GreenPRO Online Launch

Media/Press Release

Green Institute

3509 Connecticut Ave NW #730
Washington, DC 20008

GreenPRO Online Launches

October 12, 2006

Washington, D.C. - Early this year, the Green Institute contracted with a software developer for the multi-phase design and development of a state-of-the-art policy database system using the effective and popular “wiki” technology. It is called GreenPRO - Green Policy, Resolutions, and Ordinances. The database will be searchable and will provide text, links, and basic information on progressive policy, both proposed and implemented, around the country.

Inclusion in the database will not indicate that the Green Institute endorses the specific ordinance or resolution, merely that it is a progressive policy that might well be of interest to policy-makers and activists. Policy advocacy of this type has been a successful tool of right-wing activists in recent years. The best known example is ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. The left responded with ALECWATCH and others but never gained much momentum with these projects. ALEC focuses on state-level legislation and uses a generous budget to bring state legislators to conferences in attractive vacation spots, where they are “educated” on proposals that are preferred by ALEC. By contrast, GreenPRO will focus almost exclusively on local-level policy and will not involve any lobbying of legislators. State policy will be included only when its primary focus affects the local level, for example, state laws that enable or encourage local ordinances.

While most other policy databases consist of lists of links on a website, our wiki system will be state-of-the-art.Wiki technology, popularized by the wikipedia encyclopedia, is an open source software system, meaning that no corporation owns it; it is in the public domain. It provides a system by which users can contribute content. Eventually, users will be able to add their own entries into GreenPRO, but each submitted entry will need to be accepted by an administrator before it can be posted for public viewing. The use of wiki in this database will make it one of the most advanced policy databases available, both for its user-friendly design and for the opportunities it affords people to contribute.

For further information, contact:

Dean Myerson

301.651.5168
[email protected]

Steven Schmidt
727.967.1030
[email protected]