Three new policy kits: Legal Aid for All, Alternative Voting Methods, and Public Payments Platforms

We at the Democracy Policy Network (DPN) are working to take bold state-level policy ideas mainstream by packaging them into organized, accessible, and useful policy kits for state leaders. We are pleased to announce the launch of three new policy kits — on Legal Aid for All, Alternative Voting Methods, and Public Payments Platforms:

Read the Legal Aid for All kit

Read the Alternative Voting Methods kit

Read the Public Payments Platform kit

Our Legal Aid for All policy kit, organized by Scott Zimmerman and James Bagley, is about how states could build infrastructure to make our civil legal system more inclusive, equitable, and just by expanding the civil right to counsel, establishing Local Library Legal Offices, and widening the pathways to becoming a legal services provider. View the kit here and read Scott and James’s announcement of the kit here.

Our Alternative Voting Methods policy kit, organized by Renata Shammo, is about how states can implement alternatives to first-past-the-post plurality voting — such as ranked choice, approval, score, and STAR voting, as well as multi-member districts — to better translate public will into electoral outcomes. View the kit here and read Renata’s announcement of the kit here.

Our Public Payments Platforms policy kit, organized by Michael Brennan and Tom Latkowski, is about how states can establish publicly-owned digital wallets platforms to make public administration more efficient, increase financial inclusion, benefit local economies, and build a foundation for more transformative uses of public money. View the kit here and read Michael and Tom’s announcement of the kit here.

(And if you’re looking for who created these delightful new banner illustrations on each kit, check out the great Christina Moreland.)

More kits are to come in the coming months. We are going to be deepening these kits and adding more modules, from model legislation to polling to talking points. We also have a couple dozen kits in the works, from social housing to free time security to prison oversight to industrial agriculture reform.

For now, please reach out if you are interested in learning more and/or helping DPN gather, package, organize, and champion policies like these. And if you know of a state policy that has been specifically promising, get in touch (Pete@DemocracyPolicy.network). DPN is a network, not a think tank — our model is based on your knowledge and participation, so please reach out if you have ideas to share.

One more thing: Later this week, we are having a big re-launch of DPN in the public conversation. Stay tuned for a re-launch video, Patreon, podcast, and more! The movement in the states needs policy backup — and we’re excited to enter the next phase of building an organization designed to provide that backup.