Political discussions on social media often become polarized. *Tips for Discussing Politics Online* by Essential Partners offers guidance for more respectful, productive conversations. It encourages self-reflection before engaging and suggests strategies like avoiding personal attacks, sharing personal experiences, and avoiding generalizations. With curiosity and active listening, online discussions can foster understanding. Read more in the post below.

Developed by Essential Partners, The StereoTyping Exercise is a structured dialogue activity designed to help participants explore their identities, reflect on personal experiences with stereotypes, and engage in conversations that foster understanding. Through guided self-reflection and facilitated discussion, participants gain insight into their perspectives and those of others. Read more in the post below.

The "Guide to Dialogues About Israel-Palestine" by Essential Partners provides a structured framework for facilitating difficult conversations around one of the most complex and emotionally charged conflicts in the world, the ongoing Israel and Palestinian conflict in the middle east. This guide is designed to help dialogue practitioners, educators, and community leaders create spaces where diverse perspectives can be shared with respect, understanding, and openness.

Aiming to foster trust and constructive engagement, the resource includes practical facilitation strategies, discussion prompts, and techniques for fostering trust and constructive engagement. From leading a campus discussion, facilitating community dialogue, to hosting an interfaith gathering, this guide offers essential tools to navigate sensitive topics and support meaningful conversations.​

The "Share Our Organization Toolkit" is a practical guide designed to help organizations foster meaningful change and create a culture of shared purpose through Reflective Structured Dialogue. Developed by Essential Partners  and driven by their What is Essential initiative, this 5-step guide provides tools to inspire engagement, build trust, and align teams toward a common vision. By focusing on storytelling, relationship-building, and strategic communication, the toolkit empowers organizations to spark conversations that drive transformation. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your internal culture, deepen collaboration, or amplify your mission, this resource offers actionable steps to initiate and sustain meaningful organizational change. Read more in the post below.

How can society create a world where sports play an integral role in bringing people together while also addressing the inequities that can drive people apart? The Interactivity Foundation’s "What is the Future of Sports & Fitness?" is a four-part facilitation guide designed to foster discussions on the role of community in sports, the importance of sports to human well-being, the equity of sports, and the future of sports.  Each topic includes a round-robin discussion, an open discussion, and a wrap-up section that encourages perspective-sharing and collaboration. By the end of the forum, participants will have gained a deeper understanding of the complexities of fitness and developed the skills to engage with diverse perspectives in addressing fitness inequities.   A link is also available for facilitators and participants to provide feedback on the resource. Read more in the post below.

Every American is affected by the divisions and outrage that prevent us from making progress on urgent problems. The National Issues Forum Institute’s “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?” is a guide on leading forums that encourage dialogue and deliberation while exploring the U.S. political system. The guide offers three options to combat division and outrage in America while recognizing that there are no perfect solutions to our political system. Participants will also discover the upsides and potential trade-offs of each proposed idea and deliberate on follow-up questions about how to approach each of the issues. Read more in the post below. 

The American Future Personal Vision Tool invites individuals to envision and define their ideal future by focusing on personal aspirations rather than fears or limitations. Designed as a guided reflection tool, it encourages participants to imagine a better life—where they are, what they’re most proud of, and how their values shape their community.
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Perfect for individuals, families, and groups, this resource fosters meaningful conversations and actionable insights into what matters most. Participants can share their envisioned future with AmericanFuture.us, contributing to a growing, anonymous national database for planners and storytellers to build better, more informed communities.

For more than 30 years communities of all sizes have used the Civic Index to measure their civic capital – the formal and informal relationships, networks and capacities that enable communities to solve problems and thrive.

Building on decades of work in communities, the fourth edition updates the Civic Index with a specific focus on equity and engagement; key components for healthy, thriving communities.
Use the Civic Index with gatherings of community members, partner organizations or staff to spark conversation about community strengths and areas in need of improvement.
​Resource Link: www.nationalcivicleague.org/resources/civicindex/

A Conversation Café is a 90-minute hosted conversation which is held in a public setting like a coffee shop, bookstore or library, where anyone is welcome to join. Its simple format helps people feel at ease and gives everyone who wants to a chance to speak.

The CC method was created by Vicki Robin, Susan Partnow and Habib Rose. During the summer of 2001, Habib, a natural networker, invited Vicki Robin and Susan Partnow to experiment with organizing neighborhood gatherings of “Cultural Creatives” in Seattle. The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World is a nonfiction social sciences and sociology book by sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson.

​The three Seattleites were set to launch Conversation Cafés in September 2001, but changed gears after the 9-11 terror attacks took place.  They immediately began hosting CCs to help people process their emotions and thoughts on what had and was happening in the country.

Posted by NCDD Community  |  March 27th, 2019
The following meeting facilitation tips were submitted by John Godec of The Participation Company. As public sector consultants, The Participation Company helps government agencies manage public issues to accomplish agency objectives. Their private sector business clients are able to maintain or improve their relationships with the public and gain support for their projects.
Facilitating meetings can be both an art and a science when the issues being discussed are comparably complex. Getting the right people involved in the discussion from the start can go a long way in your being able to facilitate successfully. Inviting those “right” people is key to reaching consensus. But how to craft an effective invitation is not always a skill everyone has. Here are some meeting facilitation tips to help when creating meeting invitations:

Posted by D&D Resources  |  December 24th, 2009
Dialogue and deliberation are dynamic processes which can be empathy-enhancing, relationship-changing, problem-solving, action-planning, organization-developing, community-building, conflict-resolving, skill developing, prejudice reducing, consciousness-raising, and more! The various models and methods that are used in our field often emphasize, strive for and obtain different outcomes. This resource shares some great quotes from over a dozen leaders in the D&D community about what “dialogue” means to them.
Also see our list of leaders’ definitions of deliberation.
How do people in the field describe dialogue?‘Dialogue is shared exploration towards greater understanding, connection, or possibility.’