Public Agenda is a nonpartisan research and public engagement organization dedicated to strengthening democracy and expanding opportunity for all Americans.
New & Noteworthy
Our Work:
Programs & Publications
The Public’s Agenda. Public Agenda applies its expertise in nonpartisan research and public engagement to foster progress on the issues people care about most, including:
Other Topics:
Criminal Justice, Immigration, Housing, Climate Change, and more.
Public Agenda’s Hidden Common Ground® initiative challenges the narrative that Americans are hopelessly divided and incapable of working together. Through research, journalism, and public engagement, Hidden Common Ground helps Americans identify and strengthen their common ground, productively navigate their differences, and create fair and effective solutions to the challenges of our time.
Hidden Common Ground explores issues including overcoming divisiveness, responses to the coronavirus, health care, economic opportunity, racism and police reform, and immigration.
The Kettering Foundation is a research partner of the Hidden Common Ground initiative. Hidden Common Ground is supported by a diverse group of foundations including Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Charles Koch Institute, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Civic Health Project and through the generosity of individual donors.
Learn more about Hidden Common Ground.
Americans are frustrated with the state of our democracy. How do they want to change it? How do they want to be engaged?
The Yankelovich Stronger Democracy Program contributes research, ideas and tools that support sound public judgment and meaningful public participation.
The New York Metro Agenda is our program specifically serving our home city and region through nonpartisan research, cutting-edge public engagement and local events.
New York is our home base. It is also a hotbed of democratic innovation, and we are supporting this civic energy through actionable research, cutting-edge democratic practices, and thought-provoking events. Recent local projects have supported better health care services for low-income families; better small businesses/community relations; and collaboration between residents and scientists on environmental resilience in Jamaica Bay.
Recent work:
Healthier Democracies, a new initiative by Public Agenda, works to strengthen American democracy by sharing best practices and innovations from around the world. The project identifies promising global case studies of community engagement and offers recommendations for American public officials. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the initiative lays out a path to equitable, deliberative and collaborative relationships between governments and the communities they serve. The views expressed here don’t necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
NEWS & BLOGS
HEALTHIER DEMOCRACIES ADVISORY BOARD
Jeni Arndt, Mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado
Rosie Berger, Former Wyoming State Representative (R)
David Blount, Mississippi State Senator (D)
Tanisha Briley, City Manager, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Tom Carroll, Village Manager, Silverton, Ohio
Misty Mason Freeman, Director of the Legislative Policy and Research Office, Oregon State Legislature
Maria Hadden, 49th Ward Alderwoman, City of Chicago
Stacy Householder, Director, Leadership and International Programs, National Conference of State Legislators
Nigel Jacob, Co-Chair, Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics
Manish Jani, IT Director and Deputy Director, Colorado Legislative Council
Valerie Lemmie, Director of Exploratory Research, Kettering Foundation
Doug Linkhart, President, National Civic League
Pete Peterson, Dean, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University
Satya Rhodes-Conway, Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
Claire Woodall-Vogg, Executive Director, City of Milwaukee Election Commission
How We Work
Public Agenda works to strengthen democracy and expand opportunity for all Americans through public engagement and public opinion research.
"...it [can be] hard to find agreement on where things stand, how we can do better, and what solutions are worth trying...Public Agenda provided a signal service in promoting civil discussion, clarifying what we do and don't know, and respectfully acknowledging different views."
- Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Help Us Build a Democracy that Works for Everyone
Democracy in America and around the world has come under severe stress. It is Public Agenda’s privilege to work as hard as we can to make our democracy a more just, effective and resilient problem-solving institution, so everyone has a voice. Please make a gift to us today, at this critical moment in American history.