NCDD’s October 2010 Resource Guide on Public Engagement showcases the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation’s best collaboratively-created products (like the Core Principles for Public Engagement and the Engagement Streams Framework), as well as recognizing and directing you to a lot of the great work on public engagement that has been done by others in our field. Created for our 2010 regional events (all attendees received a copy), this must-have guidebook was developed to share stories and resources with the dialogue and deliberation community, public managers, and anyone else with an interest in public engagement. Here’s how the Engaging Cities blog described the Resource Guide: It’s a small compendium full of valuable knowledge on all facets of public engagement. Not only does the guide contain a directory of valuable resources, points of contact, and case studies of collaborations that work, but it also contains some of the more exciting results of last year’s conferences. Items such as the ‘Core Principles for Public Engagement’ remind us of how far we’ve come, the commonality of our goals and how much more we have yet to achieve. The brief ‘Online Engagement’ section of the manual is a fantastic introduction and database of resources, including Public Agenda’s Promising Practices to Online Engagement that we helped write. And the ‘Upgrading the Way We Do Politics’ portion of the manual addresses common issues found when politics and public engagement intersect. Handling the material in a constructive manner, NCDD provides helpful tips and positive suggestions for improvement. Extremely informative, the ‘Engagement Streams’ matrix ties common goals of public engagement to strategies that complement those goals in proven ways while also showcasing key features that will help in achieving that goal. The matrix is invaluable for anyone involved in public outreach. In fact, the entire manual is invaluable for anyone involved in public outreach and engagement. Resource Link: NCDD Resource Guide
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This 10-page manual teaches the Conversation Café method in detail. This is the simplest process we know and one that has a proven track record to be easily and reliably adopted by hosts who may have no previous experience – as well as by skilled facilitators. Let’s Talk America was a 2004 national dialogue initiative designed to spark and coordinate dialogues of various sizes across the political divide in the U.S. This manual provides a process that honors LTA principles and enables you to take the conversation from small talk to big talk in a way that allows everyone to feel respected, safe and heard. With a little study and preparation, your conversation can create a positive and empowering experience for all. Download the manual here.
Also see the 12-page Let’s Talk America Cafe Hosting Guide, created to help people host large-group LTA dialogues.This 12-page guide blends the Conversation Café and World Café approaches. The World Café’s principles are aligned with Conversation Café, though the form is different. Instead of convening random people at a café, the World Café is an event hosted by a group that wants to think and learn together, often to aid their work. Instead of staying in one conversation for 60 to 90 minutes, at a World Café people move to different tables to stimulate new thoughts. Instead of “no committees will be formed,” the World Café conversations lead to a whole group discussion that surfaces group insights and learnings and new commitments. Let’s Talk America (LTA) was a joint project of the Utne Institute, Conversation Cafe, World Cafe, and NCDD run in/around 2004. The project strove to bring Americans from all points on the political spectrum together in cafes, bookstores, churches and living rooms for lively, open-hearted dialogue to consider questions essential to the future of our democracy. LTA reconnected with the “town hall” meeting spirit that’s the lifeblood of our democracy, providing opportunities for everyone to talk about America’s promise, about what freedom, democracy, unity and equality mean to us — to “we the people.” Let’s Talk America is a meeting ground where we can come together to listen, speak, ask and learn — without being forced to agree, change or bite our tongues. Here is a bare bones version of what’s in the LTA Hosting Manual… How can I start a Let’s Talk America Conversation? Anyone who has the curiosity and courage to find out what other people think about America – especially the current state of our democracy — can start a LTA conversation. Let’s Talk America gives you a way to invite others into a conversation about what our democracy means in our lives. Who do you do it with? Anyone else. You can choose how safe or adventurous you want to be. You can pick a circle of friends, a few neighbors, the person next to you in the grocery line, a church group, a work group or come to any of the open Let’s Talk America events listed on this website. You are always welcome! And if you’d like others to join, you can post your event. LTA especially encourages you to invite others who think differently than you do – others that you don’t usually get to talk to about the questions that matter to you. How many people come? You can have a Let’s Talk America conversation with one other person, with ten …or, if more, we can help you do that. What do you talk about? The best response to a question isn’t an answer, it’s a conversation. Try these conversation starters:
How do you have a Let’s Talk America conversation? Gather these ingredients:
How do I take the conversation from good to great? We’ve all been in conversations that have gotten stuck, confused, boring or even a bit scary. Here are some ideas to help you stay at ease, curious and inviting, and keep the conversation interesting:
Once we’ve talked, then what?
Download this resource here The 188-page guide, Fostering Dialogue Across Divides: A Nuts and Bolts Guide, was written by Maggie Herzig and Laura Chasin and published in 2006. For years, Essential Partners (formerly the Public Conversations Project) has set the standard for facilitation materials and training in the dialogue and deliberation field. This guide is chock-full of EP’s road-tested techniques for effectively engaging people across differences–is an invaluable resource for both established dialogue facilitators and newcomers to this work. The guide is available for free download on EP’s website here. From Essential Partners… Preface
This guide shares some of what we and our colleagues at Essential Partners have learned grappling with this question during the past fifteen years. The text offers general advice as well as very specific nuts and bolts tips for those who wish to convene, plan, and facilitate constructive conversations on deeply divisive issues. What we offer in these pages is based on our experiences working in many different settings and on a wide range of topics, including abortion, foresting practices, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sexual orientation and the teachings of Christian scripture, the war in Iraq, interfaith and interethnic relations, and social class differences. From the Introduction Dialogue participants talk in ways that serve such purposes, communicating their views, experiences and values without attacking their opponents personally or “trashing” opposing perspectives. Dialogue participants talk about the experiences and values underlying their own views. They ask real questions. They avoid interruptions. They listen. The need for dialogue in our public life is less well understood than the need for debate and activism. In history and civics classes in the US, debate and political activism are presented as time-honored tools in the toolbox of democracy, and rightly so. It was largely through these forms of public engagement that slavery and segregation were ended, women and African Americans got the vote, and the war in Vietnam was ended sooner rather than later. Dialogue has a vital, if quieter, role to play in a resilient and civil democratic society. It can build bridges across divides in the body politic. It can promote healing in small communities that are struggling with a controversy. It can also reduce the likelihood of gridlock in the halls of Congress, hatred in the arena of public opinion, and potentially dangerous misrepresentations in our sound-bite saturated media. This is an excerpt from the guide, you can find it in full on the Essential Partners’ site here. About Essential Partners Essential Partners helps civic groups, faith communities, colleges, and organizations build resilience, cohesion, and trust across deep divides of values, beliefs, and identities. EP’s trademark methodology helps communities and institutions have healthier, more complex, more inclusive conversations about polarizing differences of values, beliefs, and identities—whether the issue is building a new public school in Ohio or addressing the global refugee crisis in Jordan. Follow on Twitter: @essentialprtnrs Resource Link: https://whatisessential.org/fostering-dialogue-across-divides-download This 31-page PDF was used to guide Jay Hartling and Laura Wells’ well-received workshop at NCDD’s 2006 conference in San Francisco. The lively lecture-style presentation and discussion examined action beyond dialogue, and the intersection of state institutions, civil society organizations and neighborhoods through preliminary research on the implementation of Venezuela’s new Law of Communal Councils. Presenters discussed the convergence of political will and pressure from grassroots communities to support a bold shift to a truly participatory democracy. The session also shared information on different approaches to democracy in other regions of the globe, particularly the global south.
Democracy is more than free and fair elections and the ability to choose leaders to represent our views. It is also about creating a healthy civil society, an active political culture, and providing ample opportunities for the incorporation of all people into the political, economic, democratic, cultural and participatory process. Venezuela has institutionalized representative AND participatory democracy in its constitution, its laws and in practice. This is a work in progress, as Venezuela moves away from 40 years of elite rule to an inclusive, democratic and participatory structure that facilitates the active involvement of all citizens in the development, implementation, management and evaluation of public policy. Jay Hartling and Laura Wells Download the document here Gwendolyn Grant of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City created this dialogue guide and workbook to accompany Jim Myers’ groundbreaking book “Afraid of the Dark: What Whites and Blacks Need to Know About Each Other.” According to Grant, “Afraid of the Dark defines with such clarity and simplicity so many of the issues that have created this gulf between blacks and whites. It brings to the forefront the stuff that we talk about within our black and white circles, but seldom, if ever across the color line.” Grant distributed this 12-page resource during her well-received workshop at the 2006 NCDD conference in San Francisco.
Gwendolyn Grant’s workshop at the 2006 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation was titled “Honest Talk About Race – Afraid of the Dark Reading & Dialogue Circle.” Here is the workshop description: Race lies at the center of many aspects of American life, yet it is difficult to talk about race in ways that bridge the gulf between African Americans and Caucasians. In light of recent events such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and rape charges filed against the Duke University Lacrosse Team, it is increasingly apparent that blacks and whites view things so differently, but seldom engage in dialogue about those differences in constructive and productive ways, especially when talking about education, crime, and law enforcement. Afraid of the Dark Reading & Dialogue Circles create a safe environment for authentic and candid dialogue that advances racial understanding in ways that diversity workshops cannot. With inquiry and dialogue, participants will learn how to use Afraid of the Dark Dialogue Circles to improve relationships across the color line and work more effectively to address many of the social challenges that face us. Gwendolyn Grant and Jim Myers, 2000 Download this resource This 5-page document was handed out at John Frank, Ed.D.’s workshop at the 2006 NCDD conference. The workshop, “Mapping A Culture of Peace: A Community Conversation Project of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice,” focused on the experience of a remarkably successful and innovative project on Mapping a Culture of Peace in Florida.
Here is the first paragraph of the document: The primary purpose of the dialogue is to engage citizens of a given community in vibrant conversation about the meaning of a Culture of Peace. How do we define it? What does it look like? How is it practiced in the context of the social institutions of a given community? Would we know it if we saw it? The premise is proactive and suggests that peacemaking must be more than simply protesting war or posturing an elusive notion of lions dwelling with lambs and doves flying free among the clouds. For peace to be real it must be concretized in the context of the dominant culture, not separate from it. It must be enfleshed in the structures and systems of our social institutions, cutting through overlapping circles of human exchange as it impacts educational systems, business practices, religious institutions, government, the political economy, media, and family life. It needs to be manifested in our relationships, our workplaces, neighborhoods, and all institutions. The maps cut across the fabric of our lives, linking one community to another, creating a web of relationships that make the global, local and the local, global. Workshop description for “Mapping A Culture of Peace: A Community Conversation Project of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice”: This session is grounded in theory and practice, drawing from transformational leadership and the function of values talk in the context of progressive civic discourse. The presentation focuses on the experience of a remarkably successful and innovative project entitled “Mapping a Culture of Peace in Florida.” Learning objectives include (1) sharing an innovative design for recruiting conversationalists across diverse progressive constituencies that are not previously connected; (2) discovering how conversation unpacks and gives fertile meaning to the phrase culture of peace; (3) learning how to map the organizational and institutional infrastructure of an emerging culture of peace in a given community; and (4) learning how to reframe peace/social justice/sustainability issues in a way that moves beyond a reactive approach to a more proactive agenda, and one that empowers local communities. The presentation will conclude by considering the potential for these dialogues to impact the broader political discourse. John W. Frank, Ed.D. Download the resource here |
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