The Institute for Local Government promotes good government at the local level with practical, impartial and easy-to-use resources for California communities. The Institute envisions a future in California in which: People value their local public institutions. Local agencies effectively deliver public services. All segments of the community are appropriately engaged in key public decisions. Decision-makers make informed policy choices based on their best sense of the public's interest.
Site Navigation
Search
Latest Stories
Start your day right!
Get latest updates and insights delivered to your inbox.
Top Stories
Latest news
Read More
Team Democracy
Meet the change leaders: Ken Powley
Oct 03, 2024
Nevins is co-publisher ofThe Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of theBridge Alliance Education Fund.
Ken Powley and Chris Newlon founded Team Democracy in early 2021. Its signature initiative is the nonpartisan Safe and Fair Election Pledge. The pledge is designed to create an important piece of common ground where Americans — including their elected representatives — can join together from opposite sides of the aisle in committing themselves to protecting the most essential guardrails of American democracy: safe and fair elections, and the peaceful transfer of power.
One of Team Democracy’s newer projects is the RAFT for America Challenge. Outfitters across the country offered pairs of participants, no matter what their differences, the opportunity to demonstrate that there is much more that unites us than divides us, and that we always do better by pulling together than by pulling apart. RAFT for America participants were treated to a transformative personal adventure in one of the most exciting and pristine places on earth!
Powley retired from a 46-year career at the helm of his whitewater rafting company to found Team Democracy. Powley brings a love of entrepreneurship and team building to his work in the nonprofit world, where, as he says, “I’ve come to think of democracy as being mainly a verb.” He and his wife, Penny, are proud parents of three. Of their six grandchildren, three called Kyiv, Ukraine, home until they were evacuated in the face of the Russian invasion. T
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter
Powley, who lives in Mountain Top, Pa., prefers smaller government, reasonably limited regulation and lower taxes.
I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Powley for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of his democracy reform work:
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Keep ReadingShow less
Recommended
Alice attends the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, iIllustration by Sir John Tenniel.
Andrew_Howe
We live in our own version of Wonderland
Oct 02, 2024
Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."
“Curiouser and curiouser,” Alice cried after falling down the rabbit hole in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
In nearly every arena of our lives we might observe the same, from our changing climate and increasingly high-stakes global conflicts, to space travel, energy conservation and the accelerating use of artificial intelligence. And, of course, in our volatile politics. Things are indeed getting curiouser.
Each of our branches of government frequently inhabits an improbable “wonderland.” In the executive branch’s presidential race, we heard: “Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”
What?!
Like the White Rabbit in Alice’s Wonderland, is the Republican candidate scurrying off to his terribly important date? Win, or an insurrection? Has someone stolen the Red Queen’s tarts, or the previous election? No, it’s Wonderland.
In Wonderland’s Caucus Race, “They began running when they liked, and left when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over.” Sounds much like the Democratic Party’s election process, which we thought happened during the primaries. Apparently not.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter
And participants in the Queen’s croquet game have nothing on our Congress. “They all played at once, without waiting for turns, quarreling all the while” is a lot like our legislative branch. Lawmakers often even use the Red Queen’s method to win the day: “sentence first, verdict afterwards!”
What about our third, unelected, judicial branch? Again, who stole the tarts? But it was ruled that no tarts were stolen; there are just different rules for those who make the rules. The Red Queen’s “off with their heads” is too harsh, but not reporting lavish gifts and vacations should have some consequences.
Wonderland’s Mock Turtle could be talking about our political campaigns and their “different branches: Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision.” Ambitious politicians spouting ugly rhetorical derisions pretty much describes what we see and hear from every media outlet every day this election season.
Although we may want to hide our heads in a hole, we cannot. And we cannot escape, tumbling down a rabbit hole as Alice did. What then?
Attend the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and imitate the Dormouse, falling asleep with our heads in our teacups? No time for that. Or perhaps the Caterpillar had the right idea? Take all the pundits, roll them together and smoke them to escape reality. For many reasons, it is a bad idea.
“I wish I hadn’t cried so much,” Alice said, swimming in a pool of her own tears. She is right. There is far too much at stake for useless tears.
The best advice: Do not drink any potions marked “Drink Me,” as the concoction makes us too big or too small. We cannot afford to get too big to listen to others’ viewpoints, or become small enough to drown in our own pool of despair. Be skeptical, but hopeful.
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice tells the Cheshire Cat. “Oh, you can’t help that,” he replies. “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad. You must be or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Probably true. And here we are. But we have always been here, always brooked controversy and disagreement, arguing and posturing. This adventure is nothing new for us.
Carroll wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” in Oxford, England, in 1865. The same year, our country was coming to the end of a devastating Civil War and our 16th, and arguably greatest president, was assassinated. Yet, here we are today, holding an election for our 47th.
When Alice’s sister hears her tales from Wonderland, she reminds Alice it was all a dream.
So, too, is democracy a dream. One which for 248 years has withstood all kinds of inanity, difficulties, wars, etc., yet continues to exist on the solid ground of the real world.
The dream lives on. Crafted into reality by the foresight of our founders, instilled with checks and balances, a living, changing entity of individual states, united. Stronger for our diversity, more stable with our open venues for discussion and argument, and, despite our differences and strife, still thriving, Wonderland in its wonder.
And still the greatest country the world has ever seen.
Keep ReadingShow less
Our stock market pivots on the performance of a handful of AI-focused companies like Nvidia.
hapabapa/Getty Images
We may face another 'too big to fail' scenario as AI labs go unchecked
Oct 02, 2024
Frazier is an assistant professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University and a Tarbell fellow.
In the span of two or so years, OpenAI, Nvidia and a handful of other companies essential to the development of artificial intelligence have become economic behemoths. Their valuations and stock prices have soared. Their products have become essential to Fortune 500 companies. Their business plans are the focus of the national security industry. Their collapse would be, well, unacceptable. They are too big to fail.
The good news is we’ve been in similar situations before. The bad news is we’ve yet to really learn our lesson.
In the mid-1970s, a bank known for its conservative growth strategy decided to more aggressively pursue profits. The strategy worked. In just a few years the bank became the largest commercial and industrial lender in the nation. The impressive growth caught the attention of others — competitors looked on with envy, shareholders with appreciation and analysts with bullish optimism. As the balance sheet grew, however, so did the broader economic importance of the bank. It became too big to fail.
Regulators missed the signs of systemic risk. A kick of the bank’s tires gave no reason to panic. But a look under the hood — specifically, at the bank’s loan-to-assets ratio and average return on loans — would have revealed a simple truth: The bank had been far too risky. The tactics that fueled its go-go years rendered the bank over exposed to sectors suffering tough economic times. Rumors soon spread that the bank was in a financially sketchy spot. It was the Titanic, without the band, to paraphrase an employee.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter
When the inevitable run on the bank started, regulators had no choice but to spend billions to keep the bank afloat — staving it from sinking and bringing the rest of the economy with it. Of course, a similar situation played out during the Great Recession — risky behavior by a few bad companies imposed bailout payments on the rest of us.
AI labs are similarly taking gambles that have good odds of making many of us losers. As major labs rush to release their latest models, they are not stopping to ask if we have the social safety nets ready if things backfire. Nor are they meaningfully contributing to building those necessary safeguards.
Instead, we find ourselves in a highly volatile situation. Our stock market seemingly pivots on earnings of just a few companies — the world came to a near standstill last month as everyone awaited Nvidia’s financial outlook. Our leading businesses and essential government services are quick to adopt the latest AI models despite real uncertainty as to whether they will operate as intended. If any of these labs took a financial tumble or any of the models were significantly flawed, the public would likely again be asked to find a way to save the risk takers.
This outcome may be likely but it’s not inevitable. The Dodd-Frank Act passed in response to the Great Recession and intended to prevent another Too Big to Fail situation in the financial sector has been roundly criticized for its inadequacy. We should learn from its faults in thinking through how to make sure AI goliaths don’t crush all of us Davids.
Some sample steps include mandating and enforcing more rigorous testing of AI models before deployment. It would also behoove us to prevent excessive reliance on any one model by the government — this could be accomplished by requiring public service providers to maintain analog processes in the event of emergencies. Finally, we can reduce the economic sway of a few labs by fostering more competition in the space.
Too Big to Fail scenarios have happened on too many occasions. There’s no excuse for allowing AI labs to become so large and so essential that we collectively end up paying for their mistakes.
Keep ReadingShow less
Mexican Independence Day celebration in Chicago
We must welcome in Latine unity
Oct 02, 2024
Marín is the co-creator and community advocate at BECOME. Rodríguez is the co-executive director of Enlace Chicago.
The Welcoming Neighborhood Listening Initiative delves into the dynamic social landscape of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, exploring resident perspectives on the influx of new neighbors seeking asylum. The study moves beyond traditional data collection to activate community members as leaders in driving transformative solutions. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive training and community dialogues to foster understanding, bridge cultural divides and build a more inclusive Little Village for all.
Chicago just marked Mexican Independence Day with a reinstated celebration of El Grito in downtown and an annual parade in La Villita, a primarily Mexican neighborhood also known as Little Village. These festivities kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the independence of Mexico along with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Chile.
The period from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 also acknowledges the many compatriots of Latin America who now live in the United States, wanting greater opportunity for themselves and their families. “I believe that everyone deserves an opportunity to have a better life,” said a resident of La Villita.
The theme of arriving and working towards a better life touches all immigrant groups, and it unifies Latinos across the country.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter
However, we are facing moments of enormous division. Over 48,000 people, mainly Venezuelans, have arrived in the city’s Latino neighborhoods since Texas began bussing people arriving at the Texas border to various cities across the United States. Little Village in Chicago has been a main placement destination for new residents. Spanish is the primary language, and the culture is familiar. However, in La Villita, as well as in other communities in Chicago, tensions have risen as established residents and new neighbors have scrambled for food pantry items, space to work as street vendors, affordable rents and available housing units.
To further understand this tension from the perspective of residents, BECOMEpartnered with Enlace Chicago, one of the primary community organizations and service providers in Little Village, to produce the Welcoming Neighborhood Listening Initiative. Eight long-term residents of La Villita were trained as community researchers to conduct interviews with their family members, neighbors, shopkeepers, teachers and others throughout their neighborhood. The responses captured many emotions: fear, resentment and struggle, along with hope, welcome and solidarity. In addition, new neighbors were also interviewed, along with community leaders and elected officials. “We have to understand that [our new neighbors] came to this country to make their lives better,” expressed the same La Villita resident.
In Chicago’s City Hall, the Latino and Black caucuses have clashed over the distribution of taxpayer funds to support new arrivals instead of investing in majority Black communities that have been systemically ignored. In La Villita, Mexicans and Venezuelans have clashed over cultural differences and access to resources. “It’s as if a kind of racism is being created between us Latinos, even though it’s not their fault,” said another Little Village resident about the influx of new residents from Venezuela and other parts of Latin America.
The presidential election and our political divisions are now dominating the national stage. Some appeals to Latino voters try to pit us against one another based on immigration status, how long we’ve lived in the United States and our national origins. Non-Latino immigrants are also being demonized with fear-mongering tactics. We can do better!
The wisdom of those eight community researchers of Little Village resonates at this moment. They bravely went through their own neighborhood, asking people how they felt about their new neighbors and if they believed they were part of a welcoming community. Most community members — 68 percent — said yes. As residents themselves, the researchers held back their own opinions of their changing neighborhood. As one shared, “I learned to listen and not judge. I learned to ask questions openly and not be afraid to do so.” We would do well to follow her lead.
As the weeks progress toward the election, we will be bombarded with more messages about our differences. What community members found, however, is that they are more alike than not. Regardless of national origin, how we arrived in the United States, what dialect or language we speak or what neighborhood we live in, our similarities bind us. As we celebrate this month of Latine unity and Hispanic heritage, we have an opportunity to extend that welcoming to all those who seem so different. One Little Village resident reminds us, “One change is to start from within so that we can also accept ourselves and accept other people.”
Keep ReadingShow less
Meet the change leaders: Pearce Godwin
Oct 02, 2024
Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
Pearce Godwin is founder of the Listen First Project and the #ListenFirst Coalition of 500 organizations bringing Americans together across differences to listen, understand each other and discover common interests.
He catalyzes the movement to save America from toxic polarization by shifting social norms from division, distrust, contempt and violence toward connection, understanding and belonging. Pearce manages large-scale, co-created endeavors such as Meeting of America and the annual National Week of Conversation to engage as many Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs as possible to turn down the heat and find a way forward together.
His work has been recognized across national media, including interviews on Fox News and MSNBC and in the Wall Street Journal. In addition, he regularly writes for USA Today. Godwin has visited all 50 states, loves America and his fellow Americans, and maintains faith that, out of many people, one more perfect union can be built together.
To engage more Americans in this hopeful mission, Pearce has forged partnerships with some of the country’s most influential entities such as Walmart, Target, McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Petco, iHeart Media, Duke University, Liberty University and Stanford University.
Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter
Pearce graduated from Duke University and received an MBA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He spent five years working in Washington, D.C., in the U.S. Senate and as a national political consultant for presidential and statewide campaigns.
Before moving home to North Carolina in 2013, he spent six months in Uganda, where he wrote “It’s Time to Listen.” That message — printed in dozens of papers across the United States — launched the Listen First Project and led thousands to sign the Listen First Pledge (“I will listen first to understand.”)
In 2017, as division turned to violence, Godwin left his marketing job, fully committing to heal America, and launched the #ListenFirst Coalition. In 2018, he co-created the first annual National Week of Conversation and hosted the kickoff event, Listen First in Charlottesville. In 2020, he led the crisis response campaign #WeavingCommunity. In 2021, he served as associate producer of “The Reunited States,” a film about bridging divides, and created its #HealAmericaPledge. He then led America Talks as the kickoff event for the annual National Week of Conversation.
In 2022, Godwin piloted Meeting of America, shared the hope of the bridging movement in the Wall Street Journal and in a PBS special and testified before Congress. The #ListenFirst message has reached more than 50 million people.
I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Godwin for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of his democracy reform work:
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Keep ReadingShow less
Load More