Reparative Democracy Design Lab

A Community Supported by the Network Catalyzers Program 2026

Illustration by Jiaqi Zhou for CoGenerate x Fine Acts

How do we build civic trust in a crumbling democracy? As American democracy stands at an existential inflection point, the need for locally-led interventions to strengthen civic trust has never been higher.

Together, this community of Midwest democracy redesigners will:

  • Reflect on democratic systems that have been in tatters, losing trust and leading to political disillusionment and withdrawal. We will consider what daily interactions with democracy have felt

    like for our communities – and what civic trauma remains as a result.

  • Build a collective vision for a Reparative Democracy, focusing on new forms of democratic participation needed to address historical injustices and transform extractive economies.

  • Practice at least one emerging form of participatory democracy, and collectively define critical conditions for democratic practices to support bridging across differences.

Through this community, we will build a shared understanding of what strategies and practices we can bring to our local efforts, bridging between our dying democracy and the form that will emerge next.

This community is led by Forum member and 2026 Network Catalyzer: Niketa Brar


  • Niketa Brar has spent her career studying the failures of democracy — and working to redesign systems that produce them. 

    As a policymaker turned government reformer, she founded Chicago United for Equity (CUE) as an ecosystem-building civic redesign lab, engaging 165+ civic leaders to build and test participatory governance across sectors. Under her leadership, CUE organized Chicago's first Racial Equity Impact Assessment, setting national precedent for stopping a school closure based on racial discrimination. She supported CUE Fellows in leading several more REIA efforts, bringing together Chicagoans across language, culture, and political ideology to forge a shared commitment to strengthening policies that address unjust civic systems.

    Niketa brings her policy background to her work in participatory democracy, particularly in developing communally-defined policy agendas and budgets. In 2019, she designed and stewarded the Vote Equity Project, a participatory voter guide and policy agenda co-created with 2,000+ residents, which ultimately won the Reform for Illinois Trailblazer Award. In 2020, she co-designed and organized the People’s Budget Chicago, a participatory budgeting process led by the most disinvested neighborhoods in Chicago.

    Moving to national work through her prior role at PolicyLink, an economic policy think tank, Niketa led the policy team for Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities, a $200 million initiative supporting Midwestern and Southern cities implementing historic federal infrastructure investments. There, she convened teams of community organizations and government leaders to translate collaborative governance principles into practice, to co-create policy solutions bridging environmental sustainability and economic justice. She is now translating that experience into the Civic Trust Index, a strategy tool to support local practitioners working to increase democratic engagement. 

    Niketa’s work is, ultimately, a bet that democracy can be redesigned — and that the people most failed by it should lead the way.

Visit the 2026 Network Catalyzers Program page for more information about other communities supported by this program.