Access to Democracy
The Access to Democracy project is a statewide initiative intended to engage students, civic leaders, and community members in dialogues on the issues of access and quality in higher education. The overarching purpose of this initiative is to improve access to higher education through changes at both the policy level as well as at the individual and community levels.
A piece of this initiative involves hosting community dialogues throughout the state of Michigan in order to increase public awareness, knowledge, and understanding of these issues. The Access to Democracy team at the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good is in the process of organizing and promoting discussions across the state of Michigan. The dialogues will specifically focus on higher education's economic, social, and civic contributions; particularly to the development of a diverse and engaged citizenry and the assurance of opportunity for youth.
Furthermore, the information obtained through these dialogues - along with detailed, localized information about educational attainment and economic prosperity - will be utilized to directly inform policy decisions throughout the state.
The Access to Democracy initiative represents an intentional intersection of "Grass-roots" and "Grass-tops" efforts. At the grass-roots level, localized Community Coalition Leadership Teams are organizing deliberative dialogues to increase public awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the issues associated with the question of "Who is College For?" The Community Coalition Leadership Teams will be organized in counties throughout the state and will be comprised of members of previously unrelated networks (e.g., librarians, educators, parents, students, media operations, and foundation, government, and business leaders). At the policy level, the information obtained through these dialogues - along with detailed, localized information about educational attainment and economic prosperity - has been provided to Lt. Governor Cherry's Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth. This information will be utilized to directly inform policy decisions throughout the state.
The approach the National Forum has undertaken for this project is modeled on the National Issues Forums (NIF) process of framing an important and contested issue in public terms. Through the dialogue process, all perspectives are given equal consideration, the costs and benefits of each perspective are weighed, and policy implications are discussed. Dialogues will be supported by the dissemination of research and reports that underscore the importance of higher education to the state's future. In addition to the NIF dialogue process, the National Forum anticipates incorporating video and documentary materials addressing higher education's public service mission into the community conversations.
In light of the Supreme Court decisions regarding admission to the University of Michigan, access to higher education is a critical issue in the state of Michigan. It is an issue that people care deeply about, but a topic on which many people may lack adequate information. The National Forum believes that by framing the issue in public terms, and engaging in deliberative dialogues, we can better inform public opinion and positively influence civic engagement.
Partners in the Access to Democracy project are the American Council on Education, the Anne E. Casey Foundation, the Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance, the Lumina Foundation for Education, the McGregor Fund, the University of Michigan, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.