California Forward

California Forward advocates for shared prosperity across all of California’s regions, and for improved government performance and accountability. California Forward hosts the California Economic Summit, a robust network that concentrates on ensuring all Californians have access to economic opportunity, stable housing, quality jobs, and a healthy environment. This grant supports California Forward’s ongoing efforts to generate solutions to the state’s wildfire crisis. (Substrategy: Wildfire)

California Forward advocates for shared prosperity across all of California’s regions and for improved government performance and accountability. California Forward hosts the California Economic Summit, a robust network that concentrates on ensuring all Californians have access to economic opportunity, stable housing, quality jobs, and a healthy environment. This grant supports California Forward’s ongoing efforts to generate solutions to the state’s wildfire crisis. (Substrategy: Wildfire)

California Forward is a current GOS grantee that intends to carry out over the next three years a statewide conversation and engagement effort designed to support a fiscal realignment plan that shifts significant decisionmaking authority and revenue-raising responsibility from the state to local governments. This project grant is a related but distinct part of this larger effort; linked with California Forward’s other activities, this project has the potential to build significant momentum for reforms. California Forward is part of a consortium of organizations that is organizing and managing a statewide deliberative poll in order to engage and test various reform ideas with ordinary Californians during a weekend of intensive dialogue. Jim Fishkin at Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy developed the deliberative poll concept and model, and he will produce and conduct the poll. It will be conducted with approximately 300-350 Californians randomly drawn from statewide lists of likely voters, offering both a scientifically proven and visible media opportunity to engage state citizens. The consortium has identified state-local restructuring, taxation, initiative process, and representation as the four issue areas best suited for discussion. Jim Lehrer Productions at PBS will work with Mr. Fishkin to manage major media and logistics, and a communications working group will be formed to develop key objectives, messages, and strategies.