Information About the New Politics Program

The National Civic League established the New Politics Program (NPP) to recognize and promote innovative political reforms implemented across the country at the state and local level. The New Politics Program connects with the National Civic League philosophy that all major political reform begins at the local level, eventually building irresistible momentum for national reform.

The first project for NPP was a study of local campaign finance reform funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. While reform efforts continue to languish in the U.S. Congress, community leaders from Austin, Texas to Ft. Collins, Colorado to New York City are working to adopt or refine local reforms. The study allowed NPP to draft a menu of model campaign finance reforms based on the experience of local communities. The study and model legislation is available as a valuable resource for community leaders interested in reforming political campaigns in their own cities and counties.

But, as important as campaign finance reform is, the National Civic League has a broader vision for the New Politics Program. While a multitude of organizations focus exclusively on campaign finance reform, it is only one piece of the political reform puzzle. Instead, the New Politics Program is committed to a critical re-examination of the whole political system and the consideration of all serious political reforms.

As the National Civic League builds the New Politics Program at the turn of this century, we come full circle to our original mission from 1894; to help local reform groups learn from each other's successes and failures and to develop specific proposals for making government more honest, efficient, and effective.

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