A nationwide initiative launching on Constitution Day 2020

With the People is an initiative of the National Issues Forums Institute and a dynamic and growing network of national, state, and local partners. 

With the People is based on the idea that democracy is strengthened when citizens, institutions, and governments find ways to talk and work with each other.  Deliberative discussions of the issues that impact our lives make a profound contribution to our capacity to do just that.  

With the People is designed as an ongoing initiative that encourages sustained practices of public deliberation on campuses and in communities across the country.

Collaborating organizations will communicate through their networks about opportunities to participate in online or in-person deliberations on one or more of the following issues:

• Free Speech and the Inclusive Campus: How Do We Foster the Campus Community We Want? - available to download
• Voting
• Immigration: Who Should We Welcome? What Should We Do? - available to download
• Racial Justice
• Policing
• Rebuilding Our Economy
• A New Land

What is deliberation? Why deliberate?

Resource Materials

A wide range of complimentary resources will be available: discussion guides, moderator and convenor supports, webinars, questionnaires, bridging pieces that connect public issues to the Constitution, and a repository of relevant research. 

Collaborating Organizations To Date