Category Archives: educational opportunities

Join us at The Harwood National Public Innovators Lab!

Posted on by
Reply

We are pleased to share the announcement below about a great opportunity coming up this Dec. 1-3 in Alexandria, VA that NCDD members can get a 15% discount on! This announcement came from Melissa Salzman of The Harwood Institute – an NCDD member organization – via our great Submit-to-Blog Form. Do you have news you want to share with the NCDD network? Just click here to submit your news post for the NCDD Blog!

HarwoodLogoCo-hosted by United Way Worldwide and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, The Harwood Public Innovators Lab is a 2.5-day experience to help you and your organization learn what it means to Turn Outward – to use the community, not your conference room, as your reference point for choices and action. This year’s Lab will take place December 1st – 3rd at the Mary M. Gates Learning Center in Alexandria, VA.

If you Turn Outward and make more intentional judgments and choices in creating change, you will produce greater impact and relevance in your community. The Harwood Institute has partnered with some of the world’s largest nonprofit networks including United Way Worldwide, AARP, Goodwill Industries International, the American Library Association, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and others to spread this approach, which is being used across the U.S. and increasingly worldwide.

The Lab was recently redesigned to be more applied, more practical, and more hands-on. You will leave with a clear action plan for things you can do to increase your impact the day you return home. Additionally, all Lab alumni receive:

  • Access to more than 2,000 public innovators worldwide through our Public Innovators Listserv
  • Three months of weekly tools, real world case studies, and tips on using what you’ve learned plus our monthly newsletter and Rich Harwood’s “Redeeming Hope” blog
  • A Public Innovator Toolkit print ready for you to use with your staff and partners
  • A library of videos featuring Rich Harwood that you can use to spread what it means to Turn Outward

The Public Innovators Lab is foundational for any organization seeking to drive change in their community. We encourage you to bring a cross-functional team if possible or at least another colleague to share the experience. The Lab is designed for senior teams or individuals that have responsibility for developing strategy and driving execution.

For more information and to register, visit https://conferences.unitedway.org/content/harwood-public-innovators-lab-0.

PCP Launches 3 New Workshops this Fall

Posted on by
Reply

The good folks with Public Conversations Project (PCP) recently announced that they will offer three new workshops (and one of their classics) over the course of the next season, and we encourage our members to consider attending them! PCP shared the announcement below with us detailing the offerings, and you can find more info on their workshops by clicking here.

PCP new logoPublic Conversations Project: Fall 2015 Workshops

At the core of many of today’s most complex social problems is a breakdown in relationships that leads to mistrust, gridlock, and fractured communities. Our method, Reflective Structured Dialogue, addresses the heart of this breakdown: we work to shift relationships, building the communication skills and trust needed to make action possible and collaboration sustainable. Reflective Structured Dialogue helps participants engage in constructive, often groundbreaking conversations that can restore trust and lay the foundation for collaborative action.

Public Conversations provides workshops in facilitation, dialogue and communication to equip people in this field to communicate more effectively. In addition to our flagship workshop (Power of Dialogue), Public Conversations is offering three new workshops this fall that delve deeper into specific components of our work. To learn more about Public Conversations, find more information on our workshops and continuing education opportunities, and register for our workshops, please visit our website. All of the workshops listed will take place in the Greater Boston area.

Inside Out: Leading from a Connected Place (Oct. 2, 8:30AM – 5:00PM)

Learn how to harness a deep understanding of your sub-personality “parts” and essential “self” to communicate with calmness, curiosity and compassion. This is a specialty workshop combining the best of Public Conversations’ and Internal Family Systems’ approaches to constructive communication across difference.

Power of Dialogue: Constructive Conversations on Divisive Issues (Oct. 22-24, 8:30AM -5:00PM)

Public Conversations’ flagship workshop, the Power of Dialogue is a highly interactive, widely applicable workshop for anyone interested in transforming conflicted conversations – among a working team, in a town hall, on a college campus, and beyond. Participants will build and expand their facilitation skills to create conversations that foster mutual understanding between groups and individuals divided by differences.

The Power of Stories: Moving Beyond “Them and Us” (Dec. 3, 8:30AM – 5:00PM)

Stories are how we make sense of the world. Stories can connect people or – when it’s about “us” vs. “them,” – drive people apart. Learn how to integrate the practice of storytelling and deep listening into facilitated dialogues, classrooms, meetings, and personal relationships. Through stories, we hear and are heard.

Becoming the Communicator You Want to Be (Dec. 10-12, 8:30AM – 5:00PM)

Have relationships that feel stuck? Want to make a dreaded conversation feel hopeful? In this workshop, participants will learn how to reflect, listen, speak, and inquire in ways that help them understand themselves and one another more deeply and communicate more effectively.

About Public Conversations: The Public Conversations Project fosters constructive conversation where there is conflict driven by differences in identity, beliefs, and values. We work locally, nationally, and globally to provide organizations, institutions, and communities dialogue facilitation, training, consultation, and coaching to discover new possibilities for coexistence and collaboration.

Join PACE Webinar on Civic Renewal Movement, 9/23

Posted on by
Reply

We encourage our members to join a webinar this Sept. 23 at 2pm EST to hear two of our distinguished NCDD members Peter Levine and Joan Blades, as well as former NCDD conference keynote Eric Liu discuss the implications a new paper on the civic renewal movement. The webinar, hosted by NCDD member organization PACE, will certainly be of interest to many of our members, so we encourage you to read their announcement below or register here.

PACE LogoOn September 23 at 2 p.m. Eastern, PACE will hold a webinar to present and discuss the recent paper, “America’s Civic Renewal Movement: A View from Organizational Leaders.” Registration is complimentary but required.

This paper explores current sentiments toward civic engagement and identifies opportunities and challenges to expanding our civic infrastructure. This webinar and accompanying conversation will explore philanthropy’s role in supporting and engaging in this movement, and how practitioners perceive foundations’ willingness to partner on these efforts.

Presenters include the report authors, Peter Levine (Tufts University) and Eric Liu (Citizen University), as well as Kelly Born of the Hewlett Foundation and Joan Blades of the Living Room Conversations project.

We hope you will join us for this discussion.

Public Engagement: The Vital Leadership Skill

Posted on by
Reply

We are pleased to share the announcement below about a great workshop led by several NCDD members this October 22. NCDD Supporting Member Mary Gelinas shared this announcement via our great Submit-to-Blog Form. Do you have news you want to share with the NCDD network? Just click here to submit your news post for the NCDD Blog!

Engaging the public in planning and policy making is a vital skill for leaders in all sectors, not just in government.

Join us for a half-day workshop on Public Engagement: The Vital Leadership Skill led by Pete Peterson and Carol Rische on Thursday, Oct. 22nd from 9am to 12pm at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center in Eureka, CA.

Pete Peterson is the director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University (and also an NCDD member). He speaks nationally on issues related to public participation and the use of technology to make government more responsive and transparent.

Carol Rische is the former General Manager of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District where she successfully led an award-winning, community based water resource planning process to address issues facing the District and our community.

If you are interested in becoming more effective in engaging the public in addressing tough issues, this workshop is for you. During this practical and interactive seminar you will learn:

  • A variety of ways to engage the public in meaningful and effective ways
  • The key questions to ask yourself before beginning a public engagement process
  • Criteria to follow while planning a public engagement process
  • How leaders and residents can engage one another more effectively, and
  • Why the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District’s public process so successful.

To register call 707-826-3731 or visit www.humboldt.edu/extended/register.

This session is being hosted by two members of NCDD: Mary Gelinas and Roger James.

Join Journalist & Community Gathering for Civic Impact

Posted on by
Reply

We hope our members will consider attending the Experience Engagement gathering this October 1-4 in Portland. This unique gathering is being supported by NCDD Board member Marla Crockett and NCDD Sustaining Member Peggy Holman, and we encourage you to learn more in the announcement that Peggy recently shared with us below. Take advantage of their freelancer and student rates by registering here!

Experience Engagement

Experience Engagement, How Journalism and Communities Can Thrive Together takes place October 1-4 at the University of Oregon’s facility in Portland, Oregon.

This meeting is unique in both format and intention.

  • Unique in format because it brings together a diversity of people for a peer-based learning exchange, including journalists, community activists, students, educators, researchers, funders, artists, social entrepreneurs, librarians, technologists and urban planners.
  • Unique in intention because we see it as a working session to not only meet personal and organizational needs but to advance the field by producing an interactive field guide – a site that articulates the best of what we learn from each other, for example, principles and practices for engagement and evaluating its impact.

We are looking for a mix that would include about 40% journalists, 40% community connectors and story tellers, and 20% students, academics, and people from organizations that support journalists and community connectors.

Please bring your brilliance to the conversation on community engagement and civic life. Together, we can make visible the best of what is and imagine a great future for news and information that supports communities to thrive.

Space is limited to 125 people so register soon.

To learn more or to register, please visit www.journalismthatmatters.org/experienceengagement.

Teachers: Register for Mathews Center’s FREE Civic Learning Workshop

Posted on by
Reply

Our members who work in education should take note that the David Mathews Center for Civic Life – an NCDD organizational member – is hosting another one of its Teachers’ Institutes in Montevallo, AL this October 1-2. This FREE workshop aims to help teachers increasing civic learning in their classrooms, but there are only 40 spots, so register ASAP! Check out the National Issues Forums Institute‘s blog post about it below, or find their original post here.

NIF logo

The David Mathews Center for Civic Life in Montevallo, Alabama, has announced a fall, 2015, Teachers’ Institute to be held October 1-2, 2015.

The following is from a recent newsletter from the David Mathews Center for Civic Life:

The Mathews Center is pleased to announce that registration is now open for our Fall 2015 Teachers’ Institute. Teachers’ Institute is an interactive professional development experience designed to equip teachers with skills and tools to increase active civic learning in the classroom and beyond. The workshop will be held October 1-2, 2015, at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Sponsors include the Mathews Center, A+ Education Partnership, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and Alabama Public Television’s “IQ” Learning Network, as part of its series, Project C: Lessons from the American Civil Rights Movement.

Registration is free, but space is limited. Reserve your spot today. Contact DMC Assistant Program Director Blake Evans at bevans@mathewscenter.org for more information.

You can find the original version of this NIFI post at www.nifi.org/en/groups/david-mathews-center-civic-life-announces-fall-2015-teachers-institute.

Register for Aug. 5th Confab Call with Matt Leighninger & Tina Nabatchi

Posted on by
Reply

As we mentioned last week, we preparing to host another great NCDD Confab Call this Wednesday, August 5th from 2-3pm EST, this time with D&D gurus Matt Leighninger, executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, and Tina Nabatchi, associate professor of public administration and international affairs at the Maxwell Confab bubble imageSchool of Citizenship and Public Affairs! The call will focus on Matt & Tina’s new book, Public Participation for 21st Century Democracy. Have you registered yet??

You won’t want to miss this call because not only will Matt & Tina be sharing some of their knowledge about the most cutting edge D&D practices, but they will also be welcoming input from our community to help improve and expand upon the book.

Make sure to mark your calendars and register today because spots on this free call are filling up! We can’t wait to have you all join us on the 5th.

Never participated in one of our confab calls? You can learn more about what they’re like by visiting www.ncdd.org/events/confabs.

Register for IAP2 Trainings from the Participation Company

Posted on by
Reply

Our friends at the Participation Company are offering three great trainings this year, all of which NCDD members can get a discount on! The trainings are given within the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) framework and are a great opportunity to earn an official IAP2 certification. Learn more about the trainings in the announcement below or by clicking here.

Upcoming IAP2 Training Events in 2015-16

If you work in communications, public relations, public affairs, planning, public outreach and understanding, community development, advocacy, or lobbying, this training will help you to increase your skills and to be of even greater value to your employer.

This is your chance to join the many thousands of practitioners worldwide who have completed the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) certificate training.

Foundations in Public Participation certificate program (5-Day):

PLANNING for Effective Public Participation (3-Days) and/or *TECHNIQUES for Effective Public Participation (2-Days).

  • December 14-18, 2015 Chicago, IL     Trainer: John Godec
  • February 1-5, 2016 Arlington, VA      Trainer: Doug Sarno

*The 3-Day Planning is a prerequisite to TECHNIQUES

Learn more about the Foundations training and registration clicking here.

Emotion, Outrage and Public Participation (EOP2): Moving from Rage to Reason (2 days):

  • October 28-29, 2015 Orlando, FL     Trainer: John Godec

Learn more about the EOP2 training and registration by clicking here.

The Participation Company (TPC) offers discounts to NCDD members. Visit www.theparticipationcompany.com/training for more information and on-line registration.

Future Search Learning Exchange Offers NCDD Discount

Posted on by
Reply

The Future Search Network, an NCDD member organization, recently shared the opportunity for NCDDers to get a great discount on two workshops they are offering later this year. These two workshops will be offered this Aug. 17-23 in Berlin, Germany and again from Dec. 7-11 in Philadelphia, PA. The early bird deadline ends August 4th for NCDDers, so make sure to register ASAP. You can learn more from the FSN announcement below.

FutureSearch-logo

The Annual Future Search Learning Exchange

We hope you can join us! Future Search has events scheduled for August in Berlin, Germany and for December in Philadelphia, PA.

The theme of this year’s Learning Exchange is “Working With Future Search to Address our World’s Challenges”.

The Learning Exchange is for anyone who is interested in applying Future Search principles in their work and their lives – not only for those who regularly lead Future Searches. This event is open to members of the Future Search Network and to practitioners working with the principles of Future Search across other large scale, whole systems approaches to change.

As always, the Learning Exchange is your opportunity to:

  • Meet Future Search practitioners and advocates and hear their stories
  • Share your experience of Future Search and exchange ideas
  • Learn about what we are doing as a Network around the world
  • Reflect on who we are touching through our work
  • Explore how people are using the principles and philosophy of Future Search in meetings of all sizes, every day
  • Re-energize your practice and yourself, and have fun!

***We will extend both workshop early registration rates to August 4th for NCDD Members – SAVE up to $700 on tuition!*** 

The Learning Exchange will include two separate workshops in both locations. Here are the details on both:

Managing a Future Search – a Leadership Workshop
August 17-20, Berlin, Germany
December 7-9, Philadelphia, PA, USA .

This workshop is for leaders and facilitators who want to learn how applying Future Search principles and methodology enables an organization or community to transform its capability for action. You will experience this highly successful strategic planning method used worldwide by organizations and communities for social, technological and economic planning.
Learn more & register

Lead More, Control Less – a Master Facilitation Class
August 22-23, Berlin, Germany
December 10-11, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Based on the upcoming new book by Sandra Janoff and Marvin Weisbord, “Lead More, Control Less: 8 Advanced Leadership skills that Overturn Convention”. Learn about personal and structural issues for leading interactive meetings. Explore the realms of practice beyond traditional models, methods and techniques.
Learn more & register

 

Join the “Going Viral” Online Engagement Webinar, Jul. 29

Posted on by
Reply

We encourage you to mark you calendars and register for a useful webinar being offered next week by MetroQuest, an NCDD member organization. MetroQuest is hosting this online event titled “Going Viral: How Your Project Can Engage Thousands Online” on Wednesday, July 29th from 1 – 1:45pm EST.

This webinar will be a quick and easy way to learn more about how to engage a bigger online audience, and we know it could be helpful to many of our members.

Here’s how MetroQuest describes the event.

This free webinar will explore case studies of planning projects with various transportation agencies that successfully used online technology to increase the reach of their public involvement efforts. Critical success factors, key strategies and best practices will be shared and discussed. The presentation will be followed by an open Q&A session.
This webinar will include case studies from:

We encourage you to learn more and register for the event by visiting www.metroquest.com/webinar-going-viral-how-your-project-can-engage-thousands-online.