CGS has been involved with a number of projects and partnerships in its history. Some are current, some projects are ongoing, but continue independently, while others completed their missions and have concluded activities.

Digital Democracy
CGS is developing a new web-based system of interactive communication between constituents and public officials that will strengthen civic participation in the governmental processes. This new system will help constituents and elected officials communicate more easily and effectively with each other and exchange information on pending policy issues. It will strengthen communication between citizens and public officials, encourage citizens to participate more actively in the policy setting activities of government and ultimately bind government actions more closely to wishes of citizens. A prototype of Digital Democracy is available online. (www.digidem.org)

Voting Systems Institute
CGS and USC/Columbia Digital Government Research Center created the Voting Systems Institute (VSI), to support a growing grassroots effort to develop objective test standards for tamperproof, verifiable, and technologically sound voting systems. Against a background of continuing controversy about the reliability, security, and accuracy of voting technology, VSI will work closely with the newly formed Voting Systems Performance Rating (VSPR) effort, which has brought together state and county election officials, computer and security experts, and voting equipment manufacturers to create assessment methods for voting systems.

LA Health Action
The LA Health Action (LAHA) website is a dynamic, content-driven resource destination where users can obtain the latest information and updates about pertinent, emerging healthcare issues that affect Los Angeles County. The site features an extensive document repository of reports and studies on major health topics and on L.A. County’s healthcare financing and delivery systems. The site also features an evolving list of links to general health-based Internet resources and tools as well as notices of upcoming health care-related events. CGS built the site which is now maintained by LAHA. (www.lahealthaction.org)

SMVote.org
SMVote.org was built in conjunction with CityTV of Santa Monica to provide local election information and promote the wide array of election-related programming produced by CGS and CityTV. (www.smvote.org)

California Citizens Budget Commission
As a result of interviews with elected officials, legislative and administrative staff and budgetary experts, the Commission developed a comprehensive set of recommendations which could significantly reform California's budgeting process and substantially reduce many of the State's ongoing budget difficulties. The Budget Commission was comprised of leaders from California's business, labor, academic, judicial, civic and public service sectors, and included Democrats, Independents and Republicans, who volunteered their time and talents to serve as Commission members.

California Citizens Commission on Higher Education
The Commission on Higher Education was comprised of a group of prominent individuals and civic leaders concerned with the future of higher education in California. In reviewing the problems confronting higher education in California, the Commission drafted several reports and prepared multiple comprehensive policy recommendations addressing them the problems.

California Commission on Campaign Financing
The California Commission on Campaign Financing, formed in 1983, produced major reports on state legislative campaign finance reform (1985, 1987), local campaign finance reform (1989), ballot initiatives (1992) and judicial elections (1995). The Commission's work sparked four statewide campaign finance ballot initiatives, numerous new city and county laws, changes to the state's Voter Pamphlet, ballot initiative reform recommendations from state blue-ribbon commissions and recommendations of the American Bar Association.

California 2000 (C2K) Project
In 1999, CGS joined a consortium of California public policy organizations as part of a Hewlett and Irvine foundation effort to educate Californians on the need for fiscal, land use and governance reforms. CGS organized online dialogues in which California public policy experts debated the merits of various reforms (transportation, electricity deregulation) on a special website created by CGS. CGS subsequently emailed summaries of these dialogues to interested policy recipients.

California Policy Forum
An outgrowth of the C2K Project, California Policy Forum was an effort to conduct policy forums around California, educate citizens to understand the importance of underlying policy issues involving land use, fiscal and governance matters, and enable those citizens to communicate their concerns to elected officials. CGS summarized the results of regional partner forums and sent them to policy interested recipients.

California Policy Reform Network
The California Policy Reform Network (CPRN) was a civic partnership that advanced state policy reform in the areas of infrastructure and growth. CGS produced and distributed eSummaries on behalf of CPRN members and maintained the CPRN website.

The Democracy Network
Launched in 1994, the Democracy Network is an interactive website designed to improve the quality and quantity of voter information and create a more educated and involved electorate. The site is now operated by the League of Women Voters Education Fund and hosted by CapAdvantage (www.Congress.org), reaching over 100 media outlets, including AOL, MSN, USA Today, Yahoo C-SPAN, New York Times and Los Angeles Times. From 2000-2002, DNet posted information on over 51,700 candidates in 16,180 elections, as well as information on 1,400 ballot measures. In the 2002 election, DNet had 68 million hits, 20 million page views, 25,000 candidates, 630 ballot measures and average visitor sessions of over 17 minutes. (www.dnet.org)

Nextten.org
Next Ten creates tools that empower Californians through deeper understanding of critical issues affecting our future economy and quality of life, including California's state budget, infrastructure and climate change issues. Next Ten seeks to move the public conversation about the California beyond the short-term crisis debate to a long-term discussion of our desired future. CGS created and maintaine the original Next Ten website and continues to assist Next Ten's web efforts. (www.nextten.org)