Healthy Democracy is a US-based nonpartisan nonprofit that works to elevate everyday people in public decision making.
We use democratic lotteries to empower new voices and guarantee representation across our many diversities. And we design deliberative processes that prove a more collaborative politics is possible. We partner with governments, nonprofits, and other organizations to bring together Lottery-Selected Panels that tackle our most difficult policy issues – from housing to health care.
We created the groundbreaking Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) – the first modern lottery-selected process to be institutionalized in the United States (in Oregon state law in 2011). The CIR convenes Lottery-Selected Panels to investigate ballot measures and write clear, concise, and accurate voter information, removed from campaign messaging and financial influence.
Our
Values
Our
People
Our
Work
Our History
Ned Crosby, Ph.D – democracy process innovator and author of Healthy Democracy – and his wife and colleague Pat Benn begin to develop and promote the idea of the Citizens’ Initiative Review. Crosby’s pioneering work to develop the Citizens Jury method of public deliberation is the foundation of the CIR process.
Recognized as a leading innovation in the field of citizen deliberation and public engagement, the Citizens Jury method has been used over the past 30 years in a wide variety of applications. To learn more about the history of the Citizens Jury process visit the Center for New Democratic Processes.
