The "Rally to the Tally for New Floridians," an eleven-year-old civic education initiative run by Broward County Public Schools in partnership with the Close Up Foundation, annually brings hundreds of middle and high school students from immigrant and English language learner communities on a multi-day immersive experience in Florida's state government. The program moves students from observation into active participation, culminating in direct meetings with state legislators and the presentation of a student-developed Youth Legislative Agenda — an experience that positions young people as civic actors rather than passive observers. By pairing government access with higher education exposure, the initiative connects civic participation to broader opportunity and belonging for communities that are often underrepresented in democratic spaces. This program exemplifies the equity-centered, youth-focused civic engagement that NCDD's network works to foster and expand across the country.

New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that has invested over $350 million in social entrepreneurs since 1998, has launched Connected Futures, a new Catalyze cohort offering $100,000 unrestricted grants and a year of structured support to organizations that help people bridge active divides and work together toward collective goals. The cohort targets organizations whose core programming builds the skills, relationships, and structures needed for productive dialogue, civic participation, and collaborative problem-solving across differences in background, belief, or identity. Discovery Forms are open through May 26, 2026, for U.S.-based nonprofits with annual expenses between $250,000 and $2 million and at least two years of programmatic operation. Connected Futures represents a direct and significant funding opportunity for NCDD members whose work strengthens the relational and structural conditions that make dialogue, deliberation, and democratic participation possible.

Brendan Halloran, an independent consultant specializing in strategy and learning for democracy organizations, and Suvarna Hulawale, Senior Director of Strategy and Learning at FairVote, have co-authored a discussion paper calling on the pro-democracy field to significantly strengthen how it develops strategy, measures impact, and learns collectively in the face of ongoing democratic backsliding. Their paper argues that many democracy organizations rely on vague Theories of Change and narrow output metrics that fail to capture whether their work is actually shifting the systemic conditions that produce democratic decline. The authors offer concrete frameworks — including evaluative thinking, systems change models, and participatory Theory of Change development — as practical tools organizations can adopt individually and in coordination with peers and funders. The paper speaks directly to NCDD's mission by urging the broader civic field to treat collaborative learning and adaptive strategy not as organizational luxuries, but as essential infrastructure for sustaining democracy.

Simma Lieberman, consultant, speaker, and podcast host known as "The Inclusionist," joins the NCDD network with more than four decades of experience facilitating dialogue and building inclusive cultures across communities and organizations. Through Simma Lieberman Associates and her nonprofit podcast Everyday Conversations on Race, she advances an approach to cross-difference engagement grounded in curiosity, relational trust, and the belief that inclusion must be embedded in systems — not added as an afterthought. Her facilitation work spans some of the most challenging divides in civic life, offering practitioners concrete models for creating conditions where genuine dialogue can take root. Lieberman's membership strengthens the NCDD community with a seasoned voice committed to the equity, inclusion, and dialogue values that define the field.

Disagree Better, a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to improving the quality of civil and political discourse in the United States, has released a new public service announcement featuring Princeton University professors Cornel West and Robert George, whose decades-long cross-ideological friendship models the kind of principled, relationship-centered engagement that strengthens democratic culture. The PSA demonstrates that sustained dialogue across big political differences is possible when grounded in mutual respect, intellectual integrity, and a genuine commitment to shared inquiry rather than persuasion. It offers practitioners, educators, and community leaders a concrete, relatable example of what bridge-building looks like outside the formal facilitation context. The work of Disagree Better aligns directly with NCDD's mission to foster dialogue and deliberation, supporting the broader field's effort to rebuild the civic trust and relational infrastructure that healthy democracy requires.

The Spring 2026 issue of the National Civic Review, published by the National Civic League, brings together nine contributors from across the civic field to examine the structural, relational, and institutional conditions that make democratic life possible. The issue advances a compelling argument that democracy's current challenges — misinformation, polarization, institutional erosion, and exclusion — are best understood as failures of civic infrastructure requiring systemic, community-grounded responses. Contributors offer practical frameworks for rebuilding that infrastructure, from embedding community engagement in city governance to designing welcoming systems that restore civic trust among immigrant and marginalized communities. This issue is a vital resource for NCDD members and practitioners committed to strengthening dialogue, deliberation, and the conditions for genuine democratic participation.

​SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue convened nearly 40 civic leaders and organizations in March 2026 to prioritize recommendations from BC's Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform, which had received input from nearly 1,000 individuals and organizations. Participants identified seven high-impact, implementable priorities — including establishing a non-partisan democratic engagement centre, strengthening civic education, countering election misinformation, and considering a people's assembly on electoral reform. The Centre for Dialogue, which presented to the Special Committee directly, frames the current moment as a rare policy window where public concern and institutional momentum are aligned. For NCDD's network, the initiative demonstrates how deliberative convening can translate broad institutional reform agendas into focused, collectively owned priorities — a model with clear relevance beyond British Columbia.

​The Alliance for Higher Education has launched a 12-month Fellowship Program, selecting seven scholars to advance research and policy work defending academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and equitable access in higher education. Fellows will be embedded in the Alliance's Action Hubs, developing model policies and governance frameworks in response to escalating federal and state threats to colleges and universities. The program reflects the Alliance's framing of higher education as a fifth pillar of democracy — one currently under significant political pressure. For NCDD's network, the fellowship speaks to a broader concern: that the civic and deliberative functions of higher education institutions are inseparable from democratic health, and that protecting them requires sustained, field-informed advocacy.

​A new analysis from SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue examines the real-world impacts of climate deliberation processes, drawing on case studies from the UK, Canada, and France to challenge the view that citizen assemblies produce little tangible change. The evidence reviewed shows that deliberative processes consistently transform participants — increasing climate literacy, shifting behavior, and in some cases inspiring civic leadership — while also enabling policy consensus across deep value disagreements. Notably, more than 70% of France's Citizens' Convention for Climate recommendations were adopted in some form, including landmark climate legislation. For NCDD's network, the analysis reinforces a core deliberative principle: that well-designed processes can move people from passivity or division toward informed, collective action — even on some of the most contested issues of our time.

​The Kettering Foundation has named 15 Dayton-area community members as its 2026 Dayton Democracy Fellows, recognizing leaders from nonprofit, government, faith, arts, and advocacy sectors who are advancing inclusive democratic practice. The cohort reflects a wide range of civic approaches, from cooperative economics and tenant organizing to Indigenous advocacy and community media. The fellowship supports Kettering's Democracy and Community focus area, which holds that democratic renewal depends on the everyday work of people rooted in their communities. For NCDD's network, the Dayton Democracy Fellowship offers a concrete example of how structured community leadership programs can cultivate the civic relationships and capacities that dialogue and deliberation efforts depend on.