Our Programs

Our programming shows how trust and a faithful view of human nature can be used to revitalize and improve politics. The following demonstration projects prove that The Politics of Trust is pragmatic, real world operational, and that it can and does deliver!

OUR CURRENT PROJECTS:

The Al Alquist - Ed Davis California Capitol Collaboration Project

This project - initially co-chaired by Republican William Bagley and Democrat John Vasconcellos - is building a non-partisan team of former legislators from across the political spectrum committed to developing a partnership with current legislators toward reinstating the sense of teamwork and collaboration that once was the practice and pathway that made California governable.

Engaging Californians in Updating California's Master Plan for Higher Education

Our proposal is to support the Legislature in designing a public process that will support the creation and implementation into law of policy recommendations to update California's Master Plan for Higher Education. This will be achieved through an inclusive, participatory, and collaborative process, and with a focus on four key issues: Access, Affordability, Accountability and the Quality of Education.

The Vasconcellos Project is engaging legislative and community leaders, students, faculty, administrators, and governing boards in all segments of our higher education system to garner input on the most pressing challenges to higher education in California. We have also assembled a network of diverse higher education experts and policy staff and have consulted a core team of committed Californians to support our efforts.

The Intersection of Communications, Technology & Politics

The Vasconcellos Project proposes a symposium and research endeavor exploring the intersection of communications and technology and politics whose purpose is to set the stage for a healthy dialogue regarding whether the internet (in all its latest capacities and permutations) ought be employed for the basic purpose of reforming our current not entirely functional or credible systems of representative democracy or replaces it. Thereupon, it would look at how we can best appreciate and employ such technological break-through capacities for civic empowerment and engagement.

Regional Project to Address California's Quadruple Gap

We are proposing a demonstration project to formulate and prepare community-based all-stakeholder teams, as models within selected regions around California. These Teams will be charged with the responsibility for leading their respective communities into a process and practice that will lead toward the profound reduction of each dimension of the quadruple gaps in their region.