Our Work
OVERVIEW
America in One Room brings representative groups of Americans together to discuss political issues using Deliberative Polling, considered the gold standard in large-scale civic engagement processes. This method equips participants with comprehensive, bipartisan information on key topics and provides a forum for constructive dialogue in small, moderated groups and larger plenary sessions with issue-area experts. Deliberative Polling has consistently reduced polarization, increased faith in democracy, and boosted civic engagement both in the U.S. and globally.
2024 Washington, DC
America in One Room: The Youth Vote
As we entered an increasingly polarized election year, A1R: The Youth Vote offered young people a revolutionary platform to engage with democracy. Today's youth are pivotal in shaping the future of American democracy. A1R: The Youth Vote prepared and inspired this rising generation to embrace their political voice and influence, and build a more resilient and inclusive democracy for the future.
Executed through a partnership between Helena, Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab, Close-Up Foundation, The Generation Lab, and USC’s Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making, A1R: The Youth Vote is a scalable model for civic engagement. The initiative catalyzes a movement toward informed deliberative discourse by:
- Meaningfully gauging the opinions of first-time voters on pressing national issues.
- Creating a multiplier effect as participants share their experiences within their communities, advocating for thoughtful political engagement.
- Leveraging the U.S. education system to transform civic education by equipping school leaders to include deliberation into their curricula.
- Impacting the national discourse by promoting more nuanced and comprehensive civic dialogue.
2019 Dallas, TX
America in
One Room
The inaugural America in One Room convened a statistically representative sample of the American voting electorate in Dallas, Texas to discuss hotly contested policy areas ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The groundbreaking event offered a hopeful counter-narrative to the prevailing news of the time, demonstrating that Americans are not irreconcilably divided. It aimed to change how Americans perceive themselves in a polarized environment, resulting in significant reductions in affective and issue-based polarization and increased faith in democracy. One year later, these positive effects persisted. A1R garnered widespread media attention, covered by The New York Times, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, the BBC, Vanity Fair, and The National Interest. The project inspired a podcast and an eight-part Snapchat documentary. Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton praised it as a remedy for an ailing democracy.
2021 Remote
America in One Room: Climate and Energy
Using an innovative AI-moderated online platform developed by Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab, America in One Room: Climate and Energy became the largest Deliberative Poll in history. The results provided a roadmap for future U.S. action on climate change and were publicly discussed by policymakers including Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Lindsay Graham and Congressmen John Curtis and Rho Khanna. This online platform enables lower-cost, scalable sampling of the American populace, offering meaningful insights for decision-makers in both public and private sectors. It lays the groundwork for solutions based on the balanced deliberations of informed citizens.
2022 Remote
America in One Room: Democratic Reform
America in One Room: Democratic Reform brought together nearly 600 representative American voters to deliberate on 76 policy proposals across seven categories of democratic reform. Using Stanford’s AI-moderated platform, participants engaged in small group discussions and expert-led sessions over two weeks. They focused on critical issues such as voter access, election administration, and Supreme Court reform. The project led to significant shifts toward bipartisan consensus on divisive issues and substantially increased satisfaction with American democracy, with overall dissatisfaction dropping 18 points from 72% to 54%. The initiative showcased the depolarizing power of informed, respectful discourse, with 94% of participants finding the experience valuable. This second digital-first project offers a scalable model for civil engagement, identifying bipartisan solutions to strengthen American democracy, and can be applied in various public and private sector contexts to foster collaboration and improve decision-making.