AmericaSpeaks
AmericaSpeaks was a
The group was founded as a nonpartisan nonprofit organization by activist and author Carolyn Lukensmeyer.[1][7] When its closure was announced in 2014, AmericaSpeaks claimed that it had engaged 180,000 people across 150 projects.[8] Forums organized by AmericaSpeaks included "Our Budget, Our Economy" (2010), a public deliberation about the national debt involving 3,000 people in 19 communities across the United States.[9] In 2007, AmericaSpeaks worked with city government officials to conduct a series of town meetings on rebuilding New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, involving citizens who had been displaced via telecasts and online.[10] In Chicago, AmericaSpeaks worked with the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) to facilitate discussions around its Common Ground planning process.[11] Other projects included bringing together 4,500 stakeholders to discuss the redevelopment of ground zero in New York City.[4][1]
Outcomes
Critics of AmericaSpeaks have pointed out the biases inherent in how specific topics were presented to forum participants; the lack of transparency in how decisions were made; and skepticism that the time and effort invested by participants would not matter in the end.[12]
See also
References
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-3-031-43673-4.
- ^ ISBN 9781412997829.
- ISBN 978-1-349-43719-1.
- .
- – via EBSCOHost.
- ^ "AmericaSpeaks Closes Down | Participedia". Archived from the original on 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
- – via EBSCOHost.
- .
- ISBN 978-3-540-75400-8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-008452-3.
Further reading
- Meyers, L. (2003) ILR organizational change experts get ideas from NYC-Ground Zero town hall organizer Ithaca: Cornell Chronicle.
- Rossant, J. (2005)Putting Global Concerns to a Vote BusinessWeek.com
- Warner, C. (2007) Unified N.O. Plan gaining steam New Orleans: Times Picayune.
- Krupa, M. (2006) Survey backs plan for smaller footprint New Orleans: Times Picayune
- Unified New Orleans Plan Community Congress II Preliminary Report
- Williamson, A. (2007) Citizen Participation in the Unified New Orleans Plan Harvard
- Cupka, M. (2008) Where Americans speak out about the issues AmericaSpeaks.com
- Brigham, S. (2006) Taking Democracy to a Regional Scale in Hamilton County. The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities. (pp 231–245). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Leighninger, M. (2006). The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule Is Giving Way to Shared Governance and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same. (pp 48, 66, 143-147). Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
- Epstein, P., Coates, P., Wray, L., Swain, D. (2006). Results that Matter: Improving Communities by Engaging Citizens, Measuring Performance, and Getting Things Done. (pp 28–29, 166-169, 200-201). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Nobel, P. (2005). Sixteen acres: architecture and the outrageous struggle for the future of Ground Zero. (pp 103–106). New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Co.