Everyday Democracy

Everyday Democracy is a capacity building organization that provides technical assistance to individuals and groups working to build multiracial democracies within local communities. For over 30 years, the organization has provided training, coaching, and tools with a racial equity lens to support place-based engagement for community-led solutions. This award is for general operations, and the intended outcomes are more authentic equity-driven community engagement to support local criminal justice reform.

Everyday Democracy is the primary project of The Paul J. Aicher Foundation, an operating foundation whose mission is to advance deliberative democracy and improve the quality of public life in the United States. Everyday Democracy carries out that mission by supporting organizers across the country to bring together diverse groups of people, structure and facilitate community dialogue on pressing issues, and use a racial equity lens to understand public problems and create collaborative, equitable solutions for long-term change. This award supports the continued engagement of Everyday Democracy as a technical assistance provider in the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC), the Foundation’s criminal justice reform initiative aimed at reducing over-incarceration by focusing on the misuse and overuse of jails and racial and ethnic disparities. In addition to working with the Foundation and other partners on the overall planning and coordination of initiative activities, Everyday Democracy will continue to build the capacity of the SJC to adopt, implement, and sustain inclusive, equity-driven community engagement practices in collaboration with system stakeholders to support jail population and disparity reduction strategies in local justice systems.

Everyday Democracy is the primary project of The Paul J. Aicher Foundation, an operating foundation whose mission is to advance deliberative democracy and improve the quality of public life in the U.S. Everyday Democracy carries out that mission by supporting organizers across the country to bring together diverse groups of people, structure and facilitate community dialogue on pressing issues, and use a racial equity lens to understand public problems and create collaborative, equitable solutions for long-term change. This award supports the continued engagement of Everyday Democracy as a technical assistance provider in the Safety and Justice Challenge, the Foundation’s criminal justice reform initiative aimed at reducing over-incarceration by focusing on the misuse and overuse of jails and racial and ethnic disparities. In addition to working with the Foundation and other partners on the overall planning and coordination of initiative activities, Everyday Democracy will continue to build the capacity of Challenge Network jurisdictions to adopt, implement, and sustain inclusive, equity-driven community engagement practices in collaboration with system stakeholders to support jail and disparity reduction strategies in local justice systems.

Created as the Study Resource Center in 1989 by the Paul J. Aicher Foundation, Everyday Democracy works to help local communities create and sustain public dialogue and solve problems. Since the launch of the Safety and Justice Challenge, the Foundation has encouraged jurisdictions participating in the Challenge Network to engage their communities in system reform efforts to safely reduce jail incarceration and address racial and ethnic disparities. The award enables Everyday Democracy to provide training, technical assistance and support to Challenge Network sites on the development of the relationships and processes on collaborative decision making that includes community voice and partnership. The goal is to provide sites with guidance, resources, and consultation in best practices to implement successful community engagement activities in criminal justice system reform.

Created as the Study Resource Center in 1989 by the Paul J. Aicher Foundation, Everyday Democracy works to help local communities create and sustain public dialogue and solve problems. Since the launch of the Safety and Justice Challenge, the Foundation has encouraged jurisdictions participating in the Challenge Network to engage their communities in system reform efforts to safely reduce jail incarceration and address racial and ethnic disparities. A comprehensive analysis of the community engagement efforts of the Challenge Network sites identified a need to provide sites with additional guidance, resources, consultation, and training in evidence-based best practices to implement successful community engagement activities. This award supports a one-year planning process during which Everyday Democracy will participate in Challenge Network activities; educate Challenge Network sites about the principles of sustained and meaningful community engagement; and work with the Foundation and initiative partners to develop and organize a selection process by which a cohort of sites will receive supplemental support to implement comprehensive community engagement plans.