SCRC was established in 1989 to promote the use of study circles on critical social and political issues. It is a project of the Topsfield Foundation , a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation whose mission is to advance deliberative democracy and improve the quality of public life in the United States. SCRC can also provide up to 500 free study circle guides for these large-scale programs. Occasionally, an SCRC staff member can visit a community to participate in organizing meetings and conduct facilitator trainings.
Study circles can take place within organizations, such as schools, unions, or government agencies.
In so doing, they help to build the bonds that are essential to creating healthy communities. Typically, a single organization such as a mayor's office, a school board, or a Human Relations Commission takes the lead, and staffs the project. In most communities, an initiating organization takes the first step by approaching other key organizations to build an organizing coalition. Community-wide study circle programs foster new connections among community members that lead to new levels of community action. They also create new connections between citizens and government, both at an institutional level and among parents and teachers, community members and social service providers, residents and police officers.