Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy

What Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy does

The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is a non-profit academic center housed at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, with a satellite office in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2015 upon the retirement of Senator Carl Levin after 36 years in the U.S. Senate, the Center is dedicated to strengthening integrity, transparency, and accountability through bipartisan, fact-based legislative oversight at federal, state, and international levels. It maintains proprietary data and content platforms including the Congressional Oversight Records Database (CORD, 2,308 reports across 32 committees since the 106th Congress), the State Legislature Oversight Wiki (SLOW, covering all 50 states with over 4 million unique page views), and an Oversight Case Law Tracker monitoring 35 active cases affecting congressional powers.

The Center's operational model is built around an interconnected suite of training, research, and education programs. Core offerings include Oversight Boot Camps, clerk workshops, online tutorials, and Data Skills for Congress classes for federal staff; the State Oversight Academy for state legislators; the Elise J. Bean Oversight Fellowship for early-career scholars; the Carl Levin Award for Effective Oversight and the Award for Excellence in Oversight Research; and the Learning by Hearings civic education curriculum used in 440 high schools across 48 states. The Center publishes the Portraits in Oversight series (now a book), the Congressional Investigations Digest (in partnership with K&L Gates), and the Oversight Matters podcast. Leadership is provided by Director Jim Townsend, with a Washington office led by Linda Gustitus and academic support from Professor Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson as Academic Director of the State Oversight Academy.

The Center is funded entirely through foundation grants and institutional support — most notably a $1 million Hewlett Foundation grant in 2020 and a $250,000 Erb Family Foundation grant in 2026 — with additional support from the Alex and Marie Manoogian Foundation, Eli Edythe Broad Foundation, Manoogian Simone Foundation, and Wayne State University. All programs and resources are provided free of charge to legislators, staff, scholars, students, and the public. It is not a venture-backed or publicly traded entity and operates as part of Wayne State University Law School.

Name

Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy

Legal name

Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy

Website

https://levin-center.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is a non-profit academic center at Wayne State University Law School that trains congressional and state legislative staff, supports oversight scholars, and educates students on bipartisan legislative oversight through proprietary databases, training programs, and civic education curricula funded by foundation grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legislative Oversight Training and Research

NAICS

Legislative Bodies (921120), Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Law School Research Centers & Institutes (e.g., Law & Economics, Human Rights) (EDAHAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ), Academic Affairs Administration (Curriculum, Scheduling, Academic Policy) (EDADAKAB)

Keywords

• Legislative oversight training
• Civic education programs
• Oversight research fellowships
• Congressional staff training
• State legislative oversight

Headquarters

HQ city

Detroit

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants and Donations: The Center receives funding from foundations and donors including a $1 million grant from the Hewlett Foundation and a $250,000 grant from the Erb Family Foundation. Additional support from Alex and Marie Manoogian Foundation, Eli Edythe Broad Foundation, and Manoogian Simone Foundation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is a non-profit academic center housed at Wayne State University Law School that trains federal and state legislative staff in bipartisan, fact-based oversight methods, supports scholarly oversight research, and educates students and the public on legislative oversight and democratic accountability. It delivers oversight boot camps, clerk workshops, online tutorials, civic education curriculum (Learning by Hearings), and maintains proprietary oversight databases and case law trackers for use by lawmakers, staff, scholars, and educators.

Product overview

The Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is an educational and research institution at Wayne State University Law School focused on strengthening legislative oversight at federal, state, and international levels. The Center operates multiple interconnected programs including the Congressional Oversight Records Database (CORD) for tracking congressional reports, the State Legislature Oversight Wiki (SLOW) for state-level oversight resources, Learning by Hearings for civic education, and various training programs including Oversight Boot Camps and Online Tutorials. Additional offerings include the Elise J. Bean Oversight Fellowship supporting academic research, the Carl Levin Award for Effective Oversight and Award for Excellence in Oversight Research recognizing outstanding oversight work, and the Portraits in Oversight educational series documenting historical investigations. The Center also provides an Oversight Case Law Tracker and Congressional Investigations Digest newsletter. These programs work together to advance the Center's mission of promoting bipartisan, fact-based legislative oversight through training, research, education, and public resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Congressional Oversight Records Database (CORD) A searchable database of 2,308 congressional oversight reports from 32 congressional committees since the 106th Congress, providing access to oversight records for scholars, practitioners, and legislative staff.
• State Legislature Oversight Wiki (SLOW) An online wiki providing information on each state's legislative oversight committees and processes, covering all 50 U.S. states with over 4 million unique page views.
• Learning by Hearings A civic education program providing free lesson plans, classroom materials, and videos to high school social studies teachers, including 14 lesson plans, 6 snapshots, and 7 videos to teach students about legislative oversight and democratic processes.
• Oversight Boot Camps Training programs for congressional staff on how to conduct bipartisan, fact-based oversight investigations and hearings, delivered directly to Capitol Hill offices.
• Clerk Workshops Workshops designed for congressional committee clerks on oversight procedures and best practices.
• Online Tutorials Self-paced online tutorials for congressional lawmakers and staff on oversight procedures and best practices.
• Online Oversight Training Course Online and on-demand oversight training course for state legislators and staff, with 221 enrollments from 35 states since February 2025 launch.
• State Oversight Academy Program providing oversight workshops, masterclasses, and training across state legislatures, including the State Legislature Oversight Wiki and oversight resources for state elected officials and their staff.
• Elise J. Bean Oversight Fellowship Program A fellowship program supporting early career scholars to promote and advance research efforts in legislative oversight, with 12 oversight fellows supported since 2021.
• Oversight Case Law Tracker A tracker of key Congressional oversight cases with status, procedural posture, and key excerpts from court opinions, tracking 35 legal cases affecting Congress oversight powers.
• Congressional Investigations Digest A monthly newsletter providing a comprehensive overview of ongoing inquiries by House and Senate committees, produced in partnership with K&L Gates and available to oversight scholars and practitioners.
• Portraits in Oversight A series of 27 short profiles describing important congressional oversight investigations and key figures in the history of legislative oversight, available as downloadable PDFs and published as a book in March 2025.

Quantifiable outcome

• 712 congressional staffers trained in oversight
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Wayne State University Law SchoolcoreOthersThe Levin Center is housed at and supported by Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, MI. Provides institutional infrastructure, faculty resources, and student pipeline.
• K&L GatescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to produce the Congressional Investigations Digest, a monthly newsletter providing comprehensive overview of ongoing congressional inquiries. Available to oversight scholars and practitioners.
• Georgetown Law Center for Congressional StudiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered on panel discussion regarding the January 6 Committee and future congressional oversight.
• American Bar AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted ABA Task Force for American Democracy event 'Taking the Next Step: Ensuring Trusted Elections and Civics for Michiganders' with Wayne State Law School and Levin Center.
• U.S. Capitol Historical SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsored panel discussions on Portraits in Oversight and Representative Elijah Cummings.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets): OpenSecrets is a non-profit that tracks money in U.S. politics via a large public database — directly comparable to the Levin Center's CORD and SLOW databases as a canonical transparency resource serving journalists, scholars, and legislators.
• National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): NCSL is a nonpartisan organization serving all 50 state legislatures with research, training, and convening — directly comparable to the Levin Center's State Oversight Academy, though NCSL's scope is broader beyond oversight.
• Brennan Center for Justice: A law-and-policy research organization at NYU that produces research, advocacy, and litigation on democracy and government institutions — directly comparable to the Levin Center as a law-school-affiliated governance research and education entity.
• Project on Government Oversight (POGO): POGO is a non-profit investigative organization focused on exposing government waste, corruption, and abuse of power — a direct analog to the Levin Center's oversight mission, with a federal-focus lens to the Levin Center's broader federal+state scope.
• National Institute for Civil Discourse: A non-partisan organization promoting civil political dialogue and effective democratic governance — directly comparable in mission (strengthening democratic institutions) and similar civic-education orientation to the Levin Center's Learning by Hearings program.
• Government Accountability Project (GAP): GAP is a non-profit focused on government accountability and whistleblower protection — a directly comparable mission-space organization, though it focuses on whistleblowers rather than legislative oversight training.

Emerging players

• R Street Institute: A nonpartisan policy research organization with a state-focused governance and reform portfolio — comparable as a smaller-scale, foundation-backed think tank engaging state legislators, with adjacent rather than direct oversight focus.

Broad incumbents

• Brookings Institution: Pre-eminent U.S. public policy think tank producing legislative and governance research — broadly comparable as a research/training institution supporting evidence-based policymaking, though much larger and broader in scope.
• Congressional Research Service (CRS): Nonpartisan legislative support agency within Congress providing policy and legal analysis to members — comparable in focus on equipping legislators with rigorous research, though operating as an official government body rather than a non-profit.
• American Bar Association Division for Public Education: The ABA runs civic education and democracy initiatives (including a Task Force for American Democracy) and has partnered with the Levin Center — comparable as a broader legal/civic education institution with overlapping programming for civics and democratic accountability.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Levin_Center
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCwrPwykuBUmNwZo75IIA_Ow
• Facebookfacebook.com/LevinCenterforOversightandDemocracy
• Instagraminstagram.com/levin_center
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/carl-levin-center-for-oversight-and-democracy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy