The first of two Harry’s Front Porch Forums takes place on Tuesday, September 29, at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

Democracy’s Challenge: Reclaiming the Public’s Role focuses on Americans turning away from public life and becoming spectators rather than participants. The forum poses the question: what has gone wrong and what should be done about it? Among the approaches discussed will be democratic values, reinventing citizenship, and bringing the public back into politics.

The series is co-sponsored by the National Issues Forums Institute, the Kettering Foundation, the Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City Consensus, the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, and the Truman Center for Governmental Affairs.