Monthly Archives: September 2019

Join Confab TODAY Feat Purple Project for Democracy

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Join us in just a few hours for our September Confab call featuring the new initiative about to launch called Purple Project for Democracy. Purple is a non-partisan coalition, campaign and movement to rediscover and recommit to democratic values and institutions.  The folks behind the project are building momentum for their November launch, and on this Confab we’ll learn more about how dialogue and deliberation can play a role in it.

This free call will be today, September 30th from 1-2 pm Eastern, 10-11 am Pacific. Register today so you don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity!

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Purple is aiming to help people recommit to democratic values, but also to stimulate civic engagement. This is where the dialogue and deliberation field might be able to help most!

It begins this November with a media and education campaign that will “illuminate and dramatize the many glories of American democracy.” Participants in this campaign will include media outlets, schools, libraries, and other organizations committed to sharing the message of the importance of democracy and our participation in it. Their vision is to gain visibility and build a movement for civic participation and democracy across differences, that then leads to increased action, including volunteering, voting, serving, and participating in civic life.

During the month of November, Purple hopes to have local conversations which can help to stimulate the national effort. The hope of the organizers is that members of NCDD will participate in this effort by hosting conversations in their communities. To learn more about this aspect of the project, please take a look at this document from Purple.

On the call, we will be joined by Bob Garfield, one of the key organizers for this movement. Bob is co-host of public radio’s On the Media. He is also the founding co-host of Slate’s podcast on language, Lexicon Valley, and Amazon Channels’ The Genius Dialogues. Bob will share with us the vision for Purple, and discuss opportunities for the dialogue and deliberation field to contribute to the November campaign and the next phases following this launch.

Please be sure to check out the Purple Project for Democracy website, and bring your questions and ideas for how dialogue & deliberation can contribute to this effort. Make sure you register ASAP  to secure your spot!

About NCDD’s Confab Calls

Confab bubble imageNCDD’s Confab Calls are opportunities for members (and potential members) of NCDD to talk with and hear from innovators in our field about the work they’re doing and to connect with fellow members around shared interests. Membership in NCDD is encouraged but not required for participation. Confabs are free and open to all. Register ASAP if you’d like to join us!

why I am optimistic about the impeachment process

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I find myself less anxious than most friends and commentators. Here are my largely sanguine responses to several current concerns about the impeachment process:

It’s a mistake to focus on one specific scandal. Congress should persuade the American people to condemn a whole pattern of corruption in the administration. (See David Atkins, for example).

Congress can focus on one or two articles of impeachment in order to handle those charges well. (The best current guess is that the articles will involve: 1. Trump’s interaction with Ukraine, and 2. the administration’s obstruction of Congress across many issues.) Meanwhile, the press, presidential candidates, pundits, social movements, and regular citizens will inevitably conduct a wider inquiry and debate. I don’t think the big picture will be lost just because the articles in Congress are precise and narrow.

The Ukraine story also implicates Hunter Biden, and hence (in some way) Joe Biden. That either means that it’s a poor choice of a scandal for the Democrats to use in an election year, or that it’s bad for the public, because both parties will end up defending crony capitalism.

Joe Biden has an opportunity to make a case that he is truly blameless in the Ukraine matter. If he is persuasive, fine. If he fails to persuade, then it’s better that he should fail now, rather than during the general election. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren has every incentive to broaden the issue to encompass crony capitalism writ large. Her voice (and others’, too) will ensure that the whole Democratic Party is not soft on corruption.

Impeachment will drown out the Democratic primary campaign, overwhelming an important debate about our future.

During the primary season, a party wants its own faithful to pay attention to the rival proposals, critiques, counter-arguments, endorsements, gaffes, etc. It’s generally fine if other voters pay little attention until a nominee emerges to address the whole public. With vast attendance at primary campaign events and a lively debate online, there is little chance that core Democratic voters will tune out the primary. The intended audience is paying attention.

The impeachment debate will arbitrarily affect the outcome of the Democratic primary.

If it takes Joe Biden down, he was doomed anyway. If he turns it to his advantage, it will reinforce his best argument: his electability. If Warren benefits because she makes the sharpest critique of corruption–well, she is raising a real issue. And if someone else (say, Kamala Harris during a Senate trial) uses the impeachment effectively, it’s evidence of that candidate’s skill.

The Speaker seems to want a short, narrow impeachment process. That will not persuade the American people of the deeper problems with Trump. Pelosi is resigned to an unpopular process and doesn’t understand that impeachment hearings could change Americans’ opinions.

Don’t take what Speaker Pelosi says precisely at face value. I’m not saying that she’s lying; she would genuinely prefer a shorter and tighter process. But she knows that impeachment is likely to extend and expand. She wants unconvinced voters to believe that Democrats are trying to make this quick so that they can move onto other matters. She is also putting mild pressure on her caucus to move things along. I would be very surprised if things actually do wrap up by Thanksgiving, or if she believes that they will.

(By the way, I am continually surprised by strong partisans’ assumption that when someone on their side says something conciliatory about the other side, that person really means it. Do you really think Nancy Pelosi’s main reaction to this situation is to be “heartbroken and prayerful,” as she told ABC News? Are you sure Joe Biden actually believes the Senate Republicans are reasonable? It is not only the other side that sometimes doesn’t say exactly what they think.)

The Senate will acquit, Trump will survive, and as a result, not only will impeachment be further weakened as a tool for accountability, but Trump’s electoral prospects will improve.

Yes, the Senate is overwhelmingly likely to acquit, and Trump will still hold office on Election Day in 2020. But the American people should by then have a clear account of his criminality, which should weigh, at least mildly, against his reelection prospects. That is a sanction. Subsequently, he may face a federal jury on related charges.

If anything, I would have some qualms about actually removing him less than a year before the election. Who would the GOP nominate? What kind of mandate would a Democratic president hold? My ideal outcome might be for the House to impeach, a majority of US Senators to vote to remove Trump, for him to hang on because fewer than 67 Senators voted against him, and for the American people to finish the job in November.

Impeachment creates (at best) a tough vote for Democrats in districts that voted for Trump. Why “punish” the president by giving his party a boost in the congressional election?

This matter has received vast amounts of attention. My tentative takeaway is that any electoral impact will be small and may be a wash–a few Democrats losing in conservative districts and states (like Alabama), but a few Republican Senators facing very tough votes as a result of impeachment. There is a long tail of possible outcomes in either direction, but the best bet is a limited effect.

It’s a mistake to give many House committees a role in impeachment. One committee should handle it.

Pelosi is trying to build support by giving several leaders and groupings within her caucus a stake. Also, one of the articles is likely to be obstruction, and the Administration has obstructed several committees.

The Democrats grandstand amateurishly in hearings. They don’t know how to cross-examine and build a case.

True. And there’s a reason for it: individual politicians want to talk on camera, even though the inquiry would be much better handled by professional counsel. This problem is worth worrying about, but surely the Democrats will finally get it together now ….?

only in America!

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When informed that the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, was Jewish, Yogi Berra exclaimed, “Only in America!”

I was in the jury pool in Middlesex County, Mass. a couple of weeks ago. Of the dozen cases before the court that morning, 11 were settled with pleas, and one proceeded to a bench trial because the defendant waived his right to a jury.

The judge came out to thank us for our service, explaining well that our presence in the jury chamber was a reminder to both sides that they could face a panel of citizens. Warming to his theme, he informed us that only in the United States do we have a right to a trial by jury.

Actually, the number of countries in which juries play important roles is about fifty. Even in the USA, we have juries because England has required them since 1215. Some seminal American jury trials took place while Massachusetts was still a British colony: the libel case against John Peter Zenger, the Boston Massacre Trials.

The jury pool in a diverse American city is a beautiful thing: people come together from all walks of life and all nations of the earth to deliberate as equals. The instructional video was appropriately inspirational, showing diverse Massachusetts citizens at work as jurors. In the video, they even wear varied costumes in the jury box: a guy in a hardhat, an athlete in uniform, etc. It’s a symbol of equity + diversity.

But why the impulse to defend democratic and liberal institutions as unique to the USA? The most common claim of this type is that we are uniquely a nation of immigrants. By my calculation, the US ranks 67th in the world in the percentage of its people who were born overseas, just behind Germany and far behind the republic just to our north (which also uses juries).

Can’t something be good even if it also happens in other countries? What anxiety underlies this urge to claim exceptionalism? Could it be in the back of the judge’s mind that the US ranks below all comparable countries in both public safety and incarceration?

If patriotism depends on the empirical claim that we perform better than everyone else, it is a thin reed. One response is to assume that our form of government is literally unique: only in America! Then no empirical comparisons are needed. But that’s not a viable response, because often many other countries do the same thing. The right response is to be proud of the good things–like jury trials in Massachusetts–and to work to change the bad things (like racial bias in Massachusetts’ criminal justice). That is patriotism that isn’t contingent on exceptionalism.

See also: American exceptionalism and anxieties about American exceptionalism.

Community Voices for Health Offers $660K Grant Opportunity

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In case you haven’t heard, the Community Voices for Health initiative is offering a large grant opportunity to strengthen engagement infrastructure. The initiative is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), with technical assistance from NCDD member organization Public Agenda and Altarum. From the Community Voices for Health site…

“The goal of Community Voices for Health is to build stronger engagement infrastructure that involves a broader range of people, especially marginalized and underserved communities – so their voices are heard in healthcare policymaking decisions, their efforts to solved problems are supported, and their community networks are strengthened. Community-based organizations or networks are invited to apply for up to $660,000 to support projects spanning 30 months. A total of six grants will be awarded. ”

The application deadline is Monday, October 7th. You can learn more about the grant opportunity below and on the RWJF site here, and we encourage you to check out the Community Voices for Health site here.

Community Voices for Health 2019 Call for Proposals

Purpose

The overarching goal of this new initiative, Community Voices for Health, is to support ongoing ways for people to engage—to help their voices be a part of decisions around health care, social service, and public health systems; to support their efforts to solve problems; and to strengthen their community networks. We will award up to six grants, one per state, to lead organizations in 20 eligible states (see “Eligibility Criteria” below). Lead organizations should be public charities that are nonprofit community-based organizations or statewide networks of community-based organizations. Although the grant is awarded to one lead organization, each grantee will be expected to work with a range of partners and other stakeholders—such as public agencies; health care systems; public health departments and leaders; researchers; university-based centers; membership associations; and social service providers.

The initiative seeks to learn from a range of approaches developed by community partners, and acknowledges there are many approaches to meeting the goal. This call for proposals therefore allows for some flexibility in key areas, such as the geographic or issue focus. Specifically, while the project might start by focusing on a single issue such as housing or mental health, it should be designed to produce an infrastructure that can take on other issues affecting people’s health. Proposals can be statewide in scope or focus on a community or metro region, as long as they connect residents with state-level decisions and/or establish infrastructure that could be adopted in many other locations across a state.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

All states face challenges with respect to increasing and sustaining engagement, but the nature of those challenges varies from state to state. To maximize learnings from this project, we took into consideration a number of factors designed to capture this diversity including, but not limited to, geography, demographics, and policy climate. Community Voices for Health grants are open to organizations based in and working in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.While each collaborating organization should be described in detail in the proposal, only one organization may represent the collaboration and be the lead contact in the application process. The applicant/lead organization must be recognized as a public charity under Sections 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

In addition, the applicant/lead organization should have a demonstrated history of managing funds to support non-lobbying advocacy efforts or, a mix of lobbying and nonlobbying efforts. Applicants should also indicate whether they have an existing relationship with legal counsel with expertise in the lobbying and political activity restrictions that apply to public charities and private foundations.  A small portion of grant funds may be used to retain legal counsel with relevant expertise, if an applicant does not yet have counsel in place.

You can read this on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at www.rwjf.org/en/library/funding-opportunities/2019/community-voices-for-health.html.

We encourage you to check out the Community Voices for Health site at www.communityvoicesforhealth.org/.

The 2019 Florida Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference: Highlighting Some More of the Exhibitors!

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Good afternoon friends! Don’t forget that the 2019 Florida Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference is coming soon (and you can register here!). Not only do we have some excellent sessions planned, but we also have some fine exhibitors joining us. Today, we’ll highlight a few more (and don’t forget about some of the other ones that we covered earlier!).

The Florida Joint Center for Citizenship at the Lou Frey Institute

 
If you are reading this blog, you are likely familiar with the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship at UCF’s Lou Frey Institute. If you aren’t, take a look here and find out what we have to offer you to support your work in teaching civics, government, and US history. Or just visit our table at FCSS! We are excited to be able to still attend and support the Florida Council for the Social Studies and continue our outreach to teachers new and old!

Step Up America

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Step Up America joins FCSS at its annual conference again this year, and I know FCSS is happy to have them there. If you aren’t familiar with the good work that these folks do, be sure to check out their website and visit their space in the exhibit hall. Their Franklin Project is a unique learning experience that engages students of all ages. Ben Franklin comes directly into the classroom and interacts in real-time with students to present them with the civics and history lessons that are required by state standards. Be sure to stop by and say hi!

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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FCSS is thrilled to have Gilder Lehrman joining us at this year’s conference. Be sure to visit their website as well as their space during the conference. Oh, and they are also doing what looks to be an excellent session!

The Arnold-Liebster Foundation

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The Arnold-Liebster Foundation has a mission that is so important in this day and age. From their website:

The Arnold-Liebster Foundation seeks to promote peace, tolerance, human rights, and religious freedom by peaceful and nonpolitical means. Building on the Holocaust-era experiences of its founders, Max Liebster and Simone Arnold Liebster, the foundation supports historical research, teacher training, educational seminars, scholarly publications, roundtable discussions, museum exhibitions, film showings, and similar projects.

Through these activities, the foundation especially aims to help young people to repudiate racism, xenophobic nationalism, and violence, and to learn to listen to the voice of conscience.

Be sure to stop by and visit their space at the conference and see how they can play a role in helping your students understand their responsibilities in civic life and community.

And More! 

We’ll highlight additional exhibitors and sessions over the course of the next few weeks. Be sure to check this space for more! Register for the conference today! 

Learn here about the keynote!

Check out some of the sessions! and here!  and here! 

American Founders Month: Deborah Sampson!

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Check out the National Constitution Center’s biographies of the Founding Fathers! https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/founding-fathers

It’s Founders Month here in Florida! According to the Florida Department of Education,

Section (s.) 683.1455, Florida Statutes (F.S.), designates the month of September as American Founders‘ Month and s. 1003.421, F.S., recognizes the last full week of classes in September in public schools as Celebrate Freedom Week.

So what does this mean for our schools and kids and teachers? Basically, it’s time to do some learning about the men and women who have helped shape this state and this country. Here on our Florida Citizens blog, we’ll be doing at least two posts a week with a brief overview of a particular Founder, Framer, thinker, or shaper of this state or this nation and how they made an impact.

deborah sampson

Are you familiar with Deborah Sampson? If not, you should be, for we might consider her a Founding Mother, and certainly perhaps the first woman in US history to get a military pension.

She was born the poor daughter of a poor though preeminent family, a great granddaughter of founding Pilgrims Myles Standish and William Bradford. She was indentured at age 10, completing her service at 18 and then working as a self-educated teacher in Massachusetts. But in the heat of war, as the Revolution raged, she felt she had to do something more. She wanted to fight. But she was a woman, and that was impossible. Or was it?

She disguised herself as a man, and served as a light infantry scout, led men in battle, was wounded more than once (and taking care of the wounds herself, less her true sex be exposed) and served proudly as a soldier in Revolutionary Army. But then she fell ill and lost consciousness, and was then honorably discharged from the army. She married, had children, and traveled the new country telling her story.

“Four years after Sampson’s death at age 66, her husband petitioned Congress for pay as the spouse of a soldier. Although the couple was not married at the time of her service, in 1837 the committee concluded that the history of the Revolution “furnished no other similar example of female heroism, fidelity and courage.” He was awarded the money, though he died before receiving it.”

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You can learn more about Deborah Sampson by visiting Mount Vernon’s excellent overview of her life and service! 

You can get a copy of the slide on Deborah Sampson here: Sampson AFM 2019

Join the Launch of Harwood’s New Book – Stepping Forward

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NCDD member Rich Harwood of The Harwood Institute has an upcoming book coming out that you won’t want to miss the launch of on Tuesday, October 1st! From The Harwood Institute announcement…

In Stepping Forward, Rich Harwood provides a new and inspiring blueprint for how we can rediscover what we share in common and build upon it in a way that engenders authentic hope.

Register below to join Rich on October 1 at 1 PM ET to celebrate the official launch of Stepping Forward! In a special online event, Rich will be discussing how you can begin to put the principles outlined in this book into action.

The launch of his new book will also kick off the Stepping Forward Campaign! We encourage you to read more about the book and the campaign in the post below, and explore even more on The Harwood Institute site here.

A New Path Forward

Many of us are frustrated by the divisive nature of our public discourse, mistrust and broken promises. We lack hope that we can bridge our divides, come together and get things done.

Rich Harwood offers a new path forward. He argues that we don’t have to accept the divisions, gridlock and negativity happening in our country. He knows, from working in communities for more than 30 years, that we can rediscover what we share in common and actively build upon it.

Stepping Forward shows us how to channel our frustrations, energies, and aspirations to get on a more hopeful path. This book shows us how we can step forward to —

  • Turn Outward to see and hear each other again and afford every person human dignity
  • Rediscover what we share in common by focusing on our shared aspirations, even amid our real difference
  • Recognize we must tap into our innate capabilities to produce meaningful change
  • Forge a new shared responsibility to marshal community resources to solve problems and harness people’s yearning for genuine engagement
  • Create a new can-do narrative by focusing on civic parables that remind us that we can be actors, shapers and builders of our shared lives

To get the country moving in a better direction, these efforts must start in our local communities. Then we can restore our can-do spirit and faith in ourselves. You don’t need to wait. STEP FORWARD.

Stepping Forward Campaign Launches October 1!

A book tour asks you to listen. We’re asking you to step forward.

The Stepping Forward Campaign is a national call to action. Rich Harwood is embarking on a two-year campaign to speak about how we can put our communities and our country on a more hopeful path.

This campaign can help you:

  • Take a leading role in improving people’s lives and doing that work in a way that builds the community
  • Mobilize community leaders and others to take action and improve your community
  • Stop feeling stuck and provide a clear path to move forward
  • Build momentum towards positive, lasting change

The Stepping Forward Campaign launches on October 1, 2019. Be one of the first to host a campaign event and bring this important message to your community.

You can learn more about the Stepping Forward book and campaign on The Harwood Institute site at www.steppingforwardbook.org/#about-the-book-section.

community engagement and student success in college

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You can now get the recording and associated slides for the AAC&U webinar entitled “The Confounding Promise of Community: Why It Matters More Than Ever for Student Success.” I was a bit of an outlier because I talked about college students’ learning in social movements, taking as my text a 1961 article by Martin Luther King, Jr. on that topic. My comments were based on my article, “Another Time for Freedom? Lessons from the Civil Rights Era for Today’s Campuses.” For me, “community” meant social movements that may target institutions for change.

The excellent other presenters mainly discussed projects that are based in their colleges and engage the communities around them: Ventura County, CA, San Diego, Newark, NJ, and Queens, NY. I thought they demonstrated that their institutions are components (or even “anchors”) of those communities. So instead of saying that their students “go into” communities, we might conclude that their students belong to communities and learn beyond the classroom.

American Founders Month: The Sons of Liberty!

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Check out the National Constitution Center’s biographies of the Founding Fathers! https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/educational-resources/founding-fathers

It’s Founders Month here in Florida! According to the Florida Department of Education,

Section (s.) 683.1455, Florida Statutes (F.S.), designates the month of September as American Founders‘ Month and s. 1003.421, F.S., recognizes the last full week of classes in September in public schools as Celebrate Freedom Week.

So what does this mean for our schools and kids and teachers? Basically, it’s time to do some learning about the men and women who have helped shape this state and this country. Here on our Florida Citizens blog, we’ll be doing at least two posts a week with a brief overview of a particular Founder, Framer, thinker, or shaper of this state or this nation and how they made an impact.
Sept 14 Sons of Liberty

American Founders’ Month in Florida continues today with a look at the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty were a sometimes controversial secret society devoted to combating what it perceived as British oppression by any means necessary.

While they may be most famous for organizing boycotts of British goods and dumping tea into Boston Harbor, they also took sometimes-violent action against people seen as serving British interests. We all recall, for example, those images from the era that illustrate Sons of Liberty tarring and feathering British tax collectors.

Philip_Dawe_(attributed),_The_Bostonians_Paying_the_Excise-man,_or_Tarring_and_Feathering_(1774)_-_02

The Bostonian Paying the Excise-Man, 1774 British propaganda print, referring to the tarring and feathering, of Boston Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm four weeks after the Boston Tea Party. The men also poured hot tea down Malcolm’s throat

The Sons of Liberty were sometimes extreme in their pursuit of liberty; was that extremism always justified? How can we really say, from our own vantage point today? What a fascinating discussion we can have! You can learn more about the fascinating Sons of Liberty and its role in the Boston Tea Party from the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Grab the PowerPoint slide featured in this post: Sons of Liberty AFM

Wednesday Webinar Roundup ft September Confab and Many More!

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As part of our Wednesday webinar roundup, we are excited to announce our September Confab call featuring Purple Project for Democracy. Purple is a non-partisan coalition, campaign and movement to rediscover and recommit to democratic values and institutions. Learn more about the opportunities for the dialogue and deliberation field to contribute to the November launch campaign and the next phases of this effort. This free call will be on Monday, September 30th from 1-2 pm Eastern, 10- 11 am Pacific. Register today so you don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity!

Here are the upcoming D&D online events happening over the next few weeks, including NCDD sponsor org The Courageous Leadership Project, NCDD member org  National Issues Forums Institute and Living Room Conversations, as well as, from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) and the International Associate for Public Participation (IAP2).

NCDD’s online D&D event roundup is a weekly compilation of the upcoming events happening in the digital world related to dialogue, deliberation, civic tech, engagement work, and more! Do you have a webinar or other digital event coming up that you’d like to share with the NCDD network? Please let us know in the comments section below or by emailing me at keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org, because we’d love to add it to the list!

Upcoming Online D&D Events: Living Room Conversations, IAF, The Courageous Leadership Project, ICMA

September Confab about Purple Project for Democracy

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Monday, September 30th
10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern

We are excited to announce our September Confab Call, featuring a new initiative that is preparing for  November launch – Purple Project for Democracy. Purple is a non-partisan coalition, campaign and movement to rediscover and recommit to democratic values and institutions.  The folks behind the project are building momentum for their November launch, and on this Confab we’ll learn more about how dialogue and deliberation can play a role in it.

Purple is aiming to help people recommit to democratic values, but also to stimulate civic engagement. During the month of November, Purple hopes to have local conversations which can help to stimulate the national effort. The hope of the organizers is that members of NCDD will participate in this effort by hosting conversations in their communities.

REGISTER: http://ncdd.org/30320

International Association of Facilitators webinar – The Power of Choice

Wednesday, September 25th
6:30 am Pacific, 9:30 am Eastern

By 2020, there will be five generations working side-by-side in the workplace. We are all different and unique, but with this comes different ways of working, approaches, mindsets, feelings, behaviors,  motivations and needs. This can lead to assumptions, misunderstandings, miscommunication, conflict and under-performance.  Building a culture of psychological safety, where everyone feels accepted and respected, allows everyone to work in harmony, makes the most of their differences and drives a sense of empowerment to achieve anything. In this webinar, we will explore the strength of working in a team that is diverse and inclusive. You will discover how to value difference to build connections that enable collaboration, healthy challenge and powerful outcomes towards common goals.

REGISTER: www.iaf-world.org/site/events/webinars

NIFI CGA forum: Future of Small Towns

Wednesday, September 25th
11:30 am Pacific, 2:30 pm Eastern

NIFI would like to invite you to participate in an online forum on the future of our small-town communities. These forums are a project of the German Marshall Fund alumni network, and are going on throughout the US and even in Europe. The results from these forums will be reported to a new generation of leaders focusing on urban/rural issues who will be making policies that directly affect our communities, our economies, our families and our day-to-day lives. This online forum is for women from rural communities and small towns.

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/future-our-small-towns

September CGA Forum Series: Safety and Justice: How Should Communities Reduce Violence?

Wednesday, September 25th
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

Please join us for a Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberative forum on Safety and Justice: How Should Communities Reduce Violence? If you’ve never participated in a CGA forum, please watch the “How To Participate” video before joining. You can find the video link here. If you haven’t had a chance to review the issue guide, you can find a downloadable PDF copy at the NIF website here.

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/september-cga-forum-series-safety-and-justice-how-should-communities-reduce-violence

International Association of Facilitators webinar – What facilitators can do in disaster situations? (English)

Thursday, September 26th
6:30 am Pacific, 9:30 am Eastern

In this webinar we will invite the participating colleagues to reflect together on different ways in which we can support communities that face situations of disasters or other crises, applying our knowledge and experience as professional facilitators. In addition, we will present the principles of the Model of psychosocial intervention in crises and disasters of the Global Facilitators Serving Communities – GFSC network. This Model, called Crisis – Change – Choice, has been successfully applied in many countries around the world, allowing to strengthen the resilience and autonomy of various types of communities, in response to different types of crises and disasters.

REGISTER:www.iaf-world.org/site/events/what-facilitators-can-do-disaster-situations-english

September CGA New Moderator Workshop

Thursday, September 26th
9:30 am Pacific, 12:30 pm Eastern

Join this workshop on how to moderate a Common Ground for Action (CGA) deliberative forum. This is a TWO DAY, TWO PART workshop. Part 1 is Wednesday September 25th at 7:00p ET/4:00pm PT; Part 2 is September 26th at 12:30p ET/9:30am PT. Please plan to attend both parts of this workshop.

In session one (Sept 25th) we will participate in our own CGA forum. In session two (Sept 26th), we will discuss how to set up a CGA, what the responsibilities of a CGA moderator are, and hacks and tricks for moderating. We will then work in partners to set up and moderate a forum. We will conclude with a questions and answers about how to integrate CGA into your practice, classroom, and/or community work.

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/september-cga-new-moderator-workshop

September CGA Moderator Practice Sessions

Friday, September 27th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

This is an open practice session for new and seasoned Common Ground for Action online deliberation moderators. We will play around with features, workshop deliberative questions, and get practice moderating a robust online deliberative forum.

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/september-cga-moderator-practice-sessions

Living Room Conversations Training (free): The Nuts & Bolts of Living Room Conversations

Thursday, October 3rd
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

Join us for 90 minutes online to learn about Living Room Conversations. We’ll cover what a Living Room Conversation is, why we have them, and everything you need to know to get started hosting and/or participating in Living Room Conversations. This training is not required for participating in our conversations – we simply offer it for people who want to learn more about the Living Room Conversations practice.

Space is limited so that we can offer a more interactive experience. Please only RSVP if you are 100% certain that you can attend. This training will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. A link to join the conversation will be sent to participants the day before the training.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/training-free-the-nuts-bolts-of-living-room-conversations-19-2/

Online Living Room Conversation: Relationships Over Politics – 90-Minute Conversation w/ Optional 30-Minute Q & A with Hosts!

Thursday, October 3rd
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

Is it possible to use Living Room Conversations with our families and close friends? It is ultimately challenging, because family are more likely to break ‘host and guest’ social norms. The emotional stakes are higher, conversations are colored by long, deeply personal histories and it can feel easier to ‘take the gloves off’ and fight dirty, unconstrained by the politeness usually offered acquaintances. How might we hold the tension of our differences while working to repair connection and not further deepen division within our circle of family and friends?

All sorts of people tell us they want to use the skills they practice in Living Room Conversations to help restore connection with friends and family. So, let’s use a Living Room Conversation to talk about just that! This Living Room Conversation will help us listen and learn about where we have different opinions, along with shared ideas about how to best navigate time with family & friends (who may not share our view of the world). HERE is the conversation guide.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/relationships-over-politics-90-minute-conversation-w-optional-30-minute-q-a-with-hosts-2/

Online Living Room Conversation: Race and Ethnicity – A Special Three-Part Series

Tuesday, October 8th
10:30 am Pacific, 1:30 pm Eastern

Check out this four-minute video from our first Race & Ethnicity Conversation Series to get a taste of this conversation! In this series of three conversations, participants explore the complexities of the concepts of Race, Ethnicity, and their impacts on people from all walks of life. We will cover new questions from the three Race & Ethnicity conversation guides found here. The following conversation series will occur on October 15th and 22nd.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/race-and-ethnicity-a-special-three-part-series/

IAP2 Monthly Webinar – 2019 IAP2 Projects Of The Year (USA & Canada)

Tuesday, October 8th
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

We are excited to feature the two Core Values Award winners for Project of the Year.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) won the USA Project of the Year award for “PedPDX”. This project addresses discrepancies in pedestrian infrastructure around the Rose City, and involved people of a variety of different ethnic and social groups. One city council member referred to the public engagement process as the most robust and comprehensive he had ever seen.

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer used a variety of techniques and approaches in reviewing Canada’s Cancer Strategy, focusing on “underserviced” populations — people in remote areas, Indigenous people, new Canadians, LGBTQ people, for example — often don’t get the same level of cancer care and treatment that others do. The Partnership managed to bring these voices to the table and help re-design a cancer strategy that puts them on an equal footing.

REGISTER: https://iap2usa.org/event-3404391

International Association of Facilitators webinar – Becoming a CPF with the IAF

Tuesday, October 8th
3 pm Pacific, 6 pm Eastern

Making the decision to seek the IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator (CPF) accreditation can be hard. Common questions people ask are What’s involved? How much time will it take? Will I meet the requirements? and What if I don’t pass? In response to strong interest from members we will be exploring these questions at a webinar with hosts that have years of experience as professional facilitators and as IAF Assessors.

REGISTER: www.iaf-world.org/site/events/webinars

The Courageous Leadership Project webinar – Brave, Honest Conversations™

Wednesday, October 9th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Some conversations are hard to have. Fear and discomfort build in your body and you avoid and procrastinate or pretend everything is fine. Sometimes you rush in with urgency, wanting to smooth things over, fix them, and make them better. Sometimes you go to battle stations, positioning the conversation so you have a higher chance of being on the “winning” side. NONE OF THIS WORKS. Instead, it usually makes a hard conversation harder; more divided, polarized, and disconnected from others. The more people involved, the harder the conversation can be. I believe that brave, honest conversations are how we solve the problems we face in our world – together.

In this webinar, we will cover: What is a Brave, Honest Conversation™? Why have one? What can change because of a brave, honest conversation? How do you have one? What do you need to think about and do? How do you prepare yourself for a brave, honest conversation?

REGISTER: www.bravelylead.com/events/bhcfreewebinar