Founded in 1975, Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in New York City. By elevating a diversity of voices, forging common ground and improving dialogue and collaboration among leaders and communities, Public Agenda fuels progress on critical issues, including education, health care and community engagement.
Our engagement work is propelled by our research and based on decades practice. Through careful issue framing, nonpartisan Choicework discussion guides, well-designed dialogue, expert facilitation and skillful reporting, we help people build common ground, despite their differences.
Our Community Conversation model for public engagement offers an alternative to traditional and often unproductive public forums. Community Conversations provide government officials and community leaders an opportunity to engage a broad cross section of a community in productive, action-oriented deliberation.
Public Agenda conducts nuanced and in-depth opinion research, based on co-founder Dan Yankelovich’s Learning Curve perspective.
This research enables us to understand where people with a stake in a given problem are coming from, what they think and why. In turn, it helps leaders and stakeholders grasp:
- how others are thinking and talking about a problem
- the sorts of solutions they are currently willing to support
- how to effectively engage them in problem solving
(Taken from www.publicagenda.org/pages/our-approach.)
