About the Show
When the People Decide is a podcast about how everyday people are shaping democracy. It’s produced by LWC Studios for the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State.
Season one, released in summer 2022, examined the promise — and sometimes peril — that ballot initiatives have brought to American democracy by telling the stories of people who have organized initiative campaigns across the country. Season two, released in summer 2023, explored how cities and towns are strengthening democracy at the local level through reforms like participatory budgeting, lottery-selected panels, and the growth of civic media.
The theme across the series is that individuals who do not hold elected office or have political power in the traditional sense can cultivate civic power to effect change on the local and state level. I hope that listeners will be inspired by these stories to become more civically engaged and join efforts to strengthen American democracy in the ways described in the show.
About the Host
Jenna Spinelle is a writer and podcaster based in State College, Pennsylvania. In addition to When the People Decide, she hosts and produces the Democracy Works podcast and serves as the communications specialist for the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State.
She teaches courses on newswriting, podcasting, and the creator economy at Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. Her writing has appeared in outlets including Bello Collective, Inside Higher Ed, and Current.
About the McCourtney
Institute for Democracy
The McCourtney Institute for Democracy is an interdisciplinary research center in the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State. Through research, education, and outreach, the organization seeks to understand, preserve, and defend democracy. It strives to help people in the Penn State community and beyond become better democratic citizens.
About LWC Studios
LWC Studios is an award-winning digital media studio whose original work reaches rising audiences with programming that has a social-justice vein. Its flagship show, 70 Million, is the first open-source solutions journalism podcast chronicling how locals are tackling jail reform around the country. In 2020, LWC Studios received a Peabody Award nomination, earned silver in the audio documentary category at the New York International Radio Festival, and won “The Director’s Prize,” their first Third Coast award, also known as “The Oscars of Audio.”