Mission

California Forward’s mission is to improve the quality of life for all Californians by creating more responsive, representative and cost-effective government.

Vision

Our vision is for a California where:
1
Government is closer to the people.

Local governments can solve problems in ways that work for diverse communities and regional economies.

  • Local governments need to assume more responsibility and authority over programs.
  • Local governments need to be encouraged – with fiscal and regulatory incentives – to encourage local agencies to integrate and coordinate services, to merge or split.
  • State agencies, working with local governments, need to set standards, provide technical assistance, and seek changes in laws and regulations to continuously improve results.
  • Local governments need incentives (and maybe requirements) to share revenue and other resources to equalize opportunity and improve impact.
  • All governments need to establish priorities and goals and publicly report their progress.
2
Fiscal systems are reliable, efficient and focused on results.

Tax policies and budget practices must be aligned to the new structure and fortified to ensure value and public trust. At all levels of government this should include:

  • Multi-year forecasts and budgets to focus on long-term costs and benefits.
  • “Pay-go” mechanisms to make tough choices and not burden our children with debt.
  • Consistent reserve practices to ensure vital services throughout the economic cycle.
  • Results-based budgets to improve performance and restore public trust.
  • A new state and local tax structure that increases fiscal stewardship and public accountability at each level of government.
3
State leaders are held accountable for making improvements, and voters are empowered to
understand and exercise their role in a strong democracy.

The political system needs to be fortified to encourage voting, increase voter choice, and motivate and empower elected officials to solve problems.

  • The electoral process needs to encourage and reward officials for representing their entire districts, not major donors or party leaders.
  • Legislators need the chance to build relationships and expertise to solve big problems.
  • Younger generations, independent voters and others who are historically disenfranchised need to have real access to the political process.
  • If warranted, the role of the Legislature and its procedures need to be aligned with the new structure of integrated and regionally-coordinated government.
 

Values

To ensure success, California Forward and the projects it supports have the following characteristics:
 
  • Leadership that reflects California. The leadership of California Forward includes broad ethnic and political diversity to build legitimacy, credibility and trust.
  • Results driven. Projects clearly link structural reforms with the anticipated public benefits, as specific and as close to home as possible.
  • Publicly oriented. Public engagement is a cornerstone of all activity–demonstrating the value public value of public involvement in making sound public policy improvements.
  • Opportunistic and persistent. California Forward creates and accelerates projects based on changing external and political environments. Decision-making models are informed, transparent and efficient, and address obstacles and deficiencies until objectives are achieved.

How We Pursue Progress

California Forward is pursuing these goals through bipartisan, data-driven reforms. Reforms are developed and implemented through issue-specific projects with the following steps:

  1. Fact-based assessments of governance problems that impact public outcomes. Identification of viable, bipartisan solutions consistent with the priorities of all Californians.
  2. Meaningful engagement of diverse populations regarding problems and solutions, with attention to those who are inadequately served by programs or underrepresented in the political process.
  3. Effective execution of political strategies and campaign tactics to ensure adoption and implementation of new policies – including legislation, ballot initiatives and administration actions, as well as local or regional reforms that can be scaled to have statewide impacts.

Through this public interest approach, California Forward is rallying the ambition, innovation and optimism of Californians to overcome the distrust and partisanship that have thwarted attempts to bolster democracy.

Origins and Support

For California to meet the challenges of the coming decades – in the areas of healthcare, education, the environment and economic growth, among others – the state will need to dramatically change how public decisions are made and how public dollars are spent.

In recognition of these challenges several major California foundations (The California Endowment, The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation) came together to ask four civic organizations to recommend a plan to achieve this change.

California Forward is the result.  This new organization was created by California Common Cause, Center for Governmental Studies, New California Network and The Commonwealth Club of California's Voices of Reform Project.  The goal of California Forward is to contribute to improving the quality of life for all Californians by creating more responsive, representative and cost-effective government.