NCDD’s Emerging Leaders Initiative

Welcome to the NCDD Emerging Leaders Initiative! This page is meant to be a place for students, young people, those who are new to the dialogue & deliberation field, and those interested in getting involved to learn more about all NCDD has to offer and to connect with NCDD’s Emerging Leaders Initiative (ELI). You can read more about the ELI below or jump straight to the ELI Resources, Intro to NCDD & the Field, or Higher Education sections.

What is the Emerging Leaders Initiative?

NCDD’s Emerging Leaders Initiative is an exciting endeavor that we have been building since our NCDD 2014 conference on Democracy for the Next Generation. The ELI emerged from the NCDD members’ recognition of our need to foster long-term resilience for the field of dialogue & deliberation and that we can do that best by intentionally cultivating our field’s next generation of leadership.

To that end, NCDD has developed the Emerging Leaders Initiative as an effort to provide extra resources and support to rising leaders in our field and to create more “on ramps” into the dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement field, especially for young people 35 and under. At the same time, the initiative will also provide support to any newcomers to the field, no matter their age, in addition to helping facilitate collaborations and connections among D&D efforts that involve or focus on young people.

The ELI is focused on offering resources that will support younger and newer people in their efforts to become more involved in the world of D&D, connecting them with opportunities to build their capacity as D&D practitioners, scholars, and professionals while lifting up the contributions, innovation, and leadership of the emerging leaders in our field.

To accomplish these goals, NCDD will be:

• Creating spaces for young and new people in D&D to connect with each other and the field
• Offering a deep discount on NCDD membership to students and young people through our Student Member rate and scholarships for students and youth for NCDD conferences
• Curating and sharing resources and stories by, for, and about young people on our NCDD Resource Center and News Blog
• Connecting young and new members to trainings, professional development, and job opportunities
• Highlighting discounts, scholarships, and awards for young D&D practitioners
• Hosting interactive conference calls on topics, programs, and projects in the field that are by, for, and about young people
• Offering opportunities for mentorship from established leaders in D&D and public engagement
• Facilitating connections among D&D organizations, centers, and projects that work with young people

The Emerging Leaders Initiative will continue to develop, and as it evolves, we plan to keep adding resources and opportunities curated for new and rising leaders in D&D. For now, we encourage you to check out the ELI resources below or learn more about what NCDD has to offer in our Intro to NCDD & the Field section.

Resources for Emerging Leaders

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Emerging Leaders Working Group

This group is for people 35 years and younger, whether you are a student, young professional, or just wanting to connect with others in a similar period in life. It works to bring members of the Emerging Leaders Initiative together to explore ways that the NCDD network can support and lift-up our new and emerging practitioners. Find call information in the notes doc. Next calls:

• Friday, August 23rd at 1 pm Eastern, 10 am Pacific (add to your calendar)
• Friday, September 27th at 1 pm Eastern, 10 am Pacific

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Emerging Leaders Email Listserv

The Emerging Leaders email listserv is a key part of the Emerging Leaders Initiative. It is a valuable forum for younger and newer NCDD members to network, share ideas and information, think together, seek advice, ask questions, and spark new partnerships with other young people who work in, study, or have an interest in D&D and public engagement. You can subscribe to the Emerging Leaders Listserv by sending a blank email to [email protected], and subscribers can send messages to everyone on the list by emailing [email protected].

NCDD will use this list to post info about job, internship, and scholarship opportunities in the field; share news and announcements about events and other happenings that are relevant for young D&D leaders; ask for input from young folks in the field; offer special deals on trainings and professional development; and more. We will also use this listserv to support a D&D mentoring program in the future, so be sure to sign up now.

To learn more about the other discussion listservs NCDD hosts, visit this page.

Emerging Leaders Discussion Group on Facebook

The NCDD Emerging Leaders Discussion Group on Facebook is designed to be both a professional and social discussion space for young people in the dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement field, as well as folks who are new to the work. At the suggestion of some of our emerging leaders, we’ve made it a closed, invite-only group so that we prevent spam and the group remains a space with people who we know and have some level of trust and personal relationship with. But members are welcome and encouraged to invite other young D&Ders you’re connected with.
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We invite our ELI participants to use the group to discuss issues in the field, share links we want others to know about, talk about your work, and spark collaborations! NCDD will also share news, announcements, and info we think is important there, too, so make sure to turn on the notifications for the group (using the “notifications” button in the top right when you enter the group).

Emerging Leaders Network on LinkedIn

The NCDD Emerging Leaders Network on LinkedIn is designed to be a professional networking resource for ELI participants. We hope that it will be used to build an enduring professional network among the next generation of leaders in D&D and public engagement. It is also a space for talking about our professional projects, sharing job and/or professional development opportunities, and connecting with new collaborators and old colleagues.

NCDD will also periodically share announcements and job opportunities in the field in the LinkedIn group, so make sure to check back frequently and turn on the email notifications for the group!

NCDD Social Media Outlets

We highly recommend that you also connect with NCDD on your favorite social media platforms. We especially recommend following us on Facebook and joining the NCDD Facebook Group, but you can learn about all of our different social media resources here.

Coming soon:

• The NCDD Next Generation D&D Mentoring program
• Youth- and student-oriented webinar series
• Resources and updates on D&D programs at US colleges and universities
• News on professional development and training opportunities

Intro to NCDD & the Field

NCDD’s website is one of the best places to start to learn about and connect with the broader dialogue, deliberation and public engagement field. To help younger and newer members understand all that it has to offer, we’ve created a video that takes you on a guided tour of the NCDD website.

Click here to watch the Intro to NCDD video

In the video, NCDD’s staff gives lots of helpful advice about how to make the most out of your NCDD membership, including features like our NCDD Listservs, our social media resources, and our member map and directory. We provided walk-throughs on how to share things with the NCDD network, how to use the NCDD resource center, how to join as a member or renew/upgrade your membership, and much more!

Introductory Dialogue & Deliberation Resources

Another great place to learn more about the D&D field is the NCDD Resource Center – a collection of over 3,000 resources for all kinds of D&D and public engagement needs. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Resource Center as much as you can.

A few great resources for young folks and those who are newer to the field include:

• The Beginners Guide – a great place to start
• The Next Generation of Our Work resource
• The NCDD Glossary resource

There are also a few tags below that are relevant for younger and newer folks in the field:

• The “Great for Beginners” tag
• The “Youth” tag highlights resources that are for, by, and about young people and students
• The “Highly Recommended” tag
• The “Must-Have Books” tag
• The “Big Picture Tools” category lists

Keep Up with the Latest on the NCDD News Blog

Stay up to date on the latest news and happenings from the NCDD network and the broader D&D and public engagement field by visiting our news blog frequently here. We also recommend checking out the “Youth & Student Engagement” tag on the blog for posts that are by, for, and about young people.

Higher Education Programs and Opportunities

There are many colleges and universities that offer ways for young and new members to deepen their knowledge of the D&D field, earn degrees or certificates in related areas, or participate in D&D processes on campus. This list will continue to grow, but if you’re looking to connect with the field through higher education, we recommend you start your search in some of these places:

D&D-related Degree or Certificate Programs

• Colorado State University: Center for Public Deliberation
• Kansas State University: Dialogue, Deliberation and Public Engagement Graduate Certificate
• Wabash College: Democracy & Public Discourse “Path”
• Simon Fraser University: Semester in Dialogue and Dialogue & Civic Engagement Certificate Program
• Stanford University: Center for Deliberative Democracy

D&D-related College or University Centers, Initiatives, and Programs 

• Albany State University: Lois B. Hollis Center for Public Deliberation and Participation (no website)
• Carnegie Mellon University: Program for Deliberative Democracy
• Clark University: Difficult Dialogues Program
• Lone Star College: Kingwood Center for Civic Engagement
• Penn State University: Center for Democratic Deliberation
• Penn State University: McCourtney Institute for Democracy
• Simon Fraser University: Centre for Dialogue
• Skidmore College: Project on Restorative Justice
• University of California – Davis: Office of Campus Dialogue and Deliberation
• University of Houston – Downtown: Center for Public Deliberation​

If you are connected to a D&D or public engagement program at a US college or university that’s not listed above, please contact us and let us know!

Questions? Suggestions? Want to connect?

If you have ideas, suggestions, or questions about NCDD’s Emerging Leaders Initiative or you want to connect with and support our work in this area, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with NCDD’s Youth Engagement Coordinator Keiva Hummel at [email protected].

Want to support the Emerging Leaders Initiative and all of the great young people in the field? Make a donation in support of the ELI by clicking here.

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