Author Archives: Keiva Hummel

Early Bird Ends June 30th for IAP2 N. American Conference

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In case you missed it, The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) – an NCDD member organization, is holding their 2019 North American Conference from Sept 4-6 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference will be a three-day opportunity to dig deeper into public participation with fellow practitioners and highlight the theme, “Leveraging P2 to Create Thriving Communities”. Follow the hashtag #IAP2NAC for extra conference happenings. Early bird registration is open for just another 5 days (until June 30th), so make sure you purchase your tickets at this great rate! You can read the announcement from IAP2 below or find the original on their site here.

 2019 IAP2 North American Conference – Leveraging P2 to Create Thriving Communities

Join us in Charlotte, North Carolina for the 2019 IAP2 North American Conference September 4 – 6, 2019! Charlotte is a city rich in history and diversity, having almost 200 neighborhoods radiating from the central Uptown neighborhood.

Read the Schedule-at a-Glance featuring over 50 professional Development opportunities including sessions, field trips, workshops and more! This is your opportunity to learn from presenters from around the globe. We have presenters from 14 States, 9 Canadian Provinces, and 4 Countries including Finland and Australia.

Never been to an IAP2 North American Conference? Check out materials from our 2018 Conference held in Victoria, BC!

Timing is EVERYTHING! Register on or before June 30, 2019 to get $100 savings on your conference registration! Check out our 2019 Schedule-at-a-Glance to preview speakers, sessions, themes, and SO much more!

Full conference registration covers most pre-conference events, opening reception, Thursday and Friday activities including breakfast, lunch, and the Core Values Awards Gala and dinner.

Stay close to the action by reserving your room at the Sheraton Charlotte Hotel! All conference attendees are eligible to receive our conference discount starting at only $149.00 USD per night! You must book by August 4th to receive the IAP2 discount.

IAP2 Core Values Awards Gala
Join us as we celebrate the best of the best in P2 in North America. We will be celebrating and learning about the amazing projects that have been taking place from the northern tips of Canada to the southern corners of the United States.

Each year, IAP2 Affiliates around the world celebrate excellence in the profession through the IAP2 Core Values Awards. The awards go to projects and organizations which best demonstrate IAP2’s Core Values.

If you are registered for the 2019 IAP2 North American Conference as an attendee, your admission is part of your conference registration. Bring a guest to the festivities! Gala tickets cost $80 USD.

You can find the original announcement from IAP2 at: https://iap2usa.org/2019nac

Mellon Foundation Grants $800k for PLACE Collaboratory

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We’re always excited to hear of new efforts being developed to promote stronger civic engagement practices between our communities and higher education institutions. We wanted to share a new project launched yesterday, so folks in participating regions can tap in, as well as, to serve as an inspiration that civic engagement work is being well funded. The Partnerships for Listening and Action by Communities and Educators (PLACE) Collaboratory is a new initiative that seeks to create better cross-sector collaboration between communities and higher education institutions in order to develop action plans grounded in community voice. PLACE is organized by the Bringing Theory to Practice project in partnership with the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), and has received an $800,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the two-year effort. You can read about the project below and find the original article on the BTtoP site here.

Bringing Theory to Practice Launches Partnerships for Listening and Action by Communities and Educators (PLACE) Collaboratory

Washington, DC—June 19, 2019—The Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) project is pleased to announce the launch of a multi-campus collaborative initiative (a “collaboratory”) titled Partnerships for Listening and Action by Communities and Educators (PLACE). The project is supported by a two-year, $800,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), which serves as the host and partner to BTtoP.

The PLACE Collaboratory brings together a network of academic-community partnerships, involving eleven colleges and universities from diverse sectors and regions, to do civic-engagement and public-humanities work. Using cultural practices like oral history or photo-voice, as well as the civic pedagogies of the humanities, these partnerships will develop shared public agendas that ground the setting and solving of community issues in community voice. They may involve such significant themes as community development, wealth disparities, and environmental justice, but the agendas and action plans will be set through listening and dialogue. Some partnerships will be anchored by a single university; in others, multiple institutions may join together in regional collaboration. All the partnerships will include undergraduate students as key participants, culture-makers, and often cultural brokers.

The collaboratory will also work as a committee of the whole, communicating and convening regularly to set shared goals and values, confront common challenges, and learn together. The goal of each local project will be to develop action plans grounded in community voice and enabled by academic-community partnership. The goal of the larger collaboratory will be to distill best practices for such partnerships, to model the role of the humanities in sustaining them, and to use networked collaboration to disseminate them across higher education.

“We are thrilled for the opportunity to pursue the PLACE initiative,” said David Scobey, the Director of BTtoP and Principal Investigator for The Mellon Foundation’s grant. “Its focus on the value of community engagement to higher education, and the potential contribution of higher education to community betterment, is at the heart of our mission. So is the innovative focus on the humanities as a way of fostering authentic engagement and democratic agenda-setting. And we believe strongly in the power of networked collaboration to make change in higher education. We are grateful to The Mellon Foundation and our colleagues at AAC&U for supporting this proposal, and to our partnering institutions for joining us.”

“The PLACE collaboratory serves as a model for the ways in which colleges and universities should be engaging, as anchor institutions, with the communities in which they are located. Humanities practice, at the core of this project, is more critical than ever, as we seek to bridges differences in support of the common good,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella.

The participating institutions in the PLACE Collaboratory will be Rutgers University-Newark; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; five institutions in the Greensboro, North Carolina region (Elon University, Greensboro College, Guilford College, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University, and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro); and four institutions in the Los Angeles region (College of the Canyons, Pitzer College, the University of LaVerne, and the University of Southern California).

The PLACE Collaboratory initiative is made possible through the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and in alignment with their mission to “strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies.”

You can find the original version of this announcement on The Bringing Theory to Practice site at www.bttop.org/news-events/june-19-2019-bringing-theory-practice-launches-partnerships-listening-and-action.

Understanding Our Perceptions of Civic Language

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Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement released their new report last month, The Civic Language Perceptions Project, which explores the different perceptions of how “civic work” language is used. The initial sentence in the summary states the importance of this work succinctly, “when your work is as grand and complex as democracy—and as dependent on shared understanding and participation—language and effective communication are critical”. We encourage folks to read about the project below and find the original version of this information on the PACE site here.

Language Perceptions Project

In late 2018, PACE undertook a research effort to better understand the perceptions of language our field uses to describe civic engagement and democracy work. In other words, when we say “civic engagement” or “democracy” or “patriotism,” “activism,” or “justice” to most Americans, what do they hear?  And what does it mean to them?

The exploration took shape in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Our research team included Topos Partnership, communications experts who led a series of focus groups to delve into these words and phrases, and Dr. Parissa Ballard, a researcher at Wake Forest School of Medicine, who developed and distributed a detailed online survey. Both approaches elicited feedback from a diverse and nationally representative sample of participants. It was limited in size and scope, but we hope may illuminate possibilities for additional exploration. (To learn more about the inspiration for our exploration, view a high-level summary.)

The research illuminated a great deal about Americans’ relationship to civic language. Click here for the summary report from PACE, highlighting what we heard.

This summary was drawn from comprehensive memos from our research teams, detailing results from both focus group conversations and survey data:

A central goal of this effort was to spark conversation—both about what we heard, and how the findings might inform the work of practitioners.  Below are two resources that can serve to guide discussions:

This project was made possible with collaboration and/or support from the Foundation for Harmony and Prosperity, Kettering Foundation, Fetzer Institute, Ford Foundation, the National Conference on Citizenship, and the Pritzker Innovation Fund. We also acknowledge the contributions of the working group that provided insight and guidance that was invaluable to the conceptualization and execution of this project.

You can find the original version of this announcement on the PACE site at www.pacefunders.org/language/.

Wednesday Webinar Roundup Feat NIFI, IAF, and LRC!

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This week’s roundup features events from NCDD member organizations Living Room Conversations and National Issues Forums Institute, as well as, from the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). 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: Courageous Leadership Project, MetroQuest, Living Room Conversations, NIFI, America Indivisible, IAF

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

Wednesday, June 19th
8 am Pacific, 11 am 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/webinar-becoming-cpf-iaf-9

Online Living Room Conversation: Communicating With Care – 90-Minute Conversation w/ Optional 30-Minute Bonus Round!

Thursday, June 20th
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

We may want to communicate with others in such a way that we gain knowledge and bridge divides, but those conversations don’t always come naturally. Most of us struggle to self-evaluate our communication skills and we might be unaware of words and actions that shut down healthy dialogue when discussing divisive issues. In this conversation, we will actively share and explore what works and what doesn’t, and we will reflect on ways that we can improve our interactions with others. Here is the conversation guide.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/communicating-with-care-90-minute-conversation-w-optional-30-minute-bonus-round/

June CGA Forum Series: Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet?

Friday, June 21st
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Please join us for a Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberative forum on Friday June 21st @ 4pm ET/1p PT on the topic of ”Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet?” If you haven’t had a chance to review the issue guide, you can find a downloadable PDF copy at the NIF website: https://www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/climate-choices

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/june-cga-forum-series-climate-choices-how-should-we-meet-challenges-warming-planet

Online Living Room Conversation: Tribalism 101 – 90-Minute Conversation w/ Optional 30-Minute Bonus Round!

Thursday, June 27th
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

Inspired by the podcast Next Door Strangers, this Living Room Conversation begins with a 15-minute podcast: http://www.kuer.org/post/1-tribalism-101-pick-side. We invite you to listen and then begin your Living Room Conversation. Tribalism: the behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group. People on the left and right may disagree on many things, but they generally agree that “tribalism” is bad for our politics and our country. Although most people want communities where all people have dignity and respect, respectful interactions are often not what we see modeled in the media and in politics. How do we build strong and unified communities in a divisive time? Here is the conversation guide.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/tribalism-101-90-minute-conversation-w-optional-30-minute-bonus-round/

Online Living Room Conversation: The America We Want to Be: 90-Minute Conversation w/ Optional 30-Minute Bonus Round!

Wednesday, July 3rd
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

When the Declaration of Independence was written, not everyone was included in the famous statement about “pursuit of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” And while the aspirations expressed in our founding documents resonate for some more than others, there are many views regarding the degree to which we have advanced these aspirations for everyone. Some focus more on the great strides we have made; others point to how far we still need to go. Some believe that focusing on the past prevents forward progress; others think we still need to come to terms with our shadow side. Here is the conversation guide.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/the-america-we-want-to-be-90-minute-conversation-w-optional-30-minute-bonus-round/

RFP Open Until 7/25 for Participatory Grantmaking Research

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We just heard about a new RFP announcement from the Ford Foundation to explore participatory grantmaking research that we want to encourage folks in our network to apply for! The Ford Foundation is looking to award individuals and organizations that are generating evidence on the benefits and challenges of participatory grantmaking, with the goal to increase these participatory practices, specifically with large legacy foundations and high-net-worth donors. They will award $300K between 5-15 grantees who show the value of participatory grantmaking and offer evidence to back it up. Deadline to have proposals in is Thursday, July 25th, and the final decision will be announced in October. Learn more about the RFP below and find the original on the Philanthropy News Digest site here.

Ford Foundation Issues RFP for Participatory Grantmaking Research

The Ford Foundation has issued a Request for Proposals from individuals and organizations that are generating evidence on the benefits and challenges of participatory grantmaking. The foundation’s goal is to increase overall willingness to test and implement participatory approaches across philanthropy, but especially in areas with lower rates of adoption such as legacy foundations and high-net-worth donors.

As documented in a recent monograph, Participatory Grantmaking: Has Its Time Come?, and GrantCraft guide, Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking, a growing number of grantmakers and donors are using participatory approaches. These include involving non-grantmakers/donors in designating funding priorities and strategies, reviewing and assessing proposals, establishing decision-making criteria, making funding decisions, and conducting evaluations. While more grantmakers and donors are embracing participatory approaches, two constituencies have been relatively slow to do so — large legacy foundations (private foundations set up to conduct grantmaking) and high-net-worth-donors (generally defined as those with more than $50 million in bankable assets).

Encouraging wider consideration of the merits of participatory approaches among these audiences will require more information that “makes the case” for participatory grantmaking, including compelling arguments about and empirical evidence of its value, benefits, outcomes, and impacts.

As part of its philanthropy portfolio, the foundation has allocated $300,000 to support research that can help make the case and build a body of evidence for participatory approaches.

Participatory grantmaking is defined as the involvement of non-grantmakers/donors in developing funding strategies; designating funding priorities; reviewing and assessing proposals; establishing decision-making criteria; making funding decisions; and conducting evaluation.

Some examples of key questions and potential areas for more exploration include but are not limited to: What value does participation add to philanthropy? How should value be measured? What are the benefits and challenges of participatory grantmaking? What are the long-term benefit and costs of doing/not doing participatory philanthropy/grantmaking? Is foundation transparency, accountability, and feedback the same as participation? What is the role of donors/experts in participatory grantmaking and what value does it have? What would a cultural ethos of participation in foundations look like?

The foundation expects to award approximately five to fifteen grants in support of proposals that provide clear and persuasive arguments and/or empirical evidence that demonstrates the value and impact of participatory grantmaking. Our overarching and driving questions are: Does participatory grantmaking lead to better/stronger philanthropic outcomes/impacts? Why, and how do we know?

What would it take? How do we know if participatory grantmaking has been successful? How do we measure success in terms of process and results on the ground? What are the effects of participatory grantmaking on the people who are participating? Does this approach strengthen the efforts of larger movements? If so, how? If not, what needs to be leveraged to make such contributions? Does participatory grantmaking promote/advance diversity, equity, and inclusion? If so, how and how do we know? If not, why? What are the practical considerations funders need to consider when implementing participatory grantmaking? Where and how does participatory grantmaking “fit” with other kinds of participatory approaches/fields? What are the similarities and differences? Are there ways in which these approaches enhance each other and, if so, how? Where does participation fit into decisions about allocating non-grant resources?

Proposals will be evaluated by the steering committee based on criteria that includes: a strong alignment between the project and the goal of the initiative; the project’s potential for advancing participatory grantmaking across philanthropy, especially among legacy foundations and high-net-worth donors. (Will it “move the needle?”); demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion; potential for or involvement of new voices; capacity to carry out the project; a plan and capacity for disseminating findings; and adequacy of the budget and timeline for the project.

Projects should be completed by April 1, 2021.

To be eligible, applicants must be an individual or organization based in the United States and focus primarily on work taking place in the United States.

The deadline for proposals is July 25, 2019, with final grant decisions to be announced in October.

For more information, a copy of the full RFP, or to submit a proposal, email FFparticipatorygrantmaking@gmail.com. In the email, please include “Participatory Grantmaking RFP” in the subject line. If submitting a proposal, be sure to include in the body of the email the project name, a one- or two-sentence description of the project, and the name, organization, address, phone number, and email address for the primary contact.

Nominations Now Being Accepted for 2019 Civvys!

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Today opens the nomination period for the 2019 Civvys, a.k.a. the American Civic Collaboration Awards! This annual award is presented by NCDD member org The Bridge Alliance, and Big Tent Nation, to celebrate those individuals and organizations doing civic collaboration work that rises above political ideology. Submit your nominations by Friday, July 12th and the winner will be announced at the National Conference on Citizenship this October. You can read the details on The Civvys below and read the original version here.

The 2019 Civvys are Here – Nominate Today!

Celebrating Partnerships that Strengthen America

In its third year, the American Civic Collaboration Awards will continue to highlight outstanding efforts of civic collaboration making impacts in local, national and youth communities.

Nominations will be open from June 17 – July 12, 2019. You can nominate people, organizations or projects here.

We seek to represent the full diversity of the United States among our nominees. This includes political diversity, religious diversity, and also underrepresented groups.

We will celebrate all winners and finalists in an awards ceremony at the National Conference on Citizenship in October.

Sign up for our email list so you don’t miss any updates! Read on for more about our criteria and review committee.

Award Categories and Criteria

The Civvys celebrate best practices in civic collaboration that put community and nation before party, ideology and narrow interests. In its inaugural year, the Civvys highlighted outstanding efforts of civic collaboration making impacts in National, Local and Youth communities.

Award Categories
National: These projects are nationwide in scope and audience.
Local: These projects are designed to serve a local, state or regional community.
Youth: These projects have a focus on children, teenagers or young adults.
Political: These are campaigns, cases of collaborative leadership or election races.

Criteria
We are looking for a range of projects, programs and people that use civic collaboration best practices to achieve real results in facilitating dialogue, enabling cross-partisan action, or putting civility and community above ideology. Here are some of the criteria the awards committee will consider:

Collaborative practices. To what extent does this work use civic collaboration best practices to achieve results?

Impact. Who has this work had an impact on, and in what ways?

Scalability. Is this work something that can easily be expanded to have a greater impact? Is it something that can appeal across geographic regions, or be used to effect change in other civics topics or challenges?

In addition, the Civvys celebrates programs and people that:

  • Engages a representative and diverse set of stakeholders
  • Cultivates civility and mutual respect
  • Creates meaningful shared goals for those involved, using the process of co-creation
  • Provides effective facilitation and support throughout the process
  • Develops or utilizes metrics to measure outcomes

You can find the original version this announcement on the Bridge Alliance site at www.civvys.org/.

Youth Collaboratory Accepting Applications Until July 1st

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For younger folks excited to build their civic power, Citizen University is accepting applications for their 2020 Youth Collaboratory cohort! The Youth Collaboratory is an exciting opportunity for 24 high school sophomores and juniors, who are passionate about civic engagement, to join this year-long program to strengthen civic literacy and network with civic leaders. Applications are due Monday, July 1st – so make sure to share with your networks and submit applications ASAP. You can read more about the Youth Collaboratory and how to apply in the post below, and find the original version of this information on Citizen University’s site here.

Empowering the Rising Generation: Youth Collaboratory

The Youth Collaboratory is a year-long program to empower and connect a rising generation of civic leaders and doers.

24 highly-motivated students from around the country will join Citizen University and travel to cities around the nation, meeting leading civic innovators, sharpening their literacy in citizen power and producing their own independent projects in their communities.

This is a unique and exciting opportunity to be connected to a network of incredible change-makers and gain skills and connections for a lifetime of civic power.

In this era of economic and political inequality, the work of power literacy is especially urgent, nowhere more so than in the rising generation of young people who will be facing the consequences of today’s polarization and inequality for years to come.

Members of the Youth Collaboratory participate in interactive workshops led by Eric Liu and Citizen University educators, collaborate with Citizen U staff to develop programs to engage youth nation-wide, and individually complete projects in their communities. Each cohort meets three times, in three different locations.

Armed with the knowledge, skills, connections, and experience of the Youth Collaboratory, our diverse cohort of passionate young people will be prepared to be true leaders of civic change in America for the next generation.

The 2020 Youth Collaboratory Cohort will begin in October 2019.

Sign up on our interest form to receive information about Citizen University’s youth programs.

You can find the original version of this information on the Citizen University site at www.citizenuniversity.us/programs/youth-collaboratory/.

Join Democracy Beyond Elections Campaign Kick Off in NYC

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We are thrilled to share this exciting announcement from our friends at the Participatory Budgeting Project – an NCDD member organization, in collaboration with Civic Hall, for the national kick off of the Democracy Beyond Elections campaign. This campaign seeks to strengthen democratic engagement and participation between and beyond elections and we strongly encourage folks in the network to be present if they can when this new effort launches on Monday, June 24th at Civic Hall in New York City. Learn more about this new effort to amplify participatory democracy in the post below and find the original information on the Eventbrite page here.

Democracy Beyond Elections: A New Deal for Our Broken Democracy?

Join the Participatory Budgeting Project and Forums @ Civic Hall for the national kick off of the Democracy Beyond Elections campaign. We are convening to build support for a democracy that deepens participation and civic engagement beyond and between elections, and creates a pipeline for diverse and equitable community leadership.

Learn about top new models of participatory democracy, including Ireland’s National Citizen Assembly, Scotland’s Community Empowerment Act, Spain’s Decide Madrid, and New York City’s Civic Engagement Commission and Participatory Budgeting. Be inspired by how community and government leaders from these programs have used participatory democracy to equitably reshape government policy and spending on issues such as abortion, climate change, and transportation.

We’re asking questions like:

  • Why is trust in government so low?
  • Can we unrig our systemically undemocratic government structure so it reflects the majority rather than the privileged elite?
  • How could participatory democracy support social movements for equity and give more power to historically marginalized people?
  • How can we leverage moments of political and economic crisis to win structural changes in government?
  • How is participatory democracy different from and related to electoral politics?
  • How can we bring government by the people to scale in the U.S.?

The evening will start with a brief overview of the Democracy Beyond Elections campaign from Shari Davis, Co-Executive Director at the Participatory Budgeting Project. Guest speakers will then share their experience with expanding or engaging with participatory democracy practices, before moderated conversation and audience discussion. Speakers include:

Miguel Arana Catania | Director of Citizen Participation, City of Madrid

Louise Caldwell | Entrepreneur, Member of Ireland Citizens Assembly

Fiona Garven | Director, Scottish Community Development Centre and Community Health Exchange

Sarah Sayeed, Ph.D | Chair, Civic Engagement Commission | Senior Advisor, Community Affairs Unit, New York City Mayor’s Office

Doors open at 5:50 pm, we start promptly at 6:15 pm.

This event is coordinated by Forums @ Civic Hall and the Participatory Budgeting Project, in partnership with the Center for Popular Democracy, Generation Citizen, Everyday Democracy, and People’s Action.

Support for this program was provided by the Ford Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundations.

For more information visit https://www.participatorybudgeting.org/dbe/.

You can find the original version of this information on the Eventbrite page at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/democracy-beyond-elections-a-new-deal-for-our-broken-democracy-tickets-62891807088

Online D&D Events Feat Courageous Leadership Project

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This week’s roundup features events from NCDD sponsor org The Courageous Leadership Project, NCDD member organizations MetroQuest and  Living Room Conversations, as well as, from the America Indivisible, International Association of Facilitators (IAF), International Associate for Public Participation (IAP2), and more.

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: Courageous Leadership Project, MetroQuest, Living Room Conversations, NIFI, America Indivisible, IAF

The Courageous Leadership Project webinar – Brave, Honest Conversations™

Wednesday, June 12th
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

MetroQuest webinar – Millennials to Boomers | How MDOT Involved 6,300 for Its LRTP

Wednesday, June 12th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

Is traditional public involvement getting old? While transportation matters to residents of all ages, few attend public meetings. That’s why Michigan DOT went online to engage the broader public when it began working on a completely new state long range transportation plan (SLRTP).

Times are changing. On June 12th, find out how Michigan DOT and WSP joined forces to engage 6,300 people to uncover their evolving transportation priorities for the Michigan Mobility 2045 SLRTP. Join Shane Peck, Anita Richardson, Brad Sharlow, and Kyle Haller as they share what they learned about public preferences for modal tradeoffs, infrastructure investments, intelligent technologies, and transit

REGISTER: http://go.metroquest.com/Millennials-to-Boomers-How-MDOTs-LRTP-Involved-6300.html

America Indivisible webinar: Facing Our Civic Health Crisis; Local Strategies to Fight Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Wednesday, June 12th
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Americans of Muslim faith are the least engaged in direct outreach to their elected representatives in national and local government at a time when racialized anti-Muslim bigotry is on the rise. Hear from Paterson, New Jersey’s first Arab American Mayor André Sayegh and local civic leaders from across the U.S. about strategies to build our civic health and fight anti-Muslim bigotry.

REGISTER HERE

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

Thursday, June 13th
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

Join us for 60 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 to 12 people so that we can offer a more interactive experience. Please only RSVP if you are 100% certain that you can attend.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/training-free-the-nuts-bolts-of-living-room-conversations-11/

Online Living Room Conversation: The Power of Empathy: 90-Minute Conversation w/ Optional 30-Minute Bonus Round!

Thursday, June 13th
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

Empathy goes beyond concern or sympathy. Empathy is stepping into the shoes of another with the intention to better understand and feel what they are experiencing. The power of empathy can bridge our “us vs. them” perceptions and lead to new solutions, improved relationships, better strategies for social change, reduction in loneliness, and realization of our shared human needs and oneness. This conversation is about sharing experiences giving, receiving, and observing empathy. Here is the conversation guide.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/the-power-of-empathy-90-minute-conversation-w-optional-30-minute-bonus-round/

International Association of Facilitators webinar – Sharing IAF Brand Best Practices

Friday, June 14th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Sharing IAF Brand Best Practices is a webinar to get inspired by the many ways members, chapters and events are branding their Facilitation Activities.

REGISTER: www.iaf-world.org/site/events/sharing-iaf-brand-best-practices-0

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

Wednesday, June 19th
8 am Pacific, 11 am 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/webinar-becoming-cpf-iaf-9

Online Living Room Conversation: Communicating With Care – 90-Minute Conversation w/ Optional 30-Minute Bonus Round!

Thursday, June 20th
4 pm Pacific, 7 pm Eastern

We may want to communicate with others in such a way that we gain knowledge and bridge divides, but those conversations don’t always come naturally. Most of us struggle to self-evaluate our communication skills and we might be unaware of words and actions that shut down healthy dialogue when discussing divisive issues. In this conversation, we will actively share and explore what works and what doesn’t, and we will reflect on ways that we can improve our interactions with others. Here is the conversation guide.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/communicating-with-care-90-minute-conversation-w-optional-30-minute-bonus-round/

June CGA Forum Series: Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet?

Friday, June 21st
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Please join us for a Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberative forum on Friday June 21st @ 4pm ET/1p PT on the topic of ”Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet?” If you haven’t had a chance to review the issue guide, you can find a downloadable PDF copy at the NIF website: https://www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/climate-choices

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/june-cga-forum-series-climate-choices-how-should-we-meet-challenges-warming-planet

Listen to Confab Recording on Using Slack for Democratic Movement Building

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We had a wonderfully engaging call last Thursday to learn more about the capabilities of using the collaborative platform, Slack, to further connect the D&D field and growing Democracy Movement. The call was co-hosted with our friends at the Bridge Alliance who discussed a new effort launched recently on the platform called the Democracy Movement Slack Forum and gave us a preview of the new space. If you weren’t able to join the call, we encourage you to listen to it now!

We were joined by Walt Roberts who gave the 45 participants on the call a quick tour of Slack and how the platform streamlines communication by bringing text, email, and direct messaging altogether. The way the platform is designed lends itself well to the growing Democracy Movement Slack Forum (DMFS), in how it offers space for participants to self-organize and create action together. Walt shared with us how this space was developed; growing from the Unrig the Summit 2018 conference and catalyzed by the desire to fix our broken and rigged political system. He discussed the evolution of the working title, the Democracy Movement, and how it is really a movement of many movements, across the spectrum of ideologies.

Phase two is currently in progress, in which the organizers of the Slack space are looking to bring in those groups and leaders who are doing Democracy building work. It’s meant to be a collaborative space for people to work together in nonpartisan ways and co-develop this growing Democracy Movement. If you are interested in participating in the DMFS, please reach out to keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org for the information on how to join! We’ve set up a channel on the DMFS called #group_ncdd_forum that we encourage you to join if you’re already onboard the Slack space!

Here are some of our favorite takeaways from the Confab call:

  • Slack brings an “open space” like way of self-organizing conversations and helps bring order to the chaos of multiple streams, threads, and branches of conversation.
  • The Democracy Movement is a broad term that encompasses all efforts to get our country back on track and spans the ideological spectrum.
  • The Democracy Movement Slack Forum is a collaborative work, conversation, & community space for those who seek to work together in nonpartisan ways to co-develop a big democracy movement, reduce silos & build a shared infrastructure.

We had an engaging conversation in the chat discussion and you can view saved the transcript of  it here. We recorded the whole presentation in case you weren’t able to join us, which you can access by clicking here. While access to the Confab recordings is usually a benefit of being an NCDD member, we have made an exception with this one in order for more folks to join the DMSF and co-create this movement. If you like what you experience, we’d love for you to join as an NCDD member (if you haven’t already!) and learn more about the sweet benefits of being part of the NCDD Coalition here!

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We want to thank Walt, Jeremy and the Bridge Alliance team, for making this call happen! And an equally large thank you to all the Confab participants for contributing to this conversation! To learn more about NCDD’s Confab Calls and hear recordings of others, visit www.ncdd.org/events/confabs.

Finally, we love holding these events and we want to continue to elevate the work of our field with Confab Calls and Tech Tuesdays. It is through your generous contributions to NCDD that we can keep doing this work! That’s why we want to encourage you to support NCDD by making a donation or becoming an NCDD member today (you can also renew your membership by clicking here). Thank you!

See you on Slack!