Joining together on pressing community issues.
Deliberative Forums have been held across the region covering a variety of topics.
Browse below to find topic areas, briefing documents, and final reports.
Democracy & Self-Governance
On June 6, 2026, Lancaster History hosted a deliberative forum on the topic of self-governance in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This forum was hosted in collaboration with Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs with funding from The Steinman Foundation. The forum brought together 41 randomly selected residents who are representative of Lancaster County to deliberate on the values of the Declaration, civic engagement, and self-governance.
HOUSING
On April 25, 2026, South Central Community Action Programs hosted a deliberative forum on housing in Franklin County in collaboration with Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs. The forum brought together 39 randomly selected residents who are representative of Franklin County to deliberate solutions to Franklin County’s housing challenges.
HOUSING
On June 21, 2025, South Central Community Action Programs hosted a deliberative forum on housing in Adams County in collaboration with Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs. The forum brought together 47 randomly selected residents who are representative of Adams County to deliberate on challenges and solutions related to housing in the County.
Community Health
On January 11, 2025, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health in collaboration with Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research hosted a deliberative forum on community health needs in Lancaster County. The forum brought together 46 randomly selected residents who are representative of Lancaster County to deliberate on topics including mental health, substance use, and homelessness.
Democracy Reform
On April 13 and July 13, 2024, The Steinman Institute for Civic Engagement in collaboration with Franklin & Marshall College and WITF held a two-day Deliberative Forum focused on Democracy Reform. Day 1 of this two-day forum was designed to give participants information about a range of reforms that could potentially improve democratic practices, and determine which topics they would like to deliberate more deeply on for day 2. Deliberations on day 2 focused on conversations on voting access and regulation considered possible reforms to voter registration, voter identification, and mail-in balloting. Civic learning deliberations considered the state’s sunshine and public records laws, public notice requirements, best practices for elected officials, and civics education in schools.
Housing
On August 19, 2023, Hourglass hosted a deliberative forum on housing in partnership with the Franklin & Marshall College Center for Politics & Public Affairs. The forum brought together 48 randomly selected residents who are representative of Lancaster County to deliberate solutions to Lancaster County’s housing challenges and to offer informed public input on housing policy.
Climate Solutions
October 1, 2022, ClimateSolutions hosted a deliberative forum focused on ways to address climate change in communities. It was designed so participants could deliberate about climate priorities for solar development, transportation, agriculture, and flooding.
Land use
On July 23, 2022, Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs and the City of Lancaster – with support from F&M’s Center for Sustained Engagement with Lancaster – co-hosted a deliberative forum on future land use in Lancaster City. Participants were assigned to one of six sites in the City and discussed a range of topics including regional planning and the environment; housing and transportation; and economic development and equity. These topics served to organize each of three sessions at the forum; a fourth session was dedicated to a summary of the day’s discussions.