Program 03 · Voice
Nonpartisan civic education, and easier ways to take part.
Moraph builds the meeting, records, 311 and election worker systems government agencies run on. Voice shows residents how to use the processes behind them, and helps small governments open them up.
What you get
A voice in the decisions made where you live.
Strictly nonpartisan sessions on how local government works, public meetings and comment, records requests and serving your community, and help for small governments to make taking part easier.
Civics for where you live
Sessions at libraries, schools and community centers on who decides what locally, how a meeting agenda works, how to speak at public comment, and how to get an issue heard.
Records and information
How to make a public records or freedom of information request, what to expect, and how to read what comes back.
Serving your community
What advisory boards, commissions and election worker roles involve, and how people get started.
A good fit
- You serve residents who rarely take part in local decisions
- You can host sessions, or you are a small government that wants more residents involved
- You will keep the sessions nonpartisan
Not part of this program
- Anything partisan: candidates, parties, ballot positions, campaigns or lobbying
- Voter registration drives run by Moraph (we point people to their official election office)
Planned modules
Six modules. Choose the ones that fit.
Each module is a session of about an hour, written with the first hosts and prepared for the country it is taught in. We suggest three to six as a series. Part of civic engagement.
Who decides what
Councils, school boards, counties and agencies: what each is responsible for, and where your own area’s decisions are made.
Meetings and public comment
Reading an agenda, when and how to comment, and writing to the people who decide.
Records requests
Asking for public records, deadlines and fees, and what to do if a request is refused.
Budgets in plain words
Where to find your local budget, how to read it, and when residents can have a say.
Serving locally
Advisory boards, commissions, election work and volunteering with public services.
Information you can trust
Finding official sources, checking claims, and recognizing scams that imitate government.
Host Voice sessions.
One short form about your organization and the people you serve. A person from the Moraph for Good team reads every application and replies, whether or not we can help.