The Paul J. Aicher Foundation welcomes new board members

by

February 17, 2009 | | East Hartford, Connecticut

The Paul J. Aicher Foundation and Everyday Democracy, its primary project, announce the appointment of three new board members, all of whom will help the foundation further its mission in advancing deliberative democracy and improving the quality of public life in the United States. The new members bring expertise on Latino political participation, deliberation and democratic governance, and youth civic engagement.

Erica L. Bernal-Martinez, the senior director of civic engagement at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund; Archon Fung, professor of public policy at the Harvard University’s Kennedy School; and Peter Levine, director at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, all joined the board this winter. “I am thrilled that Erica, Archon and Peter are on our board,” says Martha L. McCoy, president of The Paul J. Aicher Foundation and executive director of Everyday Democracy.  “Erica’s experience in promoting civic participation among Latinos/Hispanics will help us expand our work to other national organizations serving Latino populations. Archon’s research on the impacts of civic participation, public deliberation, and transparency on democratic governance will advance our thinking on transforming the relationship between citizens and their government. And, Peter’s extensive knowledge of young people’s civic and political participation in America will help us foster the next generation of civic leaders.”

Board Chair Diana Johnson says, “We look forward to gaining significant insights Erica, Archon and Peter toward forwarding the mission and work of The Paul J. Aicher Foundation. They will each bring a fresh new perspective on how the foundation and Everyday Democracy can strengthen the democracy movement, both at the national and local level.”

Erica L. Bernal-Martinez is responsible for leading NALEO’s political participation programs. As an expert on the issue of Latino political participation, she oversees the NALEO Educational Fund’s Civic Engagement Programs nationally. Since being with the NALEO Educational Fund, Bernal-Martinez has been instrumental in developing strategic programs aimed at empowering Latinos to participate fully in the American political process from promoting naturalization to voting, including the Naturalization Application Loan Fund, a grassroots training and technical assistance program for Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles.

Archon Fung is professor of public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. His research examines the impacts of civic participation, public deliberation, and transparency upon public and private governance. His recent books include Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency and Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy.

Fung’s current projects examine democratic reform initiatives in electoral reform, urban planning, public services, ecosystem management, and transnational governance. He has written five books, three edited collections, and more than 50 articles appearing in a number of journals.

Peter Levine is director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University’s Jonathan Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. He is also research director of the Tisch College. Levine’s work at CIRCLE focuses on conducting research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. CIRCLE provides a stream of reliable data and analysis that helps Americans to understand the strengths and weaknesses of civic education, broadly defined.

Levine is the author of The Future of Democracy: Developing the Next Generation of American Citizens, three other scholarly books on philosophy and politics, and a novel. He also co-edited The Deliberative Democracy Handbook and co-organized the writing of The Civic Mission of Schools, a report released by Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE in 2003.

Everyday Democracy (formerly the Study Circles Resource Center) is a national organization that helps communities find ways for all kinds of people to think, talk and work together to solve problems. We work with neighborhoods, cities and towns, regions, and states, helping them pay particular attention to how racism and ethnic differences affect the problems they address. Created in 1989 by The Paul J. Aicher Foundation, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan operating foundation, Everyday Democracy has worked with more than 550 communities nationwide on many different public issues.