Ghost of Midnight

The DDC (Deliberative Democracy Consortium) has worked with PACE (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement) to develop “Funding and Fostering Local Democracy,” a guide designed to help the philanthropic community grapple with the question of how to support innovative and effective forms of democratic governance. The guide provides a detailed description of how local civic engagement has grown and developed over the past decade.

The guide is free and can be downloaded downloaded here. The strategies described in the guide—and the stories of how communities have used them to break policy deadlock, reduce tension and galvanize volunteerism—can help funders, public officials and community activists better understand the possibilities, and limitations, of various approaches to working with the public.

The report is worth a look.