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About Our Civic Work Every day, decisions are made that have a profound affect on us as citizens. These decisions are made in state capitols and city halls, by business organizations and corporations, by philanthropies and nonprofits. Sometimes, the public has a voice; much more often, it does not.
Consensus believes that citizens are an often-untapped resource for making better public policy decisions, when they are involved in a way that allows them to do so. To make that possible, we provide the neutral space and proven tools for putting the public in public policy.
Engaged citizens are a source of innovative ideas and the political will to get things done. To achieve those benefits, though, requires more of citizens than just voicing their individual opinions. It takes the willingness to learn and to consider the views of others. Democracy requires that we look for the common good.
Consensus knows that citizens are more than capable of meeting the challenges of democracy. Since its founding in 1984, the organization has involved citizens in a variety of ways on a range of issues. Today, the organization conducts deliberative forums and public policy studies for the community and clients. Our work has led to new laws and programs, new community leaders with a regional perspective, and a stronger civic fabric.
When it was founded in the mid-1980s, Consensus was a regional organization when few groups spanned the state line dividing Missouri and Kansas. At that time, to quote a local pundit, “You could drive a truck across the state line but you couldn’t roll an idea across it.” Today, a regional perspective is more common; we find that our early grounding in regionalism serves us well.
Consensus has seen firsthand the thoughtfulness and wisdom of metro Kansas Citians and the enthusiasm they bring to even the most complicated public policy issues. We believe, to quote author Edward Abbey, “The best cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy.”
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