GSE Prof Helps Launch Nat'l Debate on Budget

May 25, 2010 - On Saturday, June 26, the city of Philadelphia will serve as the origination city for the AmericaSpeaks “Our Budget, Our Economy” National Town Meeting, a non-partisan, nation-wide on the growing national debt.

Launching here and taking place in 17 other communities across the country, the process will bring together citizens in person and online to learn about the issues surrounding the federal budget, weigh the options to set the budget on a sustainable path, and develop recommendations to be shared with leaders in Washington, including President Obama and members of Congress.

Harris Sokoloff, director of the Penn Project for Civic Engagement and a faculty member at Penn GSE, is a leading member of the AmericaSpeaks local engagement team for Philadelphia. “We remain deeply divided over what our national priorities are and what we, as a people, are prepared to do to support them,” Sokoloff explains. “Clearly we need to talk together to see where we can agree, and what together we are willing to support.  The June 26 National Town Meeting is a time to come together as a country to make the tough choices that will ensure America's future.”

Several hundred Philadelphia-area residents – reflecting the demographic, geographic and political diversity of the region – will come together on June 26 at the First District Plaza at 3801 Market Street, Philadelphia, to think through the fiscal realities facing the country.

Participants will be presented with a set of budget options, designed to represent a range of approaches before policymakers, and will use keypad polling and groupware technology to identify views that transcend population demographics, location and political leanings. All 18 National Town Meeting host communities, including Philadelphia, will be linked by satellite and Internet, and will be joined by smaller conversation sites organized by volunteers in other communities. AmericaSpeaks will present the priorities that emerge from the National Town Meeting to the President and Congress.

“The United States is on an unsustainable path and the fiscal challenges facing our nation stand out as issues that will require compromise from the left and right in order to address the scale of the problems we face,” says Carolyn Lukensmeyer, founder and president of AmericaSpeaks. “Philadelphia’s participation represents an unprecedented opportunity for residents to get involved in the larger national discussion to start finding agreement about steps to redefine our fiscal future.”         

Philadelphia’s event will take place at the First District Plaza, 3801 Market Street, Philadelphia, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. More information and site registration is available at USABudgetDiscussion.org, including videos, reports on the budget and economy, blog posts, etc. The site also provides links to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn.

This project is supported by generous contributions from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Media contact: Jill DiSanto-Haines at 215-898-4820 or jdisanto@upenn.edu