• To solve pressing issues we need facts without favoritism.
  • And a framework for making a difference.
  • And a framework for making a difference.
  • Research that inspires problem solving.
  • Research that inspires problem solving.
  • To solve pressing issues we need facts without favoritism.

New to the NIF

What is NIFI?What is Deliberation?What is a Forum?

Resources

National Issue Guides Local/Regional Issue GuidesStarter Videos and WebinarsFor Educators

For Moderators

Moderator Resources Common Ground for Action Moderator Resources

ISSUE GUIDES

new guide

Elections

How Should We Encourage and Safeguard Voting?

Many Americans are concerned about the US election system although we don’t always agree on the main problem or how best to fix it. Is it too hard to vote? Is the system too easy to manipulate? Do we have rules that make voting fair and accessible to all? Are we doing enough to ensure accuracy and credibility?

new guide

A Nation in Debt 2022

How Can We Pay the Bills?

Our nation’s debt has never been larger, and it has the potential to affect not only each of us, but future generations. This issue guide is designed to support people deliberating together about how we should approach the issue.

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NETWORK CALENDAR

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NIFI & NETWORK NEWS

News

Deliberative Democracy Fellowship | Call for Fellows

Aug 08, 2024 By Kenny McGuane 0 Comments

In 2024, NIFI launched the Deliberative Democracy Fellowship to support and fund the development of new Issue Guides that provide a framework for public deliberation and public decision making. Fellows are welcome from a broad range of backgrounds and disciplines who have knowledge and experience with deliberative practices.

Submission deadline is August 28, 2024.

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RFP | Temporary Contract Deliberative Fellowship Coordinator

Aug 08, 2024 By Kenny McGuane 0 Comments

The Deliberative Fellowship Coordinator is responsible for facilitating the new Deliberative Democracy Fellowship program developed by the National Issues Forum Institute (NIFI). In 2024, NIFI launched the Deliberative Democracy Fellowship to support and fund the development of new Issue Guides that provide a framework for public deliberation and public decision making.

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Watch | A NIFI Update w/Verdis LeVar Robinson

Oct 16, 2023 By National Issues... 0 Comments
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ABOUT THE NIFI

National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that serves to promote public deliberation about difficult public issues. Its activities include publishing issue guides and other materials used by local forum groups, encouraging collaboration among forum sponsors, and sharing information about current activities in a network. NIFI's network is a national coalition of civic, educational, and other organizations, and individuals, whose common interest is to promote public deliberation in America. It includes civic clubs, religious organizations, libraries, schools, and many other groups that meet to discuss critical public issues. 

DELIBERATIVE DECISION MAKING: WHERE CHANGE BEGINS

There is a way to tackle problems more directly. Deliberative decision making. Find out how to leverage the power of personal experience, different viewpoints, and the kind of intelligent exchange that leads to a shared purpose and acceptable solutions.

There’s a space between agree/disagree waiting to be discovered.

When it comes to society’s most challenging problems, our elected officials are often stuck between a two-party rock and a hard place. That’s because they aren’t getting honest input from the people they serve.

You can change that, by reviving a lost democratic practice: deliberative decision making.