Thursday, January 22, 2026

12:00–1:00 PM ET

Register here

Local governments are increasingly navigating heightened polarization, threats, and moments of democratic tension. What role can local leaders play in de-escalating conflict and preventing political violence in their communities?

Local Policy Lab is pleased to host a Democracy Conversation with Shannon Hiller, Executive Director of the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University, to explore research-backed, practical strategies local governments can use to reduce tensions, address threats and harassment, and foster safer, more resilient communities.

This one-hour virtual conversation is designed for local government staff and partners seeking actionable insights grounded in real-world experience.

Scroll to see the Democracy Conversations held in 2025

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Join us for this conversation exploring the role the citizen initiative/ballot process plays as an instrument for civic engagement and community building. Citizen initiatives have the potential to empower residents to take part in local decision-making, which strengthens their long-term investment in the community.

We are pleased to welcome Katie Fahey, executive director of The People, to share her perspective on the role residents are playing across the country through citizen initiatives.

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025

From the dance floor to the balcony: How can local governments shift from technical fixes to adaptive solutions?

Join us for our next Democracy Conversation, where LPL Co-Founder Scott Warren will share insights from our new LPL Brief: Adaptive vs. Technical Thinking in Civic Problem Solving.

We’ll explore real-world examples from Houston, Oregon, and Utah — and practical steps for city leaders seeking to address today’s toughest challenges through collaboration, trust, and resident engagement.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

This interactive conversation will focus on the design and early lessons of Fort Collins, Colorado’s first Civic Assembly featuring Assistant City Manager Rupa Venkatesh.

The Hughes Civic Assembly in Fort Collins – which took place in the spring of 2025 – was a deliberative process in which 20 randomly selected residents gathered to deliberate on the future of the former Hughes Stadium site. The assembly functioned like a "civic jury," with the goal of developing recommendations for the best use of the site.

We’ll be joined by project collaborators from Healthy Democracy, American Public Trust, Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation (CPD), and the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities.

What We’ll Discuss:

- How Fort Collins launched its first-ever Civic Assembly—and what set it apart from traditional engagement models

- Key design choices, implementation challenges, and early outcomes

- The role of cross-sector collaboration in building trust and legitimacy

- Practical insights for city staff and civic leaders looking to pilot similar efforts in their communities

June 12, 2025

This discussion will feature Zoltan Hajnal, Professor of Political Science at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California San Diego.

We’ll explore the critical question of who shows up in local elections, and why it matters.

You’ll gain insights into:

- How voter turnout varies across demographic groups—and the implications for equity, legitimacy, and representation.

- What the data tells us about how election timing, voting systems, and institutional design shape civic participation.

- Evidence-based strategies cities can implement to boost turnout, particularly among historically underrepresented communities.

- The intersection of race, income, and geography in local civic engagement—and what it means for policymaking and governance.

April 30, 2025

Our guest speaker is Milzy Carrasco, Director of Lancaster’s Department of Neighborhood Engagement will talk about how she and her colleagues, under the leadership of Mayor Danene Sorace, transformed a mayoral initiative into a city department.

This work is now captured in LPL’s new case study, developed in partnership with the City.

February 27, 2025

Local media and news organizations can be partners to local governments for distribution of factual, civic information to build social capital with residents. However, these organizations have been declining, in quantity and total staffing, since the 2008 financial crisis, leading to a decline in community-specific local affairs coverage and engagement with local government. Philanthropy and local governments can help fill this growing gap by partnering with existing media organizations and help develop new organizations.

Our guest speakers for this conversation, include: Madeleine Bair, Founding Director of El Timpano; Lori Hearn, CEO and Editor at iNewsource in San Diego; and  Jody Chong, Documenters Network Director at City Bureau

January 22, 2025

A conversation on the use of task forces and other forms of formal engagement in local government to better engage residents towards solutions that are sustainable and responsive to community contexts.

Our guest speaker this month Leigh Ratterman, Climate and Sustainability Specialist for the City of Missoula, MT. We are thrilled to have Leigh lead a conversation on how Missoula has explored the use of task forces as a way to better address climate change by improving resident engagement.

November 25, 2024

A conversation on how actors in government, nonprofit, and business sectors can promote civil dialogue and finding common ground of issues across the nation.

This is particularly crucial in recent years as political divisions and tensions have increased which have caused greater uncertainty about the nation’s future and wellbeing. And these tensions have played out in deeply polarized ways in communities of all types (conservative, moderate, and liberal, etc.) across the country. In response to these trends, practitioners have worked diligently to develop processes to create productive and welcoming conversations across the country.

We are delighted to host two of these practitioners, Karissa Raskin, Director of Coalition Engagement at the Listen First Project, and Liz Joyner, Founder and President at The Village Square, to discuss how these initiatives have developed and strengthened local democracy across the country.

Join us for this month’s conversation to learn more about how cross-sector collaborations can deepen resident trust in and engagement with local leaders in your communities.  

October 29, 2024

Recent years have provided significant opportunities for local governments to better engage residents on a broad range of topics. As media consumption habits change and Americans are increasingly using online means to stay connected and informed with local affairs, the use of online platforms can help close information gaps across communities and engage residents.

Cities like St. Louis, MO have employed online platforms to distribute settlement funds but cities across the country are also using such platforms to better engage residents on the future shape of their cities and improve responsiveness of public services.

We are excited to host Cristina Garmendia, Policy Director to the President of the Board of Aldermen in the City of St. Louis, MO, who will dive deeper into how these types of platforms can strengthen engagement with residents. Such platforms could offer significant opportunities for local governments to co-create solutions to local issues with residents and close engagement gaps that so many communities experience.

July 24, 2024

In a huge year for U.S. elections, most attention is focused nationally -- at the candidates and their supporters, or at the state level -- where the certification of electoral votes and other laws and rules will have a huge impact on how elections are run and votes are counted. But local governments have a critical role to play to help protect the right to vote for their residents, to ensure that accurate information is shared about how and when to vote, and in supporting election administrators to ensure free and fair elections, without regard to outcome.

Local Policy Lab and the Mayor's Innovation Project are pleased to welcome Corey Dukes, Head of State Election Advocacy Team & Policy Strategist at Protect Democracy, who will share strategies and lead a discussion on how local leaders can plan for various election-related scenarios and support the administration of free and fair elections -- where all eligible residents are able to cast their ballots without intimidation and without regard to electoral preferences.

June 20, 2024

As local-level leaders grapple with rising polarization, managing resource allocation, and declining levels of trust and participation, organizational listening holds tremendous potential to foster relationship-building with residents and stakeholders and improve the quality of solutions to local issues. However, organizations, including local governments, favor outbound communication, such as speaking, posting, sharing, and storytelling, over inbound communication, which comes from listening to stakeholders.

In this webinar, Dr. Ashley English shares insights from a three-year study on the power and importance of listening that started from a project that focused on Black stakeholders and their allies when attempting to be heard by a local government after an officer-involved shooting that ended in the killing of an innocent Black woman, Atatiana Jefferson. Dr. English provides a framework for no-agenda listening and how to implement this structured listening effort locally, emphasizing the importance of equity and empowerment.

May 30, 2024

Democracy globally is under threat from multiple actors and backsliding is unfortunately underway in many countries. Cities and local governments around the world are crucial sites in resisting efforts to reverse gains in more inclusive governance. In the United States cities are also important actors in creating a more welcoming country for refugees and immigrants.

Drawing from his experience as a former refugee, presidential appointee and Deputy Commissioner in the Minnesota state government, Hamse Warfa, is working at the intersection of these critical issues by working with cities across the country to strengthen democracy.

March 28, 2024

Conversation featuring Roberto Torres with the Institute for Local Government will join Cody Hooven and Rita de la Fuente from Evolution Affairs to provide an overview of effective tools to engage communities most impacted by climate change. Learn about best practices to make climate action more community-driven and democratic, through a case study on San Diego's pioneering Climate Equity Index.

February 28, 2024

Featuring special guest Liz Barry, COO & Head of Partnerships at The Computational Democracy Project, we’ll deep dive into Pol.is, an open-source online conversation platform maintained by CompDem that is hosted for free for nonprofits and governments.

Learn about the real-time system for gathering, analyzing, and understanding the collective thoughts of large groups of people facilitated by advanced statistics and machine learning.

Take a scroll through our past conversations…

November 29, 2023

This conversation will feature Lyana Cuadrado, Stephanie Reid and Gabriela Raczka from the City of Philadelphia, as well as Cleo Hirsch, who led Wes Moore’s gubernatorial transition and is a Senior Fellow to the Effective Government Transitions Project, and Sam Novey of the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE).

October 17, 2023

Featuring Michael Baskin, Chief Innovation Officer for Montgomery County, MD to discuss how design thinking can be an effective tool to empower local governments in identifying and pursuing opportunities for innovation at all levels.

September 27, 2023

Conversation featuring two dynamic presenters working closely to advance youth engagement everyday. Allyson Cook, Chief Programs Officer, Generation Citizen, a national civic education organization and Taylor Moody, Special Projects Manager for the City of Dallas, TX leading exciting work with the Dallas Youth Commission.

August 24, 2023

Conversation focused on voter engagement and local government's role. Featuring guest speakers Claire Woodall-Vogg of the Milwaukee Election Commission and Walter Ley of Branch, an organization that provides voter education and awareness.

July 25, 2023

Featuring three dynamic guest speakers for this session, discussing strategies they’ve undertaken to promote effective civic engagement, as well as specific language to use to motivate residents to particiate:

Aarati Cohly, Chief of Staff to the Chief Engagement Officer of the City of New York; and Yazmany Arboleda, NYC's inaugural People's Artist at the Civic Engagement Commission; and Amy McIsaac, Managing Director for Learning and Experimentation at PACE (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement)

June 22, 2023

Featuring Katie Harbath, a global leader at the intersection of elections, democracy, and technology, who spent ten years at Facebook as director of public policy.

2024 Democracy Conversations!