Long Term Care Financing
Building on work from the 2008 Policy Open House, a two-day policy design workshop, and a policy review by members, the Citizens League is convening a broad group of stakeholders to answer the question: What policy changes are needed to create incentives for personal responsibility for long-term care?

Minnesota's Bottom Line
The economic downturn is having at least one immediately clear impact on the state's budget for the next biennium and beyond: demand for public service is up and revenues are down. In response, five Minnesota foundations and the Public Strategies Group teamed up to come up with ways to improve the bottom line now and in the future. The Citizens League is now convening a public dialogue on the group's proposals -- and we want to hear from you. Join the conversation now on our new civic networking platform, CitiZing.

Poverty Policy
The Citizens League is working to reframe the way we think about "poverty" in Minnesota to create better opportunities to reduce it. We are collaborating with other organizations to build a network of people impacted directly by poverty and its effects. The goal of this process will be to develop the experience, expertise and authority of all people to be policymakers and to create new networks that can generate and sustain changes that reduce poverty. If you are interested in this work, it's a great time to get involved in the project -- follow the link above for more information.

Regional Policy
The Citizens League held its first Regional Policy Workshop in September 2008. It provided us with a major opportunity to engage citizens, test our civic guidelines and bring together a broad group to define what is most important to focus on for future regional success. The most promising idea identified for immediate work was the need to create a new model for resource use by examining the connections between the "groups of entitlement" we form and our civic claims on one another. The Citizens League is proposing to use this consensus to examine opportunities for major structural changes by March 2009 based on our previously developed Design Principles for Better Value.

Students Speak Out
StudentsSpeakOut.org is a social networking site where students share experiences and ideas to help people who make decisions about schools understand the issues that impact them.

Water Policy
A study committee is currently looking at how we need to improve the way that we manage water in Minnesota in order to reduce the amount of pollution coming from thousands and thousands of small sources throughout the state (nonpoint source pollution). The committee's primary task is not to make recommendations to manage this challenge, but rather to use this issue to illuminate the appropriate roles and responsibilities of all water users.

Annual Property Tax Studies
Each year, the Citizens League produces the Residential Homestead Property Tax Survey, the Tax Increment Financing Report, and the Fiscal Disparities Report. View the reports and associated tables as well as our new on Special Assessments Review.

Health and Medical Care
Sean Kershaw, the Citizens League executive director, served on the Governor's Health Care Transformation Task Force in 2008, and the Citizens League strongly supports the provisions of that work relating to information and governance. Our Medical Facilities Study Committee in 2006 recommended specific policy changes to establish market and regulatory reform in the medical care market. We are currently assessing our historic work in the areas of access, insurance and payment.

Judicial Selection
In light of negative judicial campaigns in other states and legal changes since the most recent Citizens League study committee on this topic, a policy review group revisited this issue in 2008, and the Citizens League adopted a position intended to prevent the politicization of judicial selection.

Mental Health
From 2003 to 2007, the Citizens League convened the Minnesota Mental Health Action Group (MMHAG), a coalition of people and groups working on mental health reforms. This effort culminated is significant mental health reform passed by the legislature in 2007.

Redistricting
Minnesota may lose a congressional seat after the 2010 census, meaning we may soon need to drastically redraw our district lines. The Citizens League has reached out to the public to find out what everyday Minnesotans want in a redistricting plan. Results can be found in the January 2009 Minnesota Journal.

Transportation
The Citizens League is calling for more choices and more transparent funding mechanisms in order to create a transportation system that is fiscally sustainable and responds to the choices of users and beneficiaries.

Also see our Policy Report Library
All reports published over the Citizens League's 50-plus-year history are available here, and an online search index and complete category listing will be available soon. Click here to view the reports currently available or to order paper copies of past reports as available.

Join us Online
Check out the current projects on CitiZing or join the discussion on Students Speak Out.

Join a Policy Review Group
Policy Review Groups are short-term (approximately 60 to 90 days), member-run groups that review past Citizens League positions, assess current circumstances, and recommend next steps for the Citizens League. Recommended next steps could include adopting an amended position based on past work, launching a study committee to re-evaluate an important issue, or discontinuing work on the issue for the time being. To find out more about current opportunities, contact Bob DeBoer at bdeboer[at]citizensleague.org or 651-293-0575, ext. 14.

Contribute to the MN Journal
We're always looking for new ideas and articles for the MN Journal. Members can contribute an article (see our guidelines for Journal writers), profile another member, or suggest interesting policy innovations going on around the world for our Take Note section. To contribute, contact our editor Trout Lower at tlowen[at]citizensleague.org.