Imagine a country where Members of Congress and citizens enjoy a vibrant, active and engaged relationship. The Partnership For A More Perfect Union wants to turn that vision into reality. Join Us!
The Partnership for a More Perfect Union
Enriching The Relationship Between Citizens And Congress
Gold Mouse Awards Announced for the 111th Congress
After much anticipation and worry from congressional offices, we proudly announce the best websites on Capitol Hill. All congressional sites that earned an “A” in our evaluations received a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Mouse Award. And for the first time, we bestowed Platinum Mouse Awards to the #1 site in each category.
Interested in Your Website Grade?
All House and Senate Member, committee, and leadership offices were sent confidential e-mail notification of their overall grade and rankings on April 29. For those offices interested in more detailed and customized feedback about their particular site, confidential “Website Report Cards” will also be available.
Facilitating More Meaningful & Manageable Dialogue
This decade-long project examines ways to improve the individual communications between Members of Congress and citizens. The Partnership will conduct and disseminate research and offer recommendations for an improved model for electronic constituent communications.
21st Century Town Halls
To facilitate a more deliberative and civil dialogue between citizens and elected officials, the Partnership will conduct comparative research on in-person town halls, online town halls, and the telephone town halls that are now common on Capitol Hill.
The Partnership Blog
Our blog discusses the work of the Partnership on improving the relationship and communication between citizens and Congress. Here we will highlight best practices, make program announcements, and discuss citizen engagement from our unique and independent vantage point.
Lady Gaga and the Evolution of Constituent Communications
You know something has had an impact on you when you’re still thinking about it weeks after the fact. And what happe...
Advocate to Influence … Not Annoy
This August, just prior to a Tea Party march in Washington, DC, a blogger who claimed to be affiliated with the Tea Part...
A “Sham” or Democracy at Work?
Clay Johnson, formerly of the Sunlight Foundation, wrote in his blog last week that “online petitions are a sham.” ...
“Ask Us”: How Do We Drive Constituents To Our Website?
Members of Congress and their staff are eager to communicate more effectively with constituents. They come to the Cong...
Inside the Hill: How and Why Does Congress Use Twitter
The Partnership for a More Perfect Union presents “Inside the Hill”, a web series that allows you to hear directly f...
The Gold Mouse Project
With an estimated 70% of American adults online, Members of Congress should have good websites that effectively communicate with and serve citizens. Since 1998, we have assessed the quality of congressional sites to identify best and innovative practices that can be more widely adopted by House and Senate offices.
“Ask Us”: How Do We Drive Constituents To Our Website?
Members of Congress and their staff are eager to communicate more effectively with constituents. They come to the Cong...
Turning Websites into Online Offices
For congressional offices looking to improve their online communications, one of the biggest challenges can be deciding ...
Using Facebook for more than just press releases
For some congressional offices, the default use for new communication avenues is as just another place to post the offic...
Taking Transparency a Step Further
Earlier this week at our House training on congressional websites and the Gold Mouse Report, one of the attendees asked ...
111th Congress Gold Mouse Project Training
Today we conducted training programs for House and Senate congressional staff on "Lessons from the 111th Congress Gold M...
How and Why Does Congress Use Twitter
