restorative Practice

The purpose of the Center for Restorative Practice is to develop, implement and study collaborative and restorative processes for use by families, communities and organizations in the service of social justice.

Resource Link: http://www.restorativepractice.org

Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago

Building knowledge to serve children is the mission of the Chapin Hall Center for Children. Located at the University of Chicago, Chapin Hall is a research and development center that brings the highest standards of scholarship and the intellectual resources of one of the world's great research universities to the real-world challenges of policymakers and service providers struggling to ensure that children grow, thrive, and take their place in a formidable world. Working behind the scenes with lawmakers and government administrators, as well as on the front lines with program providers, Chapin Hall puts rigorous, non-partisan research in the hands of those who shape the programs and policies that affect all children in their daily lives.

Resource Link: http://www.chapinhall.org

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement)

CIRCLE promotes research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. Although CIRCLE conducts and funds research, not practice, the projects that we support have practical implications for those who work to increase young people's engagement in politics and civic life. CIRCLE is also a clearinghouse for relevant information and scholarship. CIRCLE is based in the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy.

Resource Link: http://www.civicyouth.org

Collaborative Democracy Network

A network of over 100 interdisciplinary and international scholars has been established to focus on the need to enhance the role of deliberative and collaborative methods in democratic governance. The goal of the network is to collaborate on research and theory building to strengthen the capacity of democratic governance institutions to produce better public policy. The Collaborative Democracy Network is being coordinated by the Center for Collaborative Policy at California State University Sacramento.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/cdn/

Columbia University - Teachers College Peace Education Center (TCPEC)

TCPEC's mission is to further the development of the field of peace education, particularly in recognition of the unprecedented need to address issues of security, war and peace, human rights and social justice, sustainable development and ecological balance. The Peace Education Center was established to provide outreach, resourcing, training and in-service education. The Center conducts research, curricular development and outreach activities in many world regions, working in collaboration with other such centers in the Philippines, Lebanon, India, Jordan, Japan, Israel, and Turkey.

Community Based Collaboratives Research Consortium

CBCRC is a network of researchers, mediators and facilitators, government agencies, community groups and environmental groups which seek to understand and assess local collaborative efforts involving natural resources and community development. CBCRC provides a venue for the sharing of research, evaluation and case studies; emerging stewardship issues and practice; and policy outcomes concerning community based collaborative processes.

Resource Link: http://www.CBCRC.org

Deliberative Democracy Consortium

Founded in 2002, the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC) is a network of practitioners and researchers, representing over 30 organizations and universities, working together to strengthen the field of deliberative democracy. The DDC seeks to support research activities and to advance practice at all levels of government, in North America and around the world. The DDC is a project of AmericaSpeaks.

Resource Link: http://www.deliberative-democracy.net

DEMO-net

The overarching objective of DEMO-net is to strengthen scientific, technological and social research excellence in eParticipation by integrating the research capacities of individuals and organisations spread across Europe. The intention is to advance the way research is carried out in Europe with respect to quality, efficiency, innovation and impact to overcome the currently fragmented approach to eParticipation in this important European research area. With this overall objective, the network will provide a major contribution to the strategic goals set by the European Council.

Resource Link: http://www.demo-net.org

Demos

Demos was founded in 1999 as a national research and advocacy organization to help create a new long-term vision for American society. Demos works on two of the most urgent challenges facing the U.S. today: strengthening our democracy and creating more broadly shared prosperity. Demos conducts original research and builds networks of civic and economic reformers to help turn ideas into action.

Resource Link: http://www.demos-usa.org

Dirksen Congressional Center

The Dirksen Congressional Center is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization in Pekin, Illinois, that seeks to improve civic engagement by promoting a better understanding of Congress and its leaders through archival, research, and educational programs. The Dirksen Congressional Center conducts programming in four areas: historical collections, research, education, and community service.

Resource Link: http://www.dirksencenter.org

Forum Foundation

The Forum Foundation conducts futures research in the field of Administrative Theory and Many-to-Many Communication technology to discover those dynamics which tend to move organizations and institutions, universally, toward solving their problems and anticipating or adapting to changes in their internal or external environment.

Resource Link: http://www.ForumFoundation.org

Generative Dialogue Project

The Generative Dialogue Project emerged in late 2003 as part of the Global Leadership Initiative, a broad effort to address the need for more effective approaches to global problem solving. From the outset, our intention for the GDP has been to organize a community of experienced dialogue practitioners as a peer learning group to work together to advance the state of the art of dialogic problem solving and to promote the use of the most effective processes in the global arena.

Resource Link: http://www.generativedialogue.org