​The David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s report, “AI and Democracy: Perspectives from an Emerging Field,” synthesizes insights from various stakeholders on how AI disrupts democratic institutions, elections, government, information ecosystems, civic participation, labor markets, and the economy. It positions AI as an accelerant that amplifies strengths and weaknesses across existing systems, with democratic futures dependent on rapid adaptation to ensure technological change doesn’t outpace democratic governance. The report includes an appendix mapping over 130 organizations working at the intersection of AI and democracy, offering systems-level analysis and a focus on how funders must respond to AI’s democratic implications. This work advances NCDD’s mission by providing a framework for understanding how AI shapes conditions for democratic participation, civic engagement, and institutional trust, emphasizing the importance of collective capacity to respond to accelerated change through coordinated action addressing election integrity, information ecosystem health, algorithmic accountability, and democratic adaptation across multiple domains.

The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation welcomes Don Waisanen, a communication scholar and practitioner, to its board. He’s a Professor at Baruch College’s Marxe School, adjunct faculty at Columbia and NYU, and founder of Communication Upward. Waisanen’s seven books include Improv for Democracy, Leadership Standpoints, and States of Confusion. He’s also published extensively in journals like Rhetoric & Public Affairs and Communication Monographs. His work emphasizes thoughtful communication practices that normalize conflict, establish peer-to-peer discussion agreements, check silences for authentic participation, and develop facilitative leadership. Waisanen’s addition strengthens NCDD’s capacity to connect scholarly research with practitioner needs, bridge academic and applied perspectives, and advance dialogue and deliberation as essential democratic infrastructure.

The Democracy Narratives Alliance, a global initiative led by People Powered with over 30 organizations, will release research on March 24, 2026. The research synthesizes nearly 400 publications and evidence from 150+ studies on how narratives strengthen democracy and increase public engagement beyond electoral framing. The webinar features speakers from People Powered, Fundación Corona, Global Democracy Coalition, and Busara discussing which narratives foster democratic support, how framing and values invoke participation, and practical recommendations for practitioners and storytellers. The alliance responds to citizens’ frustration with electoral politics and global questioning of democracy by translating fragmented behavioral science and communications research into coordinated action through shared narratives, tools, and strategies tested at global, national, and local levels. This work advances NCDD’s mission by providing dialogue practitioners with evidence-based guidance on framing participatory processes to resonate with diverse publics, overcome institutional cynicism, and help people see democracy as active participation in shaping collective futures.

​More in Common US released focus group findings with “Reluctant Right” voters, the least ideological and most ambivalent fifth of Trump’s 2024 coalition, revealing nuanced perspectives on immigration enforcement. These voters criticize extreme tactics while supporting restrictive approaches and distinguish between Trump and ICE accountability. The research identifies four themes: losing faith in enforcement tactics while supporting Trump, trusting bipartisanship, advocating for reforming ICE due to concerns about hiring standards and training, and pervasive low trust in media and institutions creating uncertainty about competing narratives. This research positions the Reluctant Right as a signal for Trump coalition stability and demonstrates how qualitative methods reveal complexity often missed by polling. It advances NCDD’s mission by helping Americans understand perspectives across partisan divides, identifying potential areas for bipartisan solutions, and modeling research approaches that surface nuance, ambivalence, and complexity essential for bridging divides and developing democratic solutions grounded in diverse voter thinking.

The National Civic League’s Center for Democracy Innovation, led by Matt Leighninger, released an update on local democracy initiatives, including the expanded Community Foundations for Civic Health program supporting planning, learning cohorts, and funding. Progress includes the Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map spanning 12,500 organizations, a national survey showing support for civic reforms, and research demonstrating local reforms can strengthen trust. Examples include Decatur, Georgia’s civic lottery charter revision, the Better Public Meetings expansion, leadership partnerships in Tennessee and Texas, Colorado’s Civic Health Action Guide, and the CyberSim cybersecurity project. These efforts advance NCDD’s mission by building local civic infrastructure, fostering community-led democratic innovation, and giving residents an authentic voice in public decision-making.

​Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) is releasing new findings from its 2025 Civic Language Perceptions Project during a national webinar on February 27, 2026, presenting multi-year research on how Americans across political, demographic, and geographic divides understand civic and democratic language. The project surveys thousands of voters to examine which terms have "bridgeyness" potential to unite diverse audiences and which inadvertently signal exclusion or partisan allegiance, providing evidence-based guidance for practitioners seeking to engage broad communities without triggering defensive reactions. The webinar will introduce an updated interactive dashboard with approximately 500 data visualizations, a refreshed guide on strategic language use, and new research on how people make sense of democracy and perceived threats to it in a high-stakes political moment. This work advances NCDD's mission by illuminating how word choices shape who feels invited into civic conversation, offering dialogue practitioners and organizers practical tools to prioritize connection and inclusivity through strategic communication that builds bridges rather than reinforcing division.

​The SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University is accepting applications for its 2026–2027 Visiting Fellows program, a year-long, project-based fellowship for practitioners and scholars from fields such as civil society, government, media, academia, industry, and the arts who are working to strengthen democracy. The non-residential program supports projects aligned with the institute’s mission of advancing civic engagement and inclusive, informed dialogue, with particular interest in proposals focused on democracy and the media and the changing forces shaping public discourse. Approximately ten fellows are selected based on project relevance, leadership capacity, collaborative openness, and contribution to a diverse cohort, and receive modest stipends (typically up to $25,000), shared office space, research and administrative support, and access to Johns Hopkins resources. Fellows are expected to spend time on the Baltimore campus participating in seminars, workshops, debates, and conferences, with applications due March 2, 2026, and selections announced in late April.

​​The Kettering Foundation is deepening its work to strengthen democracy amid rising authoritarianism and declining public trust by expanding its leadership, elevating diverse perspectives, and investing in robust public-facing content. With the appointment of senior fellows Stacey Abrams and David French, Kettering signals a commitment to cross-ideological dialogue grounded in shared democratic values, using blogs, podcasts, videos, and public conversations to explore democracy’s challenges and possibilities. Through platforms like From Many, We, Resilience & Resistance, The Context podcast, and its support of PBS’s America at a Crossroads, the Foundation documents both the threats facing democratic systems and the local and global efforts working to renew them. Together, this multi-platform approach offers practitioners timely analysis, practical insights, and hopeful examples of civic resilience, reinforcing Kettering’s role as a key hub for democratic learning and renewal.

Democracy Notes will release its 2025 Trends report on January 15, 2026, offering a comprehensive overview of developments in the U.S. democracy space over the past year, sponsored by the Democracy Funders Network and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement to help practitioners, funders, and advocates understand emerging patterns, significant developments, and key shifts in democratic institutions and civic participation. Democracy Notes serves a crucial infrastructure role through its newsletter, communities of practice, and convening events, which create spaces for practitioners to identify broader patterns and connections across the field. These events analyze developments, ranging from dialogue and deliberation initiatives to voter engagement, civic education, and advocacy campaigns. For NCDD practitioners, this report provides valuable context for understanding how dialogue and deliberation fit within the broader ecosystem of democracy strengthening, supports strategic decision-making, helps identify potential partners and complementary efforts, and enables the field to collectively assess what's working and where opportunities for collaboration and innovation exist.

The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) released December 2025 research demonstrating that classrooms function as civic institutions where positive classroom climate supports civic development as much as curriculum content, with findings showing that when teachers connected content to students' lived experiences, significantly more students participated in discussions compared to solely historical questions. CIRCLE's evaluation of Massachusetts' Investigating History curriculum found that positive climate empowers deeper peer engagement, socio-emotional learning strengthens civic learning when paired with civics instruction, and inquiry-based instruction with culturally sustaining practices helps students see themselves in history and make real-world connections. For dialogue and deliberation practitioners, this research demonstrates that positive classroom climate, culturally responsive instruction, and adequate teacher support all contribute to civic development, requiring intentional classroom design modeling democratic principles.