Grassroot Institute

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Grassroot Institute
501(c)(3)
Leadership: Jamie Story
Political party Nonpartisan
Website Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Transparency Focus
Government Accountability


Contents

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii (GRIH), a 501(c)(3), is a non-profit research and education organization based in Honolulu. Founded in 2000, it works "to improve the relationship between the government and the people with the objective of improving the effectiveness of the government, the business climate and in some cases, tradition, to foster an atmosphere in Hawaii that results in maximum personal freedom for every individual."[1]

[edit] Mission

The organization's mission is "to promote individual liberty, the free market and limited accountable government." To this end, it produces research papers, policy briefings, and commentaries, while also holding conferences.

[edit] Projects and activities

GRIH is involved in a number of current project and activities. These include:

  • STAMP - The State Tax Analysis Modeling Program, or STAMP, is a computer program the Institute hopes to have online soon. It will perform simulations to analyze how proposed tax changes would affect the state's economy.[2]
  • HawaiiVotes.org - Based on existing sites such as MichiganVotes.org and WashingtonVotes.org, HawaiiVotes would serve to track all state legislative activity, including information on each legislator.
  • High School Debate Training Program - Started in 2007, the program trains national high school debate participants in Hawaii. It operates in conjunction with the Foundation for Economic Freedom. [3]
  • Transportation - GRIH is working on several studies that will outline the problems, causes and possible solutions to transportation in the state, especially in Honolulu County.

[edit] Research and publications

[edit] Research

The Grassroot Institute conducts research in a number of areas, including economics, education, government accountability, health care, native Hawaiians/Akaka, and transportation.

[edit] Publications

They distribute their research and other information though a number of publications. These include:

[edit] Policy papers

In addition to regular publications, the Institute puts out a number of policy papers on a host of topics.

Recent papers include:

[edit] Transparency initiatives

The Institute undertakes several initiatives to foster government transparency. First, they ask state legislators to submit their 20 year visions for Hawaii. Presently 9 state senators and 8 state representatives have submitted their visions.[4]

Additionally, GRIH works locally to get elected officials and candidates to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge from the Americans for Tax Reform website. Those who signed and did not sign are listed on GRIH's website.[5]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Grassroot Institute About Us
  2. ↑ Grassroot Institute Hawaii:STAMP
  3. ↑ Grassroot Institute High School Debate Training Program
  4. ↑ Grassroot Institute 20 Year Visions
  5. ↑ Grassroot Institute Accountability Pledge
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