Last fall, the Case Foundation launched an initiative called the Make It Your Own Awards. Individuals from all walks of life were invited to submit grant applications. The Case Foundation received nearly 5,000 applications and has chosen a group of finalists.

In keeping with the spirit of Make It Your Own, the foundation is inviting the online community to vote and decide which of these finalists will be the Final Four and receive an additional $25,000.

Listen to Parker J. Palmer speak on the Democratic Experiment, recorded on February 19, 2008 at the Commonwealth Club of California. Palmer speaks on "America's Democratic Experiment: Holding the Tension Between Reality and Possibility." He argues that democracy requires us to do the soul-work necessary to stand in the tragic gap, evoking "the better angels of our nature" in ourselves and in our world.

An article, by Stephanie Faulk, in the February 29, 2008, issue of Dialogos, describes ICDD's plans to collaborate with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library to hold at least three deliberative public forums.

Issues of an electronic Newsletter, 2008 Fall Forums in Georgia, created by Margaret Holt, are helping to keep local forum planners aware of progress and possibilities as efforts continue in advance of public deliberative forums that will be held in Georgia next fall.

On Februrary 12th, in Moore College on the University of Georgia campus, approximately 30 students attended forums where they deliberated about the issue of what to do about immigration. View some photos that were taken during the forums.

Educare Trust, Nigeria, organized a One-Day Workshop on Democratic Decision-Making and Interactive Political Theatre on Saturday 16th of February, 2008.

The workshop was used to teach nineteen young Nigerian political activists techniques what would enable them to work well without a leadership or voting structure. The activists learned about 'Direct Democracy', which encourages citizens to become active participants in their communities.

This 46-page report, prepared by Public Agenda for the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), is based on outcomes of deliberative public forums that were held in 42 states and the District of Columbia during 2007.

Included in this report are sections that: describe what happened in the forums; list key tensions in the deliberations; give answers to key questions about the forums; and provide excerpts from transcripts of the forums.

This is an eleven-page issue guide-in-brief about choices involved in deciding how we should pay for health care.

Founded in 1989 by the Paul J. Aicher Foundation, the Study Circles Resource Center, based in Connecticut, announced recently that it has changed its name to Everyday Democracy.

This workshop invites schools to send teams of students and teachers to experience and learn more about using deliberative forums in schools. Each school team will receive instructional materials to implement deliberative discussion in their classes. Follow up contact by workshop trainers will provide participants with the support to successfully implement the Deliberative Discussion Strategy.

Read a synopsis of the new book, Political Communication and Deliberation by John Gastil.