We're now Everyday Democracy!

New name embodies vision of how democracy and civic life should work

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February 1, 2008 | | Pomfret, Connecticut

 

The Study Circles Resource Center is now Everyday Democracy. This new name describes the organization’s ultimate goal: communities that work better for everyone, every day.

Everyday Democracy will continue to help communities bring all kinds of people together to solve community problems. And, the organization will keep on learning, developing tools, and identifying best practices for creating communities that work for everyone.  

“We believe that our new name embodies a vision of how democracy and civic life ought to work,” says Executive Director Martha L. McCoy. “We hope that it inspires communities to see how their efforts to engage all kinds of people in problem solving contribute to a stronger democracy.”

The Paul J. Aicher Foundation created Everyday Democracy as the Study Circles Resource Center in 1989.  Since then, the organization has provided advice and training to more than 550 communities across the country.

As the organization’s work evolved over the past 20 years, it became clearer that a new name would better serve its mission and the communities working to create dialogue-to-change efforts. In the beginning, the organization worked with communities to develop ways for people to talk with each other about public problems. Soon, it became evident that the organization needed to figure out how to get lots of people of all backgrounds to join in the talk. Now, Everyday Democracy is focusing on how to link large-scale public dialogue to sustained community change.