Taking Democracy to Scale

This article explores the large-scale work of America Speaks in the public sector, engaging citizens in 21st Century Town Meetings in decisions that impact their lives. It first reviews the differences in practicing large group work in broader social systems versus more bounded organizational systems. It also reviews the core dimensions and principles of the America Speaks model followed by an examination of the use of these town meetings in land use planning, resource allocation, and policy formulation projects. Finally, the authors describe America Speaks’sintent to institutionalize the practice of national discussions on critical policy issues and highlight the work of other deliberative democracy practitioners over the past decade locally, regionally, nationally, and abroad.