America’s Plan is trying to change how public work gets done, which means it should also be honest about how it works. This page explains what we are trying to be transparent about: who is building this, how content is produced, what is live vs. in progress, and where the limits are.
You can think of it as a running “how this project behaves” note for anyone who wants to look under the hood.
Who is building this
Right now, America’s Plan is a small, all‑volunteer project. There is no large organization behind it, no major donors, and no party or campaign infrastructure using it as a front.
The long‑term aim is to build something that can eventually stand on its own as a durable civic institution, but in this early stage most of the work is still being done by a small number of people building the foundations and testing structures.
As more people step into roles as issue contributors, facilitators, and support contributors, those roles will be described on the Contribute and Contributors Wanted pages rather than hidden.
What’s live vs. in progress
The homepage already says that this site is in an early build stage and that you are seeing the scaffolding while the structure is still taking shape. This page makes that more specific.
- Some pages (like About, Core Ideas, How It Works, Contribute, Community, Safety & Access, and the Privacy Policy) are intended to be stable foundations, updated deliberately.americasplan+2
- Some areas (like issue hubs, the forum, and the commons/wiki) are actively being built and will change more often as we test and refine them.americasplan+1
- Some older work‑in‑progress pages exist mainly as internal notes and will be folded into clearer public pages over time.
We will use the Roadmap & Status page to keep a visible record of major changes and upcoming priorities so you do not have to guess which parts are “finished enough” and which are still rough.
How content is produced and reviewed
Many pages on this site are drafted with a mix of human writing, human editing, and AI‑assisted drafting under human review. The Privacy Policy already includes a note that it was researched and drafted with AI assistance under human review, and that pattern applies to other pages as well.
In practice, that means:
- Humans decide what needs to be written and what the page is for.
- AI tools may be used to help generate drafts, rephrase sections, or suggest structure.
- Humans review, edit, fact‑check, and decide what is actually published.
Where AI assistance plays a major role in drafting or revising a page, we will continue the practice of noting that at the bottom of the page (for example: “This article was drafted with AI assistance under human review”).
How we handle corrections
Because the project is both early‑stage and ambitious, some things will be wrong, incomplete, or outdated.
When that happens, we aim to:
- Correct factual errors as quickly as we reasonably can.
- Update pages when the project’s structure, tools, or policies change.
- Prefer updating and annotating important foundation pages over quietly removing them.
If a correction significantly changes the meaning of a foundation page, we may add a short “Last updated” line or short note explaining what changed. The Roadmap & Status page can also be used to log major shifts.
Data, privacy, and safety
Transparency also means being clear about what you are trading when you use this site.
- The Privacy Policy explains what data is collected on americasplan.org and how it is used.
- The Safety & Access page explains how we think about risk, anonymity, and participation, especially for people who may face real‑world consequences for speaking up.
- Community Guidelines explain how we expect people to treat each other in discussion spaces and what moderators may do when behavior threatens safety or purpose.
We cannot promise zero risk, but we can be honest about what we are doing and what we are not doing.
How we think about bias and power
America’s Plan is built around a specific view of how power works: that many of our systems are failing because there is no shared, long‑term plan created by affected parties, and that organized wealth and institutions tend to fill that vacuum.
That means:
- We are not neutral about whether affected people should have more power.
- We try to be transparent about the assumptions behind the project, as laid out in Core Ideas and Strategy.
- We are open about the fact that the project treats these problems as a power struggle, not just “polarization.”
Transparency here means naming the project’s commitments instead of pretending they do not exist.
What we can’t promise
There are limits to what transparency can do.
We cannot promise to:
- Publish every internal discussion, draft, or misstep.
- Provide real‑time updates for every small change.
- Eliminate all uncertainty about the future path of the project.
We can promise to:
- Keep a clear Roadmap & Status page that reflects major movements.
- Continue marking AI‑assisted content under human review.
- Be honest when something is not ready yet instead of pretending it is finished.
How to ask for more information
If you have questions about how something works, or if you believe more transparency is needed in a particular area, you can:
- Use the Contact page (mention “Transparency” in the subject).
- Raise it in the forum once there is a clear place for meta/project discussion.
Concrete questions or suggestions (“Can you explain X on this page?” “Can you say more about how Y is decided?”) are especially helpful; they make it easier to know what to prioritize.
This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance under human review. See our full AI and editorial practices.