Last month’s Model Civic Assembly in Culver City, co-hosted with our partners at Braver Angels, offered a glimpse of what’s possible when everyday Angelenos come together to learn, listen, and deliberate. When we launched this experiment in model assemblies, we weren’t sure a short session could capture the spirit of a full civic assembly. But the response was powerful.As one participant shared, “Just listening to people’s experiences and what people want and need about dif

In-Person Model Civic Assembly Saturday, was held on June 7, 1–4pm | in Culver City | A hands-on opportunity to experience a mini civic assembly in action. Participants deliberated on policies to guide wildfire response and prevention, and explored how this model can be used on the issues they care most about. The event was Sponsored by Public Democracy Los Angeles and BraverAngels. An informative and detailed account of the assembly was published in LAist , also known as KPC

Public Democracy Los Angeles (PDLA) and Braver Angels made a public presentation on Civic Assemblies (April 29) in an online meeting , titled "What If the People Governed? How Civic Assemblies Can Change Everything!" discussing how Civic Assemblies help everyday citizens improve their communities by empowering diverse residents to deliberate complex issues and create informed, community-driven policies to solve intractable problems. Video of presentation is here . Braver Ang

On Nov 20 Guillaume Saunier of Octree gave a preliminary presentation ofthe Decidim software package for implementing democratic processes to PDLA. Octree is a non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland, which provides support to users of the Decidim platform for participatory democracy through Voca.city organization. Decidim is mostly used in Europe and other communities abroad, but is relatively new in the US. It is however used in New York City (See links below.) Decidim is

On September 28, Public Democracy Los Angeles (PDLA) and Los Angeles Democracy Vouchers (LADV) led a mock election and civic assembly at the Congress of Neighborhoods at Los Angeles City Hall. With around 25 participants, the event highlighted two innovative democratic tools—democracy vouchers and civic assemblies—that PDLA views as stepping stones toward more local engagement on addressing key issues that directly impact communities. What are Democracy Vouchers and Why Are

Public Democracy Los Angeles (PDLA) recently hosted a mock assembly for its members that gave participants a firsthand look at what it means to dive deep into a complex policy issue, reflect on their values, and make data-informed decisions. The topic? A pressing question for Los Angeles: “Should the city support a housing first approach to homelessness?” This event not only offered PDLA members an immersive civic assembly experience but also provided us with valuable insight