About Citizen Portal
See Government. Clearly.
Citizen Portal was founded on a simple but powerful belief: democracy works best when people can clearly see how it works.
Founded by Paul Allen, co-founder of Ancestry.com, Citizen Portal carries forward a lifelong mission to use technology to uplift humanity, expand access to knowledge, and strengthen civic trust. After helping millions of people understand where they come from, Paul turned his focus to a question just as fundamental: How do we help people understand the systems that govern their lives today?
Citizen Portal is the answer.
Our Mission
Citizen Portal's mission is to illuminate government action to amplify transparency, provide clarity, and fuel civic engagement.
We are building the civic intelligence infrastructure for the modern era - a neutral, AI-powered platform that converts raw government activity into trusted, searchable, and actionable insight at a national scale - and right in your neighborhood.
Why We Exist
In addition to the decisions made by the Federal government, which are largely covered by national media, local governments make decisions every day that shape housing, education, taxation, public safety, and economic development. These decisions are technically public, but may be difficult to access and understand.
Critical information is scattered across:
At the same time, local journalism—the connective tissue between government and citizens—has collapsed in many communities. The result is a growing gap in civic visibility.
Citizen Portal exists to close that gap. We connect directly with citizens and partner with news and civic organizations to help them scale their contributions.
How We Do It
Citizen Portal ingests primary-source and publicly-accessible government data - including meetings, agendas, minutes, and other video and documents. We apply constrained AI to transform hours of public proceedings into minutes of intelligible insight - mitigating editorial bias, advocacy, or opinion.
Every insight is grounded in original public records and designed to be auditable, traceable, and trustworthy. And, we work to get even better every day - often with YOUR help!
Who We Serve
Citizen Portal creates a shared civic information layer that serves:
Citizens
Seeking clarity about decisions that affect their communities.
Journalists
Navigating shrinking resources and expanding coverage needs.
Civic Organizations & Educators
Working to strengthen democratic participation.
Enterprises & Institutions
That need reliable civic intelligence to operate responsibly.
Our North Star
•Transparency should not require expertise.
•Participation should not require insider access.
•Understanding government should not feel like detective work.
Citizen Portal brings government closer to the people it serves - clearly, neutrally, and at scale.
See Government. Clearly.
Ready to get involved? Become a subscriber or contact us directly for more information.