Current Projects at the PPI
This year the PPI will work on three major projects, which are described below. 

1) American Youth Congress: For the 9th year in a row, the PPI will sponsor the American Youth Congress.  This one-of-a-kind event invites middle school and high school students from around the state to come together and create, debate, and pass legislation.  Western students act as panel chairs and take on leadership roles in the Congress.  For more information, read, see this article in the International Social Science Review.

2) Best Practices of Government in Western North Carolina:  Many local governments in western North Carolina are solving the problems of governance and administration in innovative and effective ways.  In this project, we will initially survey governments in the region to determine what they are doing and what they are doing well.  We will then follow-up with in-depth, qualitative case studies of governments that the surveys reveal are leaders in one area or another.  The results will be distributed to each local government in the region, providing a valuable service and improving the quality of governance in the region.  By conducting the case studies, Western students will also learn first-hand how to help solve problems of governance and administration. 

3) Deliberative Polling: Western is a proud member of the American Democracy Project—a multi-campus initiative focused on preparing the next generation of informed, engaged citizens for our democracy.  One of the primary initiatives of the ADP is deliberative polling—a social science method to determine how deliberation can improve dialogue and lead to a more informed, vigorous democracy.  As a key partner in this project, the PPI will conduct a deliberative poll this year in the western region.