The International Listening Association (ILA) is seeking nominees for a Spring 2023 University Student Practicum. "Do you know current university students who would benefit from mentorship, conference experience, project design experience and building relationships with fellow students who share a passion for active listening?" Nominations will be accepted through Saturday, February 25th, 2023. ​Thanks to Annie Rappeport, NCDD and ILA member, for sharing this announcement! We invite you to share with your student networks. Learn more in the post below and on ILA's site here.

ILA Seeking Nominees for Listening Based University Student Practicum

​The International Listening Association, in its 44th year, is delighted to share with the NCDD community a new program for university students taking place from March 7th-August 7th 2023! 

This practicum will be cohort based with students from around the world. Thus far, students from the USA, India, Cambodia, Iran, Germany, Sweden and Hong Kong are nominated to join the cohort. The students also represent a diverse set of fields including education, peace studies, medicine, communications, business, international relations and leadership studies. All of these fields intersect in their practical application of listening, dialogue and deliberation and students will work together to learn essential skill sets in active listening. The cohort will also be charged with creating positive change proposals related to spreading knowledge and skillsets of listening across their fields and various communities. These proposals will be presented at the 2023 ILA Convention "Discovering the Impact of Listening to Every Voice" taking place from July 26-29th in Mainz, Germany and online. 

Annie Rappeport, NCDD and ILA member, is facilitating the program. She hopes NCDD members who have a student they work with who share a passion for dialogue and listening will reach out to her at arappepo@terpmail.umd.edu to nominate the student! Nominations will be accepted through February 25th, 2023. Here is some more information about the program:

The National Civic League, an NCDD member organization, released the National Civic Review (NCR) Summer 2021 edition and  NCDD members receive a digital copy of NCR for free! (Find the access code below.). This esteemed quarterly journal offers insights and examples of civic engagement and deliberative governance from around the country. Thanks to Rebecca Trout, NCL’s Program Director for All-America City Award & Communications, for sharing this announcement with the NCDD network!
Friendly reminder that the League is always seeking articles for NCR on community-based examples of civic engagement, public deliberation, co-production, and democratic innovation – more info here.

Students spend most of their days in school. Naturally, when national events occur, this extends the teachers regular duties to the role of  “first responders”. This publication from Essential Partners was adapted for the classroom from their Reflective Structured Dialogue, and is offered as a tool for teachers to create a space of self- reflection, deep listening and open sharing in the classroom.  The prompts and guidelines to consider, proactively invite the students to process crisis in a healthy way.
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Read about the structure and prompts offered below or find the original post here.

In part one of We Are All Catalysts, the focus was on examples of groups in dialogue in deliberation who showcase how our powerful inner sparks can be used to transform conversations and communities. In part two, we want to follow up and have all of you help guide our continued conversations!

“It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.” ~ Yogi Berra

​We live in a world of noise. Many of us lament at the current environment of ideological polarization that hinders respectful and productive conversation. We have the power to break through this noise and create spaces for listening and thoughtful dialogue. It can seem daunting in the current ways of the world, but the tools are accessible and the need critical.

“After all, the ordinary hero hiding in each of us is often the most powerful catalyst for change.” ~ Tate Taylor

​We all have a spark within and we choose every day how we will or will not use our spark. In our NCDD community, we spark conversations–dialogues that change hearts and minds and steadily change the world. Our sparks can be small or big, but we must work intentionally to ensure that the sparks catch fire. What do I mean by this? I mean that it is up to us, as those working firsthand in the creations of spaces for dialogue and deliberation, that we do not work in isolation. Like the catalysts in science, we must interact with others to create the chemistry worth having in our world.

Looking back, 2016 was an important year for NCDD and the dialogue & deliberation community. NCDD and the field saw a lot of important things happen and transitions take place, and as we look forward to the work ahead, we also wanted to look back at what we’ve accomplished and what’s changed.

NCDD 2016
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​Of course, the biggest effort on NCDD’s part was organizing the 2016 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation on “Bridging Our Divides,” a timely focus on the important work of bringing people together across differences of politics, race, socioeconomic status, and more. We had 350 public engagement practitioners, journalists, academics, public officials, funders, and students converge for this three-day gathering focused on sharing stories, exploring collaborations, and talking about what’s next for the dialogue and deliberation community following the divisive election season. You can view the schedule and speakers, watch panels, and more in the Events section of our site.