Public Agenda is a nonpartisan research and public engagement organization dedicated to strengthening democracy and expanding opportunity for all Americans.
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.
Education journalism shapes public perception of teachers and helps shape policy priorities - intertwining the media, K-12 education, and the contours of teaching in many significant ways. To foster more insightful journalism, Public Agenda’s Teachers in the News project, supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, provides an unprecedented analysis of education media coverage, alongside findings from a survey of teachers and parents; and interviews with teachers and journalists.
Public Agenda’s analysis examines teacher portrayals in education journalism from 2009 to 2020 in five national and five local newspapers. Findings from a nationally representative survey examine what K-12 public school teachers and parents think about how the media portrays teachers, what education topics deserve more coverage, and the challenges teachers have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. In video interviews, teachers and journalists reflect on what these findings mean for the future of education and news.
To view findings, implications, and videos in full, visit our dedicated site www.teachersinthenews.org.
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.
Healthier Democracies, an innovative 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—15 in total—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.
Findings, Resources, and More
Through the breadth of its 15 global case studies, the Healthier Democracies project has led to a broad range of analyses, reports, and resources. Click the buttons below for more information:
Introduction to Healthier Democracies
- This document gives a broad overview of the scope, purpose and work of the project.
Global Case Studies
- The Healthier Democracies project studied public engagement systems from 15 locations around the world, and, accordingly, each study has its own report with key learnings and takeaways.
Lessons Learned
- While each of the 15 case studies features its own individual report with in-depth findings and analysis, this document gives an overview of key takeaways from the project as a whole.
The Participatory Governance Index
- The Participatory Governance Index (PGI) is a ground-breaking new assessment tool designed to help public officials and government workers understand the many parts that contribute to a strong, functioning participatory engagement system. It also has an accompanying User Guide.
Glossary
- This is a compendium of key terms and concepts discussed throughout Healthier Democracies documents.
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
HEALTHIER DEMOCRACIES RESEARCH TEAM
Azucena Morán
Parisa Parsa
Erin McNally
Melisa Ross
Mikayla Townsend
Sara Clarke-De Reza
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:
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.
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.