California to Launch Digital Democracy Effort to Improve Public Engagement

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom Feb. 23 announced California’s upcoming launch of a program that will bring Californians together to engage, interact, and share ideas to help shape government services and collectively create policy solutions. Engaged California is a program to support community conversations about important topics using digital platforms. With this new initiative, the state will better ensure decisions are centered on the people’s voices. As part of California’s all-in response to the firestorm, this pilot program is being launched now for survivors and the greater Los Angeles community. 

With Engaged California, the state will better empower Californians to have honest, respectful discussions on important topics to help create more responsive and people-driven policies and programs. The program is modeled after successful digital democracy efforts in Taiwan, which used digital tools to help increase consensus-building and build governance powered by the people.

The foundation of the program will encourage participation from Californians across all walks of life to interact with each other to find common ground and help set priorities for state government action. The program will help people to directly voice their concerns and ideas, and improve policymakers’ and administrators’ efforts to listen to Californians outside of election cycles and to be more responsive to their concerns.

“Fire survivors are looking for answers, and California is gearing up to meet them where they are,” said Government Operations Secretary Amy Tong. “We have to think differently to bring us closer to those we serve, especially those whose voices we may be missing through traditional channels.”

Engaged California is different from a poll or town hall, and is not designed to mimic social media. The platform is the intersection between technology, democracy, and state government. The end goal is to encourage more discussions as a new way to find common ground, a process known internationally as deliberative democracy.

The launch of Engaged California will initially focus on the response to the Los Angeles firestorms, bringing together community members to help influence response efforts and better address issues based on community experiences and voices. 

The Government Operations Agency, the California Office of Data and Innovation or ODI, in partnership with Carnegie California, the West Coast office and program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, are leading the development of this program and its supporting deliberative engagement tools. The state is also partnering with the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and community organizations to help ensure the program is accessible for community members who may be harder to reach.

Other program design partners and advisors for this initiative include scholars and leaders from: The American Public Trust, the Berggruen Institute, Stanford University’s Deliberative Democracy Lab, UC Berkeley, Harvard University’s Center for Internet and Society, the San Francisco Foundation, Project Liberty Institute and the Kapor Center.
Details: https://engaged.ca.gov