A Citizens' Assembly brings together a representative group of regular people — chosen by lottery — and gives them the time, the information, and the support to think hard about a shared question. Together they hear from experts and stakeholders, work through tradeoffs, and produce recommendations grounded in what they've learned.
This isn't a survey or a focus group. It's a structured deliberation, designed to bring real public judgment to complex public questions.
Used worldwide. Now in Maine.
Citizens' Assemblies have been used in more than 800 cases worldwide — Ireland, France, Canada, the UK, and beyond — to bring informed public reasoning to difficult questions, from climate policy to constitutional reform. They're arriving in the US, with projects in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Utah, and more.
Maine is adapting the format for one of our most important questions: where should education go from here?
Representative by lottery
Delegates are selected to mirror the public, not to self-select. That's what gives the recommendations their legitimacy.
Informed, not improvised
Delegates learn from balanced materials and expert panels before they deliberate.
Deliberation over debate
The work is finding common ground and weighing tradeoffs — not winning an argument.