Civic Voice During COVID-19: A SIDE Event Playbook for Members of Congress and Their Communities

Congress’ operations during COVID-19 are pushing our most democratic governing institutions to become modern digital workplaces. Like the rest of society, members and staff are suddenly learning how to work from home. Official committee hearings have moved online or occur in a hybrid online/in person format using House-sanctioned video conferencing platforms.

A SIDE (Stakeholders, Individuals, Data and Evidence) Event is a more agile mechanism for members and communities – a compromise between open mic town halls and rule-restrictive committee field hearings.