Civic Caucus

The Civic Caucus is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization that serves as a forum for citizens to learn, analyze, and debate critical public issues in Minnesota. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Minneapolis, the caucus has conducted nearly 600 interviews with civic and business leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, elected officials, researchers, academics, and other thought leaders from Minnesota and around the United States to glean their expert knowledge on policy challenges.

The roots of the Civic Caucus trace back to 1950, when four students at the University of Minnesota—Verne Johnson, Charles Clay, Raeder Larson, and Jim Olson—began holding weekly meetings to talk about public policy. Public policy is legislation (or any action proposed/done by elected representatives) to solve a civic problem. Officials might adopt a policy of providing free school lunches, for example, to address the problem of hunger among children.

After decades of informal meetings, lawyer John Mooty joined the group. All achieved noteworthy careers in Twin Cities business, law, and academia. Verne Johnson (later called a "public policy giant" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune) served as executive director of the Citizens League from 1957 until 1967. In that year, he helped create the Metropolitan Council, a Twin Cities organization active in city planning, policy, and services, including Metro Transit. He also advocated for metro tax-base sharing and more equitable funding of schools, transportation, and public safety. His impact continued as vice president of strategic planning at General Mills. Charles Clay, another forefather of the Metropolitan Council, served as a board member and president of the Citizens League in 1965.

The death of founding member Raeder Larson in 2001 brought the group to a decision point. They decided to go bigger. They established the Civic Caucus as a Minnesota nonprofit corporation in 2004, and subsequently as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code. At the same time, they expanded the number of core participants in the weekly discussion sessions. Although the internet was relatively new, Johnson recognized its potential to connect and engage civic-minded individuals. As a result, the caucus established a website with a free online archive of its interviews and position reports, and began email distribution to a growing followers list.

Verne Johnson was the first chair of the Civic Caucus from 2005 until 2012, while Paul Gilje was its first executive director in the same time span. Upon Johnson's death in 2012, Dan Loritz took over as chair. In 2017, Paul Ostrow became chair, and Janis Clay was executive director. In 2020, Clay became both chair and acting executive director.

After its first interview in 2005—with John Brandl about political polarization—the Civic Caucus fostered in-depth dialogue, seeking nonpartisan solutions to a range of Minnesota public issues, including affordable housing, aging and long-term care, agriculture, business, campaign finance. In 2015 and 2016, caucus members conducted a review of the quality of Minnesota's public policy process for anticipating, defining, and resolving major community problems. They then issued a concluding report: “Looking Back, Thinking Ahead: Strengthening Minnesota's Public-Policy Process.” The report described the key elements of the "Minnesota Process" of developing public policy over the past fifty years and predicted that the state “will be able to maintain its quality-of-life position among the fifty states only with a renewed commitment to solving its pressing public-policy challenges.” It presented four prime recommendations in an eight-point strategy.

In 2017 and 2018, the caucus held follow-up interviews on its report to gather further recommendations. It also organized conversations with major candidates for Minnesota governor, including Chris Coleman, Keith Downey, Jeff Johnson, Tina Liebling, Roger Moe, Al Quie, Tim Waltz, and other discussions about Minnesota's legislative process.

Civic Caucus interviews are conducted by an evolving panel of volunteers with public policy expertise. Between 2005 and 2024, more than fifty interviewers participated in more than 600 sessions. The caucus distributes interview summaries via email to more than 7,000 followers and nearly 300 media outlets across Minnesota. Based on these interviews and citizen feedback, the caucus produces occasional position reports, each addressing a specific public policy issue.

The organization created a directory of civic organizations in Minnesota, a free online resource including more than 550 organizations, in 2018. The directory is part of the caucus’s growing online hub of resources that aid in explaining Minnesota’s public policy process.