What We Do: Sample Case Studies

Next 10 – The assignment? Make the key issues in the California state budget – like “structural deficit” -- understandable to a broad audience.  Common Knowledge interviewed Californians across the state to develop accessible and nonpartisan budget booklets that are popular with a wide range of users, available in five languages.

Easy Voter Guide Project – Common Knowledge founded this breakthrough civic engagement model for new voters and busy voters in California, featuring multi-lingual guides, web site and workshops used by a network of over 1,000 organizations and 40+ newspapers.  We grew the project to a circulation of 4 million Easy Voter Guides for each statewide election before turning it over to the League of Women Voters of California.

Project Money –an innovative program that empowers less educated and low income audiences to address their financial issues by providing a user-friendly “entry point” and peer-based support. The web site models how to provide content for new web users and features a broad array of educational tools.

Wells Fargo Bank – an assessment of the barriers that front-line employees face in deciding to participate in their 401k plan; plus an employee-driven approach to make HR benefits more understandable

Department of Health Services/Office of AIDS – peer-based research and design process for safe sex messages among at risk youth and young adults

Civic Engagement Project for Children and Families – design framework for a four year project that helped eight First 5 county commissions connect and partner with hard to reach parents and community members