Learners ages 14 and above, including adults returning to learning. Work independently with fictional data; no job, account, outreach, or adult legal authority is required.
Course 96 · Life course 26
Participate in Local Decisions
Find who makes a local decision, compare the options, and draft a focused public comment without submitting it.
Before you start
Use paper or a local document for a six-part project folder; a calculator is optional.
See everything you’ll needWhat you’ll leave with
A clear guide to a local decision, a comparison of options, and a practice public comment.
Start course Start without an account. Sign in to save lesson progress across devices.
Your project
Start with the practice files. Build your project one lesson at a time.
Practice files are free without an account. Sign in to save your project record in My Proof: a description, checklist, and optional work link. Keep the original files in your own app or notebook; saving a project record does not upload them.
- Get your materialsDownload the practice worksheetUse the downloadable worksheet or toolkit alongside the lesson instructions.
- Make your projectView the project checklist Work in your own notebook, document, or software. Use the supplied practice examples when you prefer.
- Keep a private recordSave a project record Sign in to save a description and checklist, then return to update them.
Course handbook
Know the route before you begin.
Here’s what you’ll need and what you’ll make. You can return to this guide during any lesson.
- Use paper or a local document for a six-part project folder; a calculator is optional.
- Choose the fully supplied fictional scenario, or substitute a low-risk situation without personal or sensitive information.
- Plan about 157 minutes of active reading and practice across six lessons; two lessons each week provides three-week pacing. Optional real-world research can be added after the required practice.
Finish with proof you can use.
A neutral civic process portfolio with an authority map, meeting card, budget comparison, option analysis, unsubmitted comment, and decision-stage log.
Save a project record in My ProofSee project checklist and review criteria
Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.
What to include
- An authority map for three local issues with ownership evidence and two process questions.
- A meeting-process card with agenda item, stage, two deadlines, access questions, and a practice participation route.
- A budget comparison with category shares, separate one-time and annual costs, and funding questions.
- A three-option comparison with advantages, limitations, criteria, and unresolved access evidence.
- An unsubmitted fictional public comment or question with agenda reference, two facts, one request, and a timing check.
- A civic process portfolio with a decision-stage log, corrected status, and a neutral verification plan.
Review and revise
Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.
- Institutional accuracy: routes each fictional issue to the supplied authority and distinguishes operators, committees, and final decision-makers.
- Process literacy: preserves the agenda stage, comment deadlines, access questions, and public-disclosure implications without importing universal meeting rules.
- Budget and tradeoff reasoning: computes shares and multi-year totals with stated assumptions, separates installation from recurring upkeep, and retains unknown access evidence.
- Neutral participation record: ties an unsubmitted comment to evidence and a specific process request, then distinguishes recommendation, conditions, adoption, and implementation in the final log.
Three ideas to help you along the way
Three useful ideas
The rules behind the steps.
Find authority
Match the issue and location to the body that can actually decide.
Keep stages separate
Discussion, recommendation, adoption, and implementation are different events.
Use evidence fairly
State facts, criteria, unknowns, and tradeoffs without inventing public agreement.
What do these words mean?
Key words
Key terms worth knowing.
- Jurisdiction
- The geographic or subject area in which a public body has authority.
- Agenda
- The stated matters a body plans to consider at a meeting.
- Operating budget
- A plan for recurring revenues and expenses during a stated period.
- Capital cost
- A one-time investment or improvement cost distinguished from ongoing operations in this course.
- Public comment
- Input offered under a public body’s participation procedure.
- Minutes
- A meeting record whose decisions and conditions should be read in context.
Your route6 lessons.
6 lessons.
One useful project.
Work in order the first time. Each lesson makes something the next lesson can use.
- 1Up next
Find who can make the local decision
Match a local issue to the body with relevant authority.
- 224 min
Read a public agenda and process
Extract decision stage, dates, and participation instructions from a sample notice.
- 328 min
Read a small public budget
Compare a fictional budget’s categories and proposed changes.
- 426 min
Compare options and public tradeoffs
Build a neutral option comparison using evidence and stated criteria.
- 526 min
Draft a clear public comment
Prepare a concise comment or question tied to the agenda and evidence.
- 631 min
Track the decision and reflect
Bring your local-decision work together and explain what each later stage does and does not mean.
Use the tools
See all tools Tools to help you practice.
Source transparency
Sources and further study.
Explore the references behind the lessons and take your learning further. Source notes explain access and reuse.
USAGov — Local governments
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Opened the local-government contact directory and state-specific routes. Used for locating responsible bodies; powers, meeting rules, and jurisdiction vary locally.
Access: Public reading verified without an account; optional further reading, no paid course or certificate required.
Reuse: Reference only; original Life Starter explanations and practice. Public access is not permission to copy materials or logos.
OpenStax — American Government 3e, 14.5 County and City Government
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Read city/county structures, responsibilities, and funding sources. Page displays a CC BY attribution notice; this original course does not copy its examples, questions, statistics, or diagrams.
Access: Public reading verified without an account; optional further reading, no paid course or certificate required.
Reuse: Open educational reference; read the page-specific license before any reuse. This course uses original explanations, scenarios, and assessments, not copied exercises.
EPA — Public Participation Guide: Introduction
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Read the distinction between collecting comments and meaningful involvement, and the guide’s scope. Process education only; no universal meeting procedure or right to an outcome is inferred.
Access: Public reading verified without an account; optional further reading, no paid course or certificate required.
Reuse: Reference only; original Life Starter explanations and practice. Public access is not permission to copy materials or logos.
Ready when you are
Start lesson one Start with the first useful move.
You’ll always know what to do, what to make, and where to go next.
Open collaboration ideaHelp keep this complete course free.
Potential collaboration: Libraries, civic education programs, schools, adult learning centers, and community organizations teaching nonpartisan public-process literacy.
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