The process of both projects will be carried out in three phases: The first of these is idea development; the second is evaluation and collective selection; the third is action.

1. The Idea Development phase of both projects will focus exclusively on presenting and developing positive solutions to problems. All the proposals created will be posted on the Solution Exchange, together with readers’ responses to them. During this first phase of the Solution Exchange, contributors will address a range of problems that include such issues as excessive greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, the national debt, the need for more good jobs, better national security, civil liberties, election reform, and worldwide human rights, innovative economic policies, affordable health care, alternative energy, crime prevention, a higher quality of education at all levels, and any other issues that concern them.

   Solutions to any public issue people find important will be welcome. Some of these solutions will be drafted by individual Solution Exchange participants; others by large and small political organizations; and some by ad-hoc groups of individuals and/or organizations that met and collaborated online.

   In time, still other solutions to the same and other problems will be prepared and posted by DNA group members working together in face-to-face or online meetings.

2. The second (or Selection) phase of the A.S. program is largely the same for both the Exchange and DNA groups. Readers responding to specific solutions that have been posted on the Solution Exchange will be asked to select those that they prefer. They'll make suggestions and comments of whatever kind they think will be helpful. The solutions posted might have originated in either of the Activist Solutions projects.

   After a predetermined period of time, in which solution authors will be encouraged to make revisions and merge their ideas with others when appropriate, their finalized solutions will be evaluated by as many readers as possible on a scale of 1-5.

   1 –I would volunteer time to get this solution enacted. 2 – Good, but I wouldn’t put time into it. 3 – I am neutral 4 – I don’t like it. 5 – It doesn’t make sense to me.

   The strength or weakness of each solution will become evident in this peer-review process. The number of supporters each proposal receives will show how broadly it is supported or opposed, while the number of responders willing to work for it will show how deep and strong that commitment is. Top rated proposals will have both broad approval and a strong commitment by some to make it happen.
   Those that accumulate the strongest ratings will be circulated on public petitions where they will have the opportunity to accumulate still more support. The petitions will list abbreviated descriptions (the first paragraph or brief gist of the summary) of up to five of the highest rated solutions for each problem.

   Of course, any group of supporters of a specific solution might decide to post or otherwise circulate their own petition and gather as much support for their proposal as they can. In the same way, any group of supporters of a specific solution might independently decide to take whatever lobbying action they choose at any point in time. (The administrators of Activist Solutions will not participate in any action taken, other than to post announcements of the plans or the results of an action.)

   Our hope is that new partnerships between organizations and creative individuals will take root in this cooperative process. Several different solutions popularly selected as the best for each problem might simultaneously go on for joint action, as described below, under the supervision and coordination of compatible participating organizations.

3. In the third, or action phase of both Activist Solutions projects, solutions that received the highest ratings and the most support will be presented to the media, legislators, and others who can help get the selected solutions implemented.

   When one or more finalized proposals have gathered enough support, a campaign might be organized by supporters to publicize and get them enacted. All participating groups and individuals will be encouraged to work together to help design, mount, and coordinate this grassroots effort to get the selected solutions presented to the people who can help implement them.

   The individuals involved in the action phase of the program will rely heavily on the experience and resources of the organizations that support their solutions. Individuals who agree with any organization’s expressed point of view will be helped to locate and join with those organizations in as many of their activities as possible.

   These very fluid coalitions, comprised of participating organizations and individuals with similar ideas for solutions, will meet online to create strategies for getting their proposals heard, supported, and possibly enacted. Activist Solutions participants who helped craft and choose the selected policy ideas will be invited to spearhead the actions undertaken to lobby for them. Tools will be available to help individual participants and supportive organizations work together as necessary to stimulate public involvement in a variety of activities designed to get the selected proposals accepted.

   The participants in all of the Activist Solutions projects will also be offered the opportunity to form strategy Dialogue Groups, whose purpose will be to come up with specific proposals for mounting effective campaigns in support of the solutions selected. These strategy groups might also brainstorm better ways to make their volunteer experiences more exciting, more productive, and more effective. They might develop innovative approaches to fundraising, or recruiting new volunteers in support of their solutions.

   In addition to whatever innovative approaches strategy groups come up with, volunteers will be asked to help in the usual ways, such as taking a few minutes to call or write to a legislator or a potential voter. If more time is available, and if they are qualified, participants might want to speak at meetings and rallies, or they might develop innovative ways to organize these kinds of events. People will give as little or as much time to each activity as they are able to and willing for.

   People involved in the Action Phase will receive very specific descriptions of upcoming events from which to choose those they’d like to participate in. The list will include specific tasks needed in each event and opportunities to suggest other kinds of events that Activist Solutions program participants might want to organize or attend.