V. The Process

c.) Incubate Action/Working with Partners

Make common cause with those organizations and institutions who support the "common sense" of informed Californians and who are ready to work at implementing solutions.

By engaging in Dialogue and Changing the Public Debate, Common Sense California can direct the public's attention to where the major long-term issues lie and create an appetite for constructive action. However, we do not believe that we have a comparative advantage in designing and campaigning for specific legislative solutions. This is an arena where Common Sense California will support organizations already taking action consistent with our "common sense" agenda or help others create new efforts to take action.

• Supporting Other Organizations. California is fortunate that a number of organizations already see a part of the work outlined here as consistent with their mission. A number of think tanks are at work on research or creative problem-solving. These include the Public Policy Institute of California, the New America Foundation, the Rand Corporation, the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, the Hoover Institution, the California Budget Project, the Center for California Studies, the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs, PolicyLink, the Tomas Rivera Center, and the American Institutes of Research. The California Center for Regional Leadership works with a variety of regional groups around the state. Some organizations combine a study of public issues with an explicit advocacy agenda, such as the Greenlining Institute and the Latino Issues Forum. There are many organizations whose mission includes engaging the public in discussion of major policy issues including Town Hall in Los Angeles and the Commonwealth Club in the San Francisco Bay Area. Next Ten is an organization concerned with the future of California that currently focuses on how state budget decisions shape the quality of life in our state.

  There are also a variety of public policy reform groups focused on specific issue areas, such a K-12 education, whose programs may coincide with the priorities that emerge from the Dialogue process to be sponsored by CSC. Wherever possible, we intend to support the work of other organizations with compatible objectives. In particular, CSC can help these other groups by making their efforts more visible as we "ride the circuit" of respected and influential Californians. For example, had CSC existed when the PPIC report on "California 2025" was published, we might well have volunteered to utilize our statewide circuit as a means of deepening understanding of that important report.

• Incubating Action. We believe that California is also blessed with hundreds of citizens with expertise in specific policy areas, who are ready to work with other public spirited citizens, and who are prepared to volunteer significant time to building the ideas, organizations and the public will to change public policy for the better. (The Campaign for College Opportunity is one current example of a recently organized, bi-partisan effort devoted to an important public policy issue that has resulted from the initial work of two citizens who started the Campaign on their own initiative.¹) We are prepared to bet that other citizens are ready and qualified to work on specific issues, ranging from energy to juvenile justice. Common Sense California can help find such individuals through its ever growing network of contacts throughout the state. We also stand ready to support these "social entrepreneurs" by providing:
  • Initial encouragement and the umbrella of an existing 501 (c) (3) organization
  • Technical assistance in designing campaigns to implement good new ideas, including aid in working with the media
  • Assistance in finding other like-minded individuals
  • Modest start-up funds to cover expenses
  • Connections with more substantial sources of funding including foundations and individuals

This incubation function would work in much the same way as venture capital funding in the private sector. While CSC would be highly selective in helping to launch other organizations, some proportion of these new initiatives would fail. Others would succeed, quite possibly with dramatic results. Some of the successful efforts might stay within the organizational structure of Common Sense, others would spin off and achieve an independent existence. The potential return from encouraging and sustaining such intensive citizen action could be enormous.