The Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy strives to improve local and regional decision-making through informed citizen deliberations. Among other forms of democratic dialogue, the Program utilizes the protocols of Jim Fishkin's Deliberative Poll^® in order to indicate what the population of Southwestern Pennsylvania would think about a particular issue if it had time to become immersed in a deeply deliberative process.

Improving regional decision-making through Deliberative Polling and other forms of democratic dialogue.

The Program will seek to host several deliberative events per year. Each Deliberative Poll will focus on topics of immediate importance and will be designed not only to inform the participating citizens, but to influence actual policy as well.

The initiative is housed at Carnegie Mellon University, works closely with the Coro Center for Civic Leadership, and is aligned with local libraries and media outlets to achieve practical results at the local, regional and even national level. There are two main outreach activities of the Program: Citizen Forums and Campus Conversations. The Program also supports an on-line protocol for structured deliberations call PICOLA (Public Informed Citizens On-Line Assembly).

By providing background materials from the deliberative events and a report on the deliberation results to the press, libraries, community organizations and in other public venues, we belive that we can raise the level of community-wide awareness of and involvement in the pressing issues of social choice that face us in our lives as citizens. In this way, deliberative democratic practice not only empowers individuals but also builds civic engagement.