Draft:The Civic Caucus

The Civic Caucus is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-policy organization, headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul which promotes citizen involvement in public affairs in Minnesota.

Incorporated in 2004, the Civic Caucus has conducted hundreds of interviews, archived on its website, along with internal discussions and policy reports, on topics including education, labor, housing, eldercare, development, health care, transportation, finance, energy and the economy.

History
The roots of the Civic Caucus trace back to 1950, when its founder, Verne Johnson, began weekly meetings with four policy-minded friends to debate the issues of the day. In 2002, Johnson decided to expand the group's footprint through email and digital delivery. The Civic Caucus was formally incorporated in 2004 and has now conducted hundreds of interviews, archived on its website, along with internal discussions and policy reports, on topics including education, labor, housing, eldercare, development, health care, transportation, finance, energy and the economy.

Verne Johnson, described by The Minneapolis Star Tribune as a public policy giant was the first chair of the Civic Caucus. Paul Gilje was the first executive director. Upon Johnson' s death in 2012, Dan Loritz took over as chair. In 2017, Paul Ostrow became chair, and Janis Clay became executive director. In 2020, Clay became chair and acting executive director.

In September 2015, the Civic Caucus began a review of the quality of Minnesota's public-policy process for anticipating, defining, and resolving major community problems. On November 27, 2016, the Caucus issued its resulting report. In 2017 and early 2018, the Civic Caucus held follow-up interviews on its report, conducted interviews with the major candidates for Minnesota governor, and conducted interviews focusing on Minnesota's legislative process.

Interviews
The Civic Caucus process centers around interviews – with civic and business leaders, innovators, elected officials, researchers, academics and thought leaders. The interviews are conducted by an evolving panel with volunteers with public policy expertise. More than 50 volunteers have participated in around 600 interviews between 2005 and 2021.

Summaries of each interview are prepared by the interview group and reviewed by the interviewees. Summaries are distributed via email to 8,000+ followers, and to nearly 300 media outlets across Minnesota.