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Interest Groups & Think Tanks

  • [Publications of California Public Interest Organizations and Agencies]. A sampling:
  • CQ Researcher Print and online library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher. Balanced, in-depth coverage of current public policy issues from Congressional Quarterly. Each weekly issue covers one topic. Online version includes backfile.(Doe Refe H35.E355)
  • Public Agenda Online. Online www.publicagenda.org/. "A nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization." Presents an array of public policy issues in a "balanced and easy-to-understand way."
  • Policy File Online www.policyfile.com/. Collection of full-text policy reports from research institutes, think tanks and citizens' groups.  Try this search:  enter "California" in the Keyword Search box and then select one of the subject categories from the Browse Subject box.

Public Interest/Advocacy Sites

General
  • California Common Cause
    "A 35,000-member, non-profit, non-partisan organization that lobbies for campaign finance and ethics reform at both the state and local level in California."
  • California Institute of Public Affairs
    "An independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to improving policy-making on complex public issues."
  • California 2000 Project (James Irvine Foundation and William & Flora Hewlett Foundation)
    Supports "policy research and public education on fiscal, governance, and land use reform issues in California."
  • California Higher Education Policy Center (1992-1997)
    Established under a five-year grant from the James Irvine Foundation, "the Center wrote and commissioned numerous reports and studies on the state and future higher education in California."
  • California Historical Society
  • California Institute for Federal Policy Research
    "The Institute's mission is to identify issues critical to the economic health of California, to coordinate the development of research data pertaining to these issues, and to communicate this policy research information to the California Congressional delegation..."
  • California Policy Research Center (University of California)
    "A systemwide research and public service program charged with applying the extensive research expertise of the UC system to the analysis, development and implementation of state policy and federal policy issues of statewide importance."
  • California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG)
     "CALPIRG is an advocate for the public interest. When consumers are cheated, or our natural environment is threatened, or the voice of ordinary citizens are drowned out by special interest lobbyists, CALPIRG speaks up and takes action."
  • California Research Bureau (California State Library)
    "Provides nonpartisan, confidential research to the Governor's Office, members of both houses of the Legislature, and other state constitutional officers."
  • California Studies Association
    "An independent, interdisciplinary organization dedicated to the study and exchange of ideas about California, past and present, its people, politics, economy, environment, arts, history, and literature."
  • California Studies Center (University of California, Berkeley)
    Goals include advancing "scholarly research on the past and present of the State of California, unbounded by disciplinary restrictions."
  • Center for Governmental Studies
    "Designs and helps implement innovative approaches to improve the processes of media and governance. The Center also works in substantive areas of campaign finance, ballot initiatives, digital divide, higher education, health care and state and local finance."
  • Claremont Institute
    "The mission of the Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life."
  • Community Collaboration
    A resource for "building community collaboration and consensus."
  • Center for California Studies (California State University, Sacramento)
    "A public service, educational support, and applied research institute ... dedicated to promoting a better understanding of California's government, politics, peoples, cultures and history."
  • Institute of Urban & Regional Development (University of California, Berkeley)
    Conducts "research into processes of urban and regional growth and decline, and effects of governing policies on the patterns and processes of development."
  • Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics (University of Southern California)
    "Conducts a variety of programs that permit students to interact with public officials to learn about the issues that affect them and their community."
  • Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy
    "Promotes the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility. The Institute believes these principles are best encouraged through policies that emphasize a free economy, private initiative, and limited government."
  • Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs (California State University, Los Angeles)
    "Dedicated to continuing the progressive urban legacy of former California Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (1959-1967), and serving as the primary vehicle through which Cal State L.A. carries out its urban mission."
  • Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
    "An independent policy research center whose primary aim is to enrich education policy debates with sound analysis and hard evidence."
  • Public Policy Institute of California
    "A private nonprofit organization dedicated to independent, objective, nonpartisan research on economic, social and political issues that affect the lives of Californians."
  • Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (Claremont Graduate School)
    "Conducts and disseminates objective, policy-relevant research and its implications to decision makers on key issues affecting Latino communities."
  • Southern California Studies Center (University of Southern California)
    "Goal is to monitor and guide the transformations in environment, politics, economics, culture and society of Southern California."
  • UC Agricultural Issues Center (University of California, Davis)
    "A forum where crucial trends and policy issues affecting agriculture and natural resources in California and the West are analyzed and the results made available to both policymakers and to those affected by policies."
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