Submitter:

Name:Owen Ambur

Email:Owen.Ambur@verizon.net

Organization:

Name:Deliberative Democracy Consortium

Acronym:DDC

Stakeholder(s):

• DDC Executive Committee: The activities of the Consortium are coordinated by an Executive Committee, chaired by Carolyn Lukensmeyer, president of AmericaSpeaks. Matt Leighninger is the Consortium's Executive Director.


• Carolyn Lukensmeyer: DDC Executive Committee Chair -- President of AmericaSpeaks


• Matt Leighninger: DDC Executive Director -- Matt Leighninger is the Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC), an alliance of the Matt Leighningermajor organizations and leading scholars working in the field of deliberation and public engagement. The DDC represents more than 50 foundations, nonprofit organizations, and universities, collaborating to support research activities and advance democratic practice, in North America and around the world. Over the last sixteen years, Matt has worked with public engagement efforts in over 100 communities, in 40 states and four Canadian provinces. Matt is a Senior Associate for Everyday Democracy, and serves on the boards of E-Democracy.Org, the National School Public Relations Association, and The Democracy Imperative. He has also been a consultant to the National League of Cities, NeighborWorks America, Centers for Disease Control, and the League of Women Voters. His first book, The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule is Giving Way to Shared Governance - and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same, traces the recent shifts in the relationship between citizens and government, and examines how these trends are reshaping our democracy.


• DDC Task Groups: Task groups (listed below) carry out strategic planning and activities related to knowledge building, democratic governance, online deliberation and linking to government.


• DDC Knowledge Building Task Group: Identifies critical questions and collaborators to advance knowledge and practice in the field of deliberative democracy.


• DDC FedNet Task Group: Convenes federal officials from different countries to discuss ways of connecting democratic deliberation with federal policy-making. This task group is currently building resources for elected officials.


• DDC Online Deliberation Task Group: Builds knowledge and tracks innovation within the field of online deliberation. First product is the development of a deliberative democracy 'blog'.


• DDC Democratic Governance Task Group: Develops tools for leaders who are using deliberative strategies in their work.