Lorelei Kelly
Lorelei Kelly is a democratic innovation practitioner whose work focuses on strengthening democratic resilience through new methods for gathering, organizing, and integrating community knowledge into institutional decision-making. She is a Principal at Public Good Group, where she develops civic education, public participation, and evidence-building initiatives that connect communities with governance systems. Starting in 2026, she will also be a Civic Evidence Fellow with Democracy Forward, a leading US Rule of Law defender. Her research explores how legislatures, public institutions, and civic actors can better incorporate lived experience and civic evidence into policy workflows. Kelly has worked extensively on congressional reform, public AI, civic technology, and participatory democracy, with a particular interest in institutional capacity and democratic infrastructure. She also develops projects that bridge civic learning, community archives, and democratic practice, including the emerging concept of a civic folk school.
Lorelei led Georgetown University’s Congressional Modernization portfolio for a decade at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation and then at the McCourt School. She attended Grinnell College, Stanford University, and the Air Command and Staff College of the US Air Force. She has authored many “how to” books and numerous articles, available here.