Author Archives: Roshan Bliss

NIFI Demonstrates Potential of Deliberation in the Classroom

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We want to encourage our network to check out the fascinating video that the National Issues Forums Institute – an NCDD organizational member – made recently to showcase how their signature deliberative forums can be amazing NIF logolearning exercises in everyday classrooms.

Here’s what NIF said in their recent blog post about the video:

This 19-minute YouTube video features students in Wisconsin and Alabama as they participate in deliberative forums using materials from the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI). In Birmingham, Alabama, teacher, Zakiya Jenkins, with assistance from Peggy Sparks, of Sparks Consulting, reflects on eighth-grade student deliberations about Youth and Violence. And in Wausau, Wisconsin, teachers Sarah Schneck, Shannon Young, and Kevin Krieg, discuss student deliberations about America’s Role in the World. The student forums in Wausau were hosted by John Greenwood of the Wisconsin Institute for Policy and Service.

The video really shows the potential of applying deliberation as a learning tool. It was quite impressive to see high schools students learning real skills and deep lessons from running their own deliberations – guiding their peers through the framing of a problem, exploring options and their corresponding trade offs, and finding common ground as a group that they can live with.

Just imagine how different our world and our politics might be if every young person had to learn how to deliberate on controversial issues before they graduated high school…

You can watch the inspiring video below:

You can find the original version of this NIFI blog post at www.nifi.org/en/groups/watch-video-deliberation-classroom.

Participate in IAF’s International Facilitation Week, Oct. 19-25

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Every year, our good friends at the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) host something called International Facilitation Week – an event aimed at showcasing the power of facilitation to new and existing audiences and at creating a sense of community among facilitators and our groups worldwide – and we strongly encourage NCDD members to consider participating!

This year’s International Facilitation Week (IFW) will be celebrated from October 19th – 25th, 2015. Facilitators from around the world and across the NCDD network can celebrate IFW by organizing trainings or showcases, publishing articles or blog posts, beginning collaborations or projects – the list goes on. Basically, participate however you’d like to, and gain exposure for your work by the affiliation to IFW.

Here’s a bit of what IAF says about the Week and some of their suggestions for how you can participate:

The IAF is simply the catalyst for International Facilitation Week. The invitation to celebrate the week is open to everyone.

Generally, the Association holds its virtual Annual General Meeting during IFW, as well as a number of international live Twitter chats. We also announce our new inductees to the IAF Hall of Fame.  IAF regions and chapters hold numerous activities too, both virtual and face-to-face.

Here are some ideas to inspire your activities:

  • Publicise your best facilitation case studies  – now is the time to write those up and announce them on your own and your clients’ websites! Get creative – use video and podcasted interviews.
  • If you are an internal facilitator, encourage your employer to showcase how you use facilitation for the benefit of your organisation. Hold a “lunch and learn” or “coffee break case study” in your workplace during the week.
  • Organise a training or learning event with others who also work on collaboration, dialogue, mediation, conflict resolution and group process.
  • Set up an event for potential clients in which you showcase the benefits of facilitation. Need inspiration? Consider interviewing recipients of the Facilitation Impact Awards.
  • Offer free or discounted facilitation services to groups who could benefit from professional facilitation. Use IFW to announce a commitment to doing some new pro-bono work, or to release the results from some previous pro-bono work.
  • Approach your local school, college, university, teaching hospital or training providers to see if they’d like to collaborate on an IFW event or program.
  • Talk to your local or national health and social care organisations to discuss the possibility of a training or other facilitation event during the Week.
  • Use your networks – What other professional organisations do you belong to that might be interested in joining in celebrating IFW?
  • Make use of the media. Local papers and radio stations are may include coverage if given a strong local angle or link to issues currently in the news.
  • If you blog, make sure you write about facilitation in the run up to and during the Week. Think of an especially strong example or compelling facilitation story.

And of course, you can always come up with your own creative way to participate in IFW! The IAF keeps an international calendar of facilitation events taking place and encourages IFW participants to add their events to it. All you have to do is send the details of your event (who, what, where, when, and how) to conference@iaf-world.org.

To learn more about International Facilitation Week, be sure to visit www.iaf-world.org/site/pages/international-facilitation-week and check back frequently. We hope to see many of our NCDDers participate!

Public Agenda Launches Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment

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We were excited to hear a recent announcement from the team at Public Agenda – one of our great NCDD organizational members – about the creation of the new Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment, and we encourage you to join us in congratulating PA and its co-founder, Dr. Daniel Yankelovich, on the accomplishment!

PublicAgenda-logoThe Center’s official inauguration took place at PA’s celebration of both its 40th anniversary and Dan’s 90th birthday, which you can read more about here. The Yankelovich Center was made possible with the generous support of another wonderful NCDD member organization, the Kettering Foundation, and Kettering has committed to a robust program of joint research through the Center. Kettering’s president David Mathews created a video to commemorate the occasion, which you can see here.

Here’s some of what PA said about the new Center:

…Public Agenda is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment. The Center will develop, disseminate and apply Dan Yankelovich’s seminal ideas about democracy, including how the public comes to judgment, the public’s critical role in the functioning of a just and effective democracy and the conditions that help the public to play that role. We surprised Dan with an announcement of the Center during Public Agenda’s 40th anniversary celebration, which coincided with Dan’s 90th birthday.

The Yankelovich Center will  conduct original research, create tools, convene practitioners and thought leaders and join public conversations relevant to its mission. Its audiences will include public officials, public engagement practitioners, community leaders, and the fields of public participation, deliberative democracy, civic education and governance….

The Yankelovich Center explores questions including:

  • How do our increasingly fragmented news media, highly polarized national politics, fast-changing information and communications technologies and changing demographics affect the public’s ability to engage issues productively and come to public judgment?
  • What are the prime obstacles and enablers of public judgment in communities on community problems and nationally on national and international problems?
  • How does public judgment affect important changes in public policy or community life?
  • What are the best ways to cultivate public judgment and civic engagement among millennials, groups with low voting and political participation rates, or among and across people from very different cultural backgrounds?
  • What can be done to encourage a broader understanding of the concept of public judgment among elected officials and the media? How can existing institutions better support a more active, engaged and informed public and what are the most promising new institutions, tools and strategies?
  • What role should the ideas and practices of public judgment and civic engagement play in K-12 and higher education?

Along with the new Yakelovich Center, the Public Agenda team also announced their new Restoring Opportunity initiative, a 10-year commitment to tackling the issues surrounding the decline of educational, economic, and civic opportunities in America.

We can’t wait to start seeing some of the work that Public Agenda is gearing up for, and we congratulate them and Dan on their wonderful history and bright future!

You can find more information from Public Agenda on the Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment at www.publicagenda.org/pages/yankelovich-center-for-public-judgment#sthash.mf5Z8rhs.dpuf.

Davenport Offers CA Cities $50,000 for Public Engagement

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We encourage our NCDD members in California to check out an exciting grant opportunity being offered by NCDD organizational member the Davenport Institute. Davenport is offering $50,000 worth of training and support for public engagement work, and the deadline to apply is Sept. 14th, but don’t wait to apply. You can learn more in the announcement they recently made below or by clicking here.

2015 Davenport Institute Public Engagement Grant Program Application Period Now Open!

DavenportInst-logoIf you have a public engagement project that could use some financial support, now is the time to apply for the eighth annual Davenport Institute Public Engagement Grant Program! This year we will be awarding up to $50,000 in funded consulting services to California cities, counties, special districts, and civic organizations looking to conduct legitimate public processes on issues ranging from budgets to land use to public safety to water policy.

The Grants are made possible through funding from the James Irvine Foundation’s California Democracy Program. We anticipate awarding 2 – 4 grants with a minimum individual grant amount of $5,000 and a maximum individual grant amount of $20,000. Prior to beginning their public engagement campaign, grantees will receive training and consultation from the Davenport Institute to build understanding and support for the civic engagement effort amongst administrative and elected officials.

The deadline for the 2015 Public Engagement Grant is Monday, September 14.

Here are some FAQs:

Q1: Does the proposed public process need to occur immediately?

A: No. Most of our granted projects have taken place within one year of the application date.

Q2: Can we recommend a facilitator or web platform to receive support from the Grant Program?

A: Yes. Again, the purpose of our grants is to fund participatory (as opposed to “PR”) projects. Of course, we’d like to interview your recommended facilitator, but we’ve worked with designated consultants before. This actually helps us build our own “rolodex” of consultants!

Q3: Is the Davenport training an added expense?

A: No. Training for the grant recipient is now an integral part of the Grant Program, and is offered as part of the grant. All expenses – including travel – are assumed by Davenport.

Q4: How many grantees do you anticipate this year?

A: We tend to support between 2-4  grantees each year with the Grant Program.

Q5: Do you support “capacity building” efforts like “block captain”, “neighborhood watch”, “citizen academy”?

A: No. As a practice, the grants are intended to support actual public projects around “live” issues – from budgets to land use. We find with the training added, these grants build “civic capacity” through actual engagement.

The criteria are straightforward and the online application form is easy.

After reviewed by members of our Advisory Council, our 2015 grantees will be announced by early October. Please feel free to contact Ashley Trim at ashley[dot]trim[at]pepperdine[dot]edu or 310-506-6878 with any questions.

Tips on How to Stop Talking and Start Acting from EvDem

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Making the transition from doing dialogue to taking action is often difficult, but helping groups make that shift is the specialty of the folks at Everyday Democracy – an NCDD member organization. We encourage you to read their six tips on the move below or to find the original post by clicking here.

6 Steps for Moving from Dialouge to Action

EvDem LogoTypically, the action coming from dialogues falls into various categories. Large, diverse programs will result in many different kinds of change, happening at all levels in the community. for individuals, ideas for change start through the dialogue process. Collective action and change often begin after the round of dialogues, when participants pool their action ideas. It is these ideas for collective change that can require additional oversight and resources.

1. Refer back to your program goals

Review the decisions the coalition made about program goals and supporting action during its planning conversations. Establishing an action committee will help you organize this phase of the process. Make sure the action committee has the right diversity of people and skills to help move from dialogue to action. Pay particular attention to whether the people on the action committee reflect the demographics of your community. Make sure that people from group which have been excluded in the past from decision-making have a meaningful role on the committee.

2. Decide how much support you can provide for action initiatives

With members of the coalition, action committee, and coordinator, talk about what will happen when the dialogues conclude. Consider these questions:

  • What kinds of support can we give to the action teams (coordinating, administrative, tracking, etc.)? For how long?
  • Who will plan the action forum?
  • What kinds of resources do we need? How do we ensure that resources are distributed equitably?
  • What will we do with the action ideas that the action teams are not working on?

3. Develop a process for collecting and prioritizing ideas from the dialogues

Decide what the facilitator/recorder should report out from each dialogue group. Then consider these questions:

  • Who will be responsible for collecting the records from each dialogue group?
  • Who will review the records and put them in a workable format?
  • What is the best way to track themes, trends, and categories of ideas as they emerge?
  • How will we pool the ideas across the dialogues, and choose overall priorities?
  • How many action ideas do we think we are able to work with?

Some programs combine records into a report for the program as a whole. This can be distributed at the action forum, used to give updates to public officials and journalists, and can form the basis of significant input into policy decisions.

4. Plan the action forum

The action forum is a community event designed to tie together the work of the individual dialogues, and help participants move to individual and collective action. At the forum, groups can share their ideas for action, and participants can join or create action efforts.

The action forum should take place no more than two weeks after each round of dialogues to build on the momentum of the discussions.

5. Assist action team leaders before they begin their work

It is very important to support your action team leaders! Here are some guidelines to keep in mind as they begin their work:

  • Include people from diverse backgrounds who know a lot about the issue and have the authority to help implement change.
  • Establish ground rules.
  • Establish a process for working together, including decision making, a timeline, and a meeting schedule.
  • Clarify goals. What kind of change do we want to see? How will we know if we are successful? What are our short-term and long-term goals? Who benefits and who might be left behind by these goals?
  • Find out what else is going on in the community related to this action idea. How can you connect to those efforts?
  • Think about what barriers you might face when implementing an action idea, and how you could prevent or overcome them.
  • Stay in touch. How will the work be connected to the overall dialogue-to-change program? How will we report our outcomes?

6. Track and support the action and change efforts

Even if you aren’t providing direct assistance to action teams, it’s important to stay in touch with the groups. If possible, bring everyone together from time to time to share progress and challenges and to stay connected. This is a great way to re-energize the groups and share resources and strategies.

As the action teams continue their work, keep the community informed of their efforts and the changes that are taking place. A lot of people and organizations invested a lot of time and resources into the program and they’d like to see a positive outcome.

Recap of Our Tech Tuesday Call with Bang the Table

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NCDD hosted another wonderful Tech Tuesday call this week on June 9th, and we were thrilled that over 75 people signed up to participate!

This Tech Tuesday webinar presentation and discussion featured NCDD Member Matthew Crozier, CEO and Co-Tech_Tuesday_BadgeFounder of Bang the Table.  Matthew shared insights on many of the ins and outs of online engagement, and we took an in-depth look at Bang the Table’s online engagement platform EngagementHQ as well as their Budget Allocator participatory budgeting tool.

If you missed the call, you can find the recording of the presentation by clicking here.

We encourage you to learn more and try the tools out for yourself by visiting www.bangthetable.com. You can also look back at all of our past Tech Tuesday calls by checking out the archive at www.ncdd.org/tag/confab-archives.

Framing Better Conversations about Same-Sex Marriage

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The folks at the Public Conversations Project – an NCDD organizational member – recently posted another installment of their “A Better Question” series aimed at helping folks have better conversations on controversial topics. This time, they look at same-sex marriage, and we’re happy to share their post. We encourage you to read the piece below or find the original here.

PCP new logoA Better Question: Same-Sex Marriage

In recent weeks, country has been tuned into the arguments around same-sex marriage posed to the Supreme Court.

The courts and legislatures around the country have a critical decision to make. But after that, regardless of the outcomes of their votes, we as the public have the job of living together.

Beyond the question of Constitution is the question of community. In the wake of monumental decisions like this – whether the issue is same-sex marriage, abortion, or immigration – we still have to figure out how to be together: working together, worshipping together, volunteering for community efforts in our cities and towns, sharing the playground and play-dates. The task at hand is undeniably, but not impossibly, difficult. We must acknowledge that there are very real, deeply felt differences in the way people approach the questions of marriage, family, sexual orientation and child-rearing, all of which come into play in this particular conversation. The higher the stakes, the more critical it is that we are able to speak openly about these issues, and able to hear each other.

Alongside the passionate advocacy for our positions must come an equal measure of our curiosity; and from that we must ask a better question.

Here are some questions that can frame more constructive conversations about same-sex marriage, and help communities navigate the inevitable aftermath of whatever decision may come from the courts. If you find yourself in conversation with someone who believes differently from you, you might lead with one of these:

  • Can you share an experience that has led you to your present understanding of and beliefs about same-sex marriage?
  • What are the core values or commitments that frame your views on same-sex marriage?
  • As you imagine making a commitment of marriage to another person, what are some of the fundamental values that guide you?
  • Have you ever had conversations about this issue with those whose opinions differ from yours? Has there been a time when you were able to express yourself well, listen well and communicate respectfully? What do you think made this possible?

For context, here are the other questions from our blog on vaccination:

  • What have you heard said about your views that leaves you feeling mischaracterized?
  • What do you want folks on the other side of this issue to most understand about your thinking and motivations?
  • Where, if at all, do you feel pulled in different directions, have mixed feelings, areas of less certainty, etc.?
  • How have you learned about those whose viewpoints differ from yours? What else might you want to find out about them?
  • What do you think the media, government or others could do to help or hurt this current situation?

What other questions would you add? Let us know and join the conversation.

You can find the original version of this Public Conversations Project at www.publicconversations.org/blog/better-question-same-sex-marriage#sthash.dg1iUgpn.dpuf.

NPR Covers Deliberative Polling Efforts in Tanzania

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We recently read a fascinating article from NPR on the cutting edge work being done by NCDD member James Fishkin of the Center for Deliberative Democracy when he shared a link to the article a few days ago on our NCDD Discussion Listserv. It’s a story that we think would interest many of our NCDDers, especially those doing D&D work across cultures.

James and the CDD have been advancing the technique and process of deliberative polling for years. They have recently been experimenting with deliberative polling in Tanzania around questions of how to spend the African nation’s forthcoming natural gas income, and the process has been filled with expected and unexpected challenges, which the article explores.

Here’s how the article starts:

It’s Not A Come-On From A Cult. It’s A New Kind Of Poll!

You get a visit by someone you’ve never met before. You’re invited on an all-expense paid trip to your country’s biggest city for a two-day meeting on natural gas policy.

Oh, and if you show up you get a free cellphone!

It might sound sketchy. But it’s actually an innovative strategy that is being tested by researchers at a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, the Center for Global Development, or CGD, to help the African nation of Tanzania decide how to spend its expected windfall from new discoveries of natural gas.

Participants listened, they asked questions and then they went home, where they’ll be polled on their views.

The approach was actually first developed in the late 1980s by James Fishkin, a professor at Stanford University. Fishkin has devoted his career to persuading leaders to consult their citizens before making difficult policy decisions. But he says you can’t just do a poll.

“If you have ordinary polls people usually are not well-informed. You don’t want to follow public opinion when the public just has a vague impression of sound-bites and headlines.”

So Fishkin created what he calls a “deliberative poll.” You gather a representative sample of a population for a one- or two-day meeting. You give them tutorials on the issue and a chance to question experts from all sides. Then, you send them home and poll them…

The article gets much more interesting from there as it goes into the challenges of literacy and low education rates in Tanzania as well as some of the unusual cultural hurdles that James and his team had to overcome in getting rural Tanzanians to participate.

We encourage you to read the full article, or you can listen to the radio version of the story by clicking here.

You can find the original NPR story by visiting www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/18/406462789/its-not-a-come-on-from-a-satanic-cult-its-a-new-kind-of-poll.

Join the Transpartisan Conference in Boston this June 20th!

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Those of you within driving distance of Boston won’t want to miss this event at UMass Boston on the 20th…

A partnership involving the Public Conversations Project, University of Massachusetts Boston’s Center for Peace, Democracy and Development, and the Bridge Alliance (which NCDD is part of) is hosting Boston’s first Transpartisan movement event at UMass Boston on June 20th, from 10am to 4pm.

This event is part of a national series of gatherings aimed at shifting our polarized political landscape, and finding more constructive ways to communicate across difference. Whether the conflict at hand is Boston 2024, tension between law enforcement and communities, or local disagreements around planning and development in our cities, we have to find better ways to talk with one another.

The gathering is part of an effort – spearheaded in part by NCDD organizational members Mark Gerzon and John Steiner of the Mediators Foundation – to help move our country’s politics beyond the partisan divides and gridlock to start making better decisions that move us all forward. This gathering will be building momentum from previous Transpartisan gatherings including the pre-conference gathering NCDD hosted in conjunction with our 2014 conference as well as gatherings in Colorado and San Francisco, and upcoming events planned in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.

Here’s how the organizers describe the conference:

The goal of this particular conference is to offer Boston’s leaders an opportunity to think collaboratively about how to shift the  electoral culture regionally and nationally, and find alternatives to the partisan political paralysis that dominates our public sphere…

Over the course of the day, eight speakers will share their vision for embedding the Transpartisan movement in our culture, and offer practical skills from cross-spectrum bridge-builders to transcend polarization. Speakers include Christian Science Monitor editor Marshall Ingwerson, representatives from No Labels and the Mediators Foundation, bridge-builders from across the political spectrum and educators from University of New Hampshire, Gordon College, and UMass Boston (full list available in the press release).

This gathering promises to be a pivotal conversation on how we in the D&D field can help transform the political climate in our country, and we encourage you to register today! There is a nominal $30 fee to attend.

You can check out the press release for the Transpartisan Conference here and find more information by visiting www.publicconversations.org/transpartisan.

We hope to see you there!

Sign Up for Tech Tuesday Call with Bang the Table on Jun. 9

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As we recently announced on the blog, NCDD is hosting another one of our Tech Tuesday events next Tuesday, June 9th from 2-3pm EST, this time featuring NCDD Member Matthew Crozier, CEO and Co-Founder of Bang the TableTech_Tuesday_Badge. Don’t forget to register before it’s too late!

Matthew’s talk will offer lessons on engaging communities online, risk management in online spaces, and doing online engagement work when resources are scarce. He’ll also touch on Bang the Table’s online engagement platform EngagementHQ as well as the Budget Allocator, their participatory budgeting tool.

We have had many folks already register to join us, but there is still room, so make sure you don’t miss out on this great opportunity! Sign up today!