Category Archives: field news

Listen Now to Tech Tuesday Recording Featuring Ethelo!

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Last week, we held our first Tech Tuesday of 2019 and took a deep dive into the participatory decision-making platform, Ethelo! We were joined by 40 participants as founder and CEO of Ethelo, John Richardson, shared the ins and outs of this civic tech tool that empowers groups to collaborate on complex challenges. If you weren’t able to make the call, we encourage you to listen to the recording of it here.

We first learned about Ethelo back in 2014 when the platform was still in its beta form and NCDD members had the opportunity to test it out then. It is phenomenal to see how robust Ethelo has evolved over the last five years and we’re grateful to John for showing us its new capacities!

On the call, John shared how the collaborative decision-making platform inherently brings in participants’ values into the process, allows space for people to weigh priorities, engage with each other, and take action on complex issues. Ethelo is great for any size group or organization and can be applied in business settings like project management and strategic planning, and in community applications like policy-making and participatory budgeting. We learned about an exciting new development on the call –  Ethelo is merging with the budget simulator software tool, Citizen Budget (used by 1/3 of the Canadian municipalities) and will now offer the Citizen Budget tools as part of the Ethelo platform. John shares a special offer for NCDD members that we encourage our network to utilize, but you have to listen to the recording to find out the details!

Here are some of our favorite takeaways from the Tech Tuesday call:

  • Ethelo started as a non-profit organization in 2011 with a vision to improve democratic policy-making using Internet technology.
  • The platform gives participants a meaningful role in the decision-making process, enabling them to evaluate options, discuss and add ideas, weigh priorities and do trade-offs.
  • What makes Ethelo unique is the voting function and ability to prioritize the options in order of support (AND with multiple visual options on the results)
  • Ethelo brings together a decision-making framework where participants apply the same criteria to whatever is being evaluated and prioritize the criteria (this brings in peoples’ values to the process).

THANK YOU to John and everyone who joined this call! We recorded the whole presentation if you were unable to join us, which you can access here. We had several excellent questions offered in the chat, which you can find the transcript of here.

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To learn more about NCDD’s Tech Tuesday series and hear recordings of past calls, please visit www.ncdd.org/tech-tuesdays. Archives access is a benefit of being an NCDD member, so ensure your membership is up-to-date (or click here to join). If you have an idea for a future Tech Tuesday event, please email keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org with your great ideas!

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!

Essential Partners Celebrates New Co-Executive Directors

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In case you didn’t read the announcement earlier this week, Essential Partners – an NCDD sponsoring organization, has some big changes happening! After four years in leadership, Parisa Parsa will be stepping down as Executive Director of Essential Partners, though she will continue to bring her wisdom and intellect to the field. In her place, long-time EP staffers, Katie Hyten and John Sarrouf, will become Co-Executive Directors of the organization. Join us in wishing a huge congratulations to Katie and John as they move into their new roles, and all the best to Parisa in her future endeavors – we can’t wait to hear the great things she’ll do next! And if you are looking to try some of EP’s trainings, we want to remind folks that NCDD members receive a discount! We encourage you to read the announcement in the post below and find the original on the EP blog here.

Announcing Changes at Essential Partners

After four years of visionary leadership, Parisa Parsa has made the decision to step down from her role as Executive Director. She will continue to serve as an experienced and trusted practitioner in the field.

With creativity, intellect, integrity, and heart, Parisa ushered in a new era for this organization. Her time at Essential Partners has been marked by deepening impact, innovative partnerships, and institutional successes.

In her departure, Parisa embodies the rock star’s mantra, Always leave them wanting more.

Essential Partners remains in strong and familiar hands. John Sarrouf, formerly Director of Program Development, and Katie Hyten, formerly Director of Program Operations, have been invited to serve as joint Executive Directors by our board of directors.

Many of you have worked with Katie and John in the past. You may have met them in the field collaborating with partners, while designing custom projects to meet a community’s needs, or in our office leading workshops. Katie and John have been crucial to the growth, development, and impact of our work across the globe.

This moment of transition has also provided the staff and board with an opportunity to reflect on the organization itself. Fortunately, we have a set of tools to help us do that.

Our trademark approach, Reflective Structured Dialogue, has provided a space to share our hopes and concerns and to explore shifting responsibilities. It has allowed us to be heard and to hear one another, to be understood more fully and to better understand one another. It provided the necessary foundation for effective collective action.

The results of this process will be largely indiscernible outside our offices. We will continue to build upon Parisa’s brilliant contributions, the living legacy of our founders, and Laura R. Chasin’s vision especially. The organization’s structure, leadership, and staff roles will be adjusted in response to the ongoing evolution and emerging needs of our work.

Essential Partners’ mission has never felt more urgent, and we remain as committed as ever to repairing the fabric of communities that have been frayed by conflict.

If you have questions about any of this, feel free to contact us.

You can find the original version of this article on the Essential Partners’ blog at www.whatisessential.org/blog/announcing-changes-essential-partners.

Online D&D Events from MetroQuest, Nat’l Civic League, Living Room Conversations, and more!

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This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs MetroQuest, National Civic League, and Living Room Conversations, as well as, from Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).

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:

MetroQuest webinar – Public Engagement Jackpot | How Your Agency Can Win Big

Wednesday, April 24th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

The stakes are high in planning for regional growth in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County. On April 24, Truckee Meadows RPA will reveal the winning strategy for online public engagement! You’ll see resident survey data in action, providing a clear path to the best regional plans. Jeremy Smith will share how TMRPA used public engagement to build broad public support for infill development in core areas to stop the sprawl. You’ll also hear how Lauren Knox used 53,290+ survey data points to inform their 20-year Truckee Meadows Regional Plan.

REGISTER: http://go.metroquest.com/Public-Engagement-Jackpot-How-Your-Agency-Can-Win-Big.html

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) webinar – Lessons Learned from 3 Decades of Peace Education Work

Wednesday, April 24th
12 am Pacific, 3 am Eastern

During this webinar, peace education expert Loreta Castro will present lessons she has learned over the course of her peace education work, including insights and suggestions that might be helpful to educators who are in similar contexts.

REGISTER: www.gppac.net/peace-education-webinar-series

National Civic League AAC Promising Practices Webinar – Community Approaches to Inclusive Healthy Housing

Thursday, April 25th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Join the National Civic League to learn more about two organizations that are bringing healthy housing to their communities. Suzanne Mineck, President of the Mid Iowa Health Foundation and Emily Yu, Executive Director of BUILD Health Challenge will speak about Healthy Homes Des Moines and the BUILD Health Challenge. Leroy Moore, Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Tampa Housing Authority will join us to talk about project ENCORE!

REGISTER: www.nationalcivicleague.org/resource-center/promising-practices/

Living Room Conversations webinar – Tribalism 101: Next Door Strangers

Sunday, April 28
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

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? 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. Please see the conversation guide for this topic.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/online-living-room-conversation-tribalism-101-next-door-strangers-6/

PBP Releases New Data Map on Participatory Budgeting

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The Participatory Budgeting Project, an NCDD member org, has developed a new map of the participatory budgeting (PB) processes happening across the US and Canada, both current and past efforts. PB is a process in which community members democratically vote on a portion of the public budget, and as the map shows, the process has been growing rapidly across the country. We encourage you to learn more in the article below, view the live map here, and find the original version of this piece on PBP’s site here.

Speaking of cool tech tools, make sure you register for our FREE April Tech Tuesday happening in just a few hours (from 2-3pm Eastern, 11am-12pm Pacific), where we will explore the new participatory decision-making platform, Ethelo. You won’t want to miss it – register ASAP!

New Data-Driven Map Shows Spread of Participation in Democracy

As we celebrate the first 30 years of participatory budgeting (PB) in the world and the first 10 years of the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), we reflect on how far and wide PB has spread–and how it continues to grow! We’re thrilled to introduce a new tool to help us look back as we plan for the next 30+ years of PB. And so we’re introducing a map of PB across the U.S. and Canada. Each dot on the map represents a place where democracy has been deepened by bringing people together to decide together how to invest public resources in their community. (Below is a screenshot of the map, but make sure you view the real interactive map here!)

How can you get the most data out of this map?

Try playing with the “widgets” located to the right of the map that visualize different classes of data.

  • By default all of the processes show up first but you can select any particular year you are interested in.
  • You can also view a count of how many PB processes of a particular sort took place within the portion of the map you are viewing. For example, you can find out that in 2018 there were 56 PB city-wide, county-wide, and district-level processes in the US and Canada–our biggest year for PB yet!
  • Or, try selecting one year and zooming in to your own neighborhood to find active or pending PB processes in your community. If you click on a dot you can get more info about the process, such as how large the budget was, how many voters turned out, and where to find its website.

The map is linked to the database that PBP maintains to try to track every PB process in the U.S. and Canada. Inevitably some PB processes aren’t on our radar.

If you know that PB exists somewhere not seen on our map, or you have additional data about a PB process, please fill out this form to let us know!

If we listen closely, we hear messages from this data.

This data sheds light on larger questions, such as what is the relationship between the size of PB budgets and the number of people who participate? Looking at PBP data on processes in counties, cities, and urban districts, we find a positive correlation between the size of the PB budget per person and the number of people who take part in a PB vote (r=.22, n=245). In other words, where officials make a stronger commitment to funding PB, more people take part in the process–all the more reason to continue growing PB!

This year, as we reflect on the first 30 years of PB and the first ten years of PBP, we also look ahead to filling out more of this map. Will you join us as we celebrate and vision – by joining us at our Anniversary Benefit on May 23rd or becoming a PB Amplifier?

You can find the original version of this article on The Participatory Budgeting Project site at www.participatorybudgeting.org/pb-map/.

Don’t Miss Tomorrow’s Tech Tuesday with Ethelo – Register Now!

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We want to remind our network of our next Tech Tuesday call happening tomorrow April 23rd from 2-3pm Eastern, 11am-12pm Pacific. This free webinar will explore the digital platform, Ethelo, a participatory decision-making space that leads to higher transparency among participants and greater overall buy-in of the process. Register ASAP to save your spot on the call!

In this webinar, we will be joined by John Richardson, founder and CEO of Ethelo. John will give a quick overview of the software and walk through some real-world examples of how its been used by different clients to engage stakeholders in solving contentious, real-life problems. Ethelo is particularly helpful for stakeholder engagement and communications professionals in the government, business and nonprofit space who need to engage large groups of people on sensitive and challenging issues. When an upfront investment in a fair, inclusive process is critical to prevent opposition down the road, Ethelo provides a robust and proven solution.

“Ethelo is a dramatic new technology that can facilitate democratic citizen participation in political decision making. As people insist on more say in the decisions that can affect them, Ethelo can make modern citizen engagement possible and practical.” – Judy Rebick, Founder Rabble

About our presenter

John Richardson is an internationally recognized social entrepreneur, with a background in mathematics, law, political policy and technology. In 2005, he was awarded an Ashoka Fellowship for his work in creating high-impact social initiatives. John and his colleagues founded Ethelo to develop online approaches for participatory decision-making that could scale to large groups. John is dedicated to advancing new approaches to digital engagement and direct democracy.

This will be a great chance to learn more about this . Don’t miss out – register today!

Tech Tuesdays are a series of learning events from NCDD focused on technology for engagement. These 1-hour events are designed to help dialogue and deliberation practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them. You do not have to be a member of NCDD to participate in our Tech Tuesday learning events.

D&D Event Roundup and NCDD Tech Tuesday Next Week!

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This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs New Directions Collaborative, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice, Living Room Conversations, MetroQuest, and National Civic League, as well as, from International Association of Facilitators and Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). We are excited to offer our upcoming Tech Tuesday next week, April 23rd, where we will learn more about the participatory decision platform, Ethelo. Register ASAP to save your spot for this free call and learn more in the post below.

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: New Directions, Zehr Institute, LRC, MetroQuest, NCL, IAF, GPPAC, & NCDD April Tech Tuesday feat Ethelo

New Directions Collaborative webinar  – Working as an Ecosystem

Wednesday, April 17th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Activating the full potential within an organization, community, or network requires us to see how our work fits into a larger whole and how we can connect what are often fragmented “parts.” Some wisdom, collective strength, and innovative solutions can only be activated when we engage and connect all parts of an organization, community, or system.

After working with many collaborative initiatives and seeking out tools and processes, Beth Tener of New Directions Collaborative, has combined what she has learned in this introductory workshop to build skills in working as an ecosystem. In this workshop, you will learn: principles of how systems work, practical tools to help people “see the system” and make relationships visible, participatory processes for how to connect and cross-pollinate the work and wisdom of diverse perspectives, and how and why accessing and engaging marginalized voices is critical to this work.

REGISTER: www.ndcollaborative.com/events/

Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice – Love and Living Soil – Restoring Justice for Land and Community

Wednesday, April 17th
1:30pm Pacific, 4:30pm Eastern
Guest: Jonathan McRay
Host: Johonna Turner

Restorative justice is a social movement, but it must also be an ecological one in order to answer its guiding questions: What are the needs of those harmed and those who harmed? What’s the process we can participate in to hold ourselves accountable and heal? What are the root causes of the harmful behavior in the community, and culture? What are the structures and relationships we desire? The truth is we cannot have restorative justice without restoring our relationship to land and water. However, this integration can’t be a messy mashup of mainstream environmentalism and social justice. Instead, we’re talking about power and sustenance, the ways we order our lives with nurturance or with exploitation. This is about what makes for healthy community: the ability to love, be loved, and be free from violence and waste – from hunger and landlessness to colonization and white supremacy – so we can meet our needs with a sustaining and nurturing power in which all creatures have enough.

REGISTER: http://zehr-institute.org/webinars/love-and-living-soil.html

International Association of Facilitators webinar – 2019 Facilitation Impact Awards

Wednesday, April 17th
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

Join our webinar to explore any questions you have about how to prepare a submission. Our guest awardee is Tamara Eberle who has, with her clients, received 4 Platinum and 2 Gold Facilitation Impact Awards over the past 5 years. A great achievement Tamara! If you can’t join us feel free to send any questions you have for Tamara to fia@iaf-world.org. A recording of the session will be available.

REGISTER: www.iaf-world.org/site/events/webinar-2019-facilitation-impact-awards

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

Thursday, April 18th
1 pm Pacific, 4 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. This training will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. A link to join the conversation will be sent to participants by the Wednesday before this training.

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

NCDD April Tech Tuesday featuring Ethelo

Tuesday, April 23rd
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

In this free one-hour webinar, we will be joined by John Richardson, founder and CEO of Ethelo, a participatory decision platform. John will give a quick overview of the software and walk through some real-world examples of how its been used by different clients to engage stakeholders in solving contentious, real-life problems. Ethelo is particularly helpful for stakeholder engagement and communications professionals in the government, business and nonprofit space who need to engage large groups of people on sensitive and challenging issues.

REGISTER: http://ncdd.org/29489

Living Room Conversations webinar – Status and Privilege

Tuesday, April 23rd
3:30 pm Pacific, 6:30 pm Eastern

We joke about “keeping up with the Joneses” — but there’s real competition in our society for status and the accompanying privilege. How do we decide what we most value that bestows this status? While our country seems to favor wealth, there are other forms of status and privilege. What privilege do each of us enjoy? And how does that correspond with our status? This conversation examines our own status and how we use our status in everyday life. From education to wealth to gender to race, let’s talk about what we have…and what we desire. Please see the conversation guide for this topic.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/online-living-room-conversation-status-and-privilege-2/

MetroQuest webinar – Public Engagement Jackpot | How Your Agency Can Win Big

Wednesday, April 24th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

The stakes are high in planning for regional growth in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County. On April 24, Truckee Meadows RPA will reveal the winning strategy for online public engagement! You’ll see resident survey data in action, providing a clear path to the best regional plans. Jeremy Smith will share how TMRPA used public engagement to build broad public support for infill development in core areas to stop the sprawl. You’ll also hear how Lauren Knox used 53,290+ survey data points to inform their 20-year Truckee Meadows Regional Plan.

REGISTER: http://go.metroquest.com/Public-Engagement-Jackpot-How-Your-Agency-Can-Win-Big.html

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) webinar – Lessons Learned from 3 Decades of Peace Education Work

Wednesday, April 24th
12 am Pacific, 3 am Eastern

During this webinar, peace education expert Loreta Castro will present lessons she has learned over the course of her peace education work, including insights and suggestions that might be helpful to educators who are in similar contexts.

REGISTER: www.gppac.net/peace-education-webinar-series

National Civic League AAC Promising Practices Webinar – Community Approaches to Inclusive Healthy Housing

Thursday, April 25th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Join the National Civic League to learn more about two organizations that are bringing healthy housing to their communities. Suzanne Mineck, President of the Mid Iowa Health Foundation and Emily Yu, Executive Director of BUILD Health Challenge will speak about Healthy Homes Des Moines and the BUILD Health Challenge. Leroy Moore, Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Tampa Housing Authority will join us to talk about project ENCORE!

REGISTER: www.nationalcivicleague.org/resource-center/promising-practices/

Welcome to the Newest NCDD Sponsoring Member: The Courageous Leadership Project

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We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the Courageous Leadership Project to the Coalition as a Sponsoring Member! It is through the generous support of our members that we are able to thrive as a Coalition and work to serve you as best as possible. Huge thank you to Stephani Roy McCallum and the Courageous Leadership Project team for joining!

The Courageous Leadership Project helps people find their inner leader so they can have brave honest conversations and find solutions to the challenges they face in their lives, organizations, and communities. They offer several training opportunities to strengthen skills around having more challenging conversations and learning about the IAP2 Strategies for Public Opposition & Outrage in Public Participation.

The Courageous Leadership Project is generously offering fantastic discounts to NCDD members on their upcoming trainings, both in-person and online. There’s a special opportunity to enter to win free registration on their next month’s event, GATHER: 5 days of Brave, Honest Conversations ONLINE, happening May 13-17th. Winners for this unique NCDD giveaway will be selected on Friday, April 19th, so make sure you enter ASAP!

We strongly encourage everyone to learn more the Courageous Leadership Project and these special opportunities in the post below, and explore their website here.

About The Courageous Leadership Project

At the Courageous Leadership Project we bring our expertise in leadership development, coaching and decades of experience in high stakes, high emotion engagement to create opportunities for better results. Stephani Roy McCallum is the Chief Storm Rider at the Courageous Leadership Project, where she harnesses the energy of conflict and high emotion and rides it to clearer skies.  Working around the globe we help leaders have brave, honest conversations™ about the challenges they face to find solutions – together.

Bravely leading is in you. You just need to find it. Build your skills & knowledge for Brave, Honest Conversations™ in your life, organization and community.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

ONLINE TRAININGS

Win one FREE registration to GATHER!

We’re thrilled to offer our membership the opportunity to win one FREE registration at GATHER: 5 days of Brave, Honest Conversations™ ONLINE May 13-17. Each day there will be a live webinar where Stephani Roy McCallum from the Courageous Leadership Project will walk through the day’s topic, what it is, why it matters and how to do it. You will get a chance to ask questions and get answers. At the end of each day you’ll have access to resources, exercises and additional work to dive deeper into brave, honest conversations. Click here to enter for this registration giveaway!

It takes courage and channeling a little #braveaf in your life to say yes to growing as a leader! If this sounds like an opportunity you’d be interested in, please click here to enter your name to WIN. Winner will be drawn on April 19 so don’t delay!

Watch this short video to learn more about GATHER. You can find information on the schedule, speakers, topics and more on our website.  Do you have questions? Check out our FAQs. Register here!

NCDD members receive $50 off. Use discount code NCDD50.

IN PERSON TRAININGS

Brave, Honest Conversations: Bravely leading challenging conversations

April 17-18, 2019 – Whitehorse, YT, Canada
July 18-19, 2019 – Victoria, BC, Canada

Brave, Honest Conversations™ are a way of talking together, working together and living. When we show up with courage, compassion and integrity the possibilities are endless. The world needs more leaders who dare to make a lasting difference.

It’s time to build your leadership skills – to practice courage, compassion and responsibility for impact. When you build your capacity to lead others, groups and the world around you, you create the momentum for positive change and the opportunity to move from stuck to possible. Foundational to leading others is the ability to lead yourself, to practice courage, compassion and kindness for yourself, and to make choices that allow you to bring your best self to the world. Learn new ways of being and showing up in tough conversations, and also find some new tangible, practical tools to improve your work in the world. Register here!

NCDD members receive $100 off. Use discount code NCDD100.

IAP2 Strategies for Public Opposition & Outrage in Public Participation

May 27-28, 2019 – Calgary, AB, Canada
July 16-17, 2019 – Victoria, BC, Canada

This two-day training course combines the work of risk communication expert Dr. Peter Sandman with the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) core concepts for meaningful and effective public engagement.

Development of this course for IAP2 was led by Stephani Roy McCallum in 2009, and an update of course materials in 2017 reflects the current context of today’s charged, polarized environment. The workshop is practical, hands-on participatory mix of video, lecture, group exercises and decades of real-world experience in engaging the public in high stakes, high conflict situations. Register here!

NCDD members receive $100 off. Use discount code NCDD100. 

FREE WEBINAR: Brave, Honest Conversations™

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?

Join us on one of the following 2019 dates: March 6, June 12, July 10, and August 21. All webinars are an hour and 15 minutes long and start at noon Eastern Time. Register here!

You can learn more about The Courageous Leadership Project at www.bravelylead.com/.

New Jobs & Internships in the Dialogue & Deliberation Field

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Did you know that every week we compile the hottest jobs and internships related to dialogue, deliberation, civic tech, and public engagement work?! We work to stay up on the most recent opportunities and send them out at the beginning of the week on our Making-A-Living listserv.

While the Making-A-Living listserv is a benefit of being an NCDD member, we have been finding such a robust line-up of jobs and internships that we wanted to lift these up here on the blog. If you’d like to receive these weekly updates and are an NCDD member, sign up for the Making-A-Living listserv here. If you are not a member of NCDD, then we strongly encourage you to join! Learn more about the additional benefits of being a member by clicking here.

Remember if your org is hiring or seeking interns, to let us know by sending the postings to keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org. Good luck to all applicants!

Your Weekly D&D Jobs & Internship List: April 8, 2019

*NEW – The City of Fort Collins (Colorado) is hiring for two D&D related positions.

  • Public Engagement Specialist – read more
  • Public Engagement Specialist (resource development and fundraising) – read more

*NEW – CD&P looking to hire a Public Engagement Specialist. Read more here.

*NEW – The Center for Election Science is seeking a Director of Campaigns and Advocacy (Entirely Remote/Virtual Position). Read more: https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit-job/8e3c2895a8544153861abc34a268f0e2-director-of-campaigns-and-advocacy-entirely-remotevirtual-position-the-center-for-election-science-redding

Democracy Fund is hiring for several positions below (in DC) – read more: https://www.democracyfund.org/page/jobs

  • *NEW Accounting Manager
  • Director of People
  • Team Coordinator, Public Square Program
  • Senior Advisor Government Accountability
  • Senior Associate, Cybersecurity Policy
  • Senior Associate, Public Square Program
  • Staff Accountant
  • Communications and Network Internship (Summer 2019)
  • Elections Program Internship (Summer 2019)
  • Governance Program Internship (Summer 2019)
  • Public Square Program Internship (Summer 2019)
  • Strategy, Impact, and Learning Internship (Summer 2019)

Knight Foundation looking to hire for several positions… Read more: https://knightfoundation.org/about/employment/

  • *NEW Executive Assistant to the VP of Journalism
  • Assistant to the Vice President/Communities and Impact

*NEW – The University System of New Hampshire is seeking a Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Assistant. Read more: https://jobs.usnh.edu/postings/32202

**ICYMI – below are the positions we shared recently!

SFU Public Square is recruiting for Spring 2019 Event Volunteers (Vancouver, BC). There are opportunities between April 10-18th! Read more: http://www.sfu.ca/publicsquare/students/volunteer-program.html

Change Research is seeking a part-time Operations and Sales Support Specialist in their Berkeley, CA office. Read more here.

RepresentUS is hiring for several positions – read more: https://represent.us/careers/

  • Associate Administrative Director
  • Digital Content Producer
  • National Media Strategist
  • Online Campaigner
  • VP of Development
  • Communications Intern (Summer 2019)
  • Digital Campaigns Intern (Summer 2019)
  • Law Clerk (Summer 2019)
  • Organizing Intern (Summer 2019)
  • Political Intern (Summer 2019)
  • Statewide Campaign Manager
  • Statewide Field Director
  • Unrig 2019 Local Consultant

Democracy Works has several positions and internships available (various locations). Read more: https://www.democracy.works/current-openings

  • Chief Development Officer

Generation Citizen is hiring for several positions – read more: https://generationcitizen.org/join-us/careers-internships/

  • Senior Director of Development Strategy (in either San Francisco, New York, or Boston)
  • Program Associate (in NYC)
  • Development OneStar VISTA (in Austin, TX)
  • The FAO Schwarz Fellowship (in Boston, MA)

Race Forward looking to hire for several positions (various locations). Read more: https://www.raceforward.org/about/employment

  • GARE West Project Manager

Net Impact runs a jobs-internship board, find it: https://www.netimpact.org/jobs.

Democracy Fund’s electiononline has LOTS of positions in various cities across the country. Read more: https://electionline.org/jobs-marketplace/

Careers in Government has several engagement & communication-related opportunities. Use the keyword search at https://www.careersingovernment.com/.

April Tech Tuesday and the Weekly Online Event Roundup

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Save the date! Yesterday, we announced our April TechTuesday featuring Ethelo for April 23rd at 11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern. Register for this free call and learn more about this digital platform which works to create better outcomes through participatory decision making and helps stakeholders work through complex issues.

This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs  MetroQuest, National Issues Forums Institute, Bridge Alliance, and Living Room Conversations; and a reminder to consider hosting or joining one of the many events happening during the National Week of Conversation, happening this Friday, April 5th -13th. We also have online events from Campus Compact, International Associate for Public Participation, and International Association of Facilitators.

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!

Online D&D Events: Campus Compact, Nat’l Week of Conversations, IAP2, MetroQuest, NIFI, IAF, Bridge Alliance, LRC, & April NCDD Tech Tuesday featuring Ethelo

Campus Compact webinar – Integrating Civic Outcomes Across a Major or Program: Curriculum design and mapping for civic learning

Thursday, April 4th
12 pm Pacific, 3 pm Eastern

In this webinar attendees will focus on identifying, articulating, and mapping civic learning and developmental outcomes (civic identity, civic-mindedness, civic agency, civic literacy, intercultural competency, etc.) for their program of study or major. A curriculum map is a tool to assure the content of a program of study or major is being presented and assessed, all content is linked to learning goals (e.g. institutional, accreditor), and that content is sufficient to reach learning and developmental goals. A curriculum mapping exercise can show gaps in learning, overlaps in content, and indicate where weaknesses or opportunities can and should be addressed.

REGISTER: https://compact.org/event/integrating-civic-outcomes-across-major-program-curriculum-design-mapping-civic-learning/

National Week of Conversation Happening April 5th-13th

NWOC is a bold annual occasion when people with diverse perspectives #ListenFirst to understand. Through in-person and virtual conversations exploring any topic of interest, people of all stripes intentionally convene with the goal of mending our frayed social fabric and revitalizing America together. We are encouraging everyone and anyone to reach out to neighbors, family and friends, and form your own conversations. To connect with this sweeping cross country movement, you can host or join a conversation during NWOC 2019, April 5-13. Use the #ListenFirst hashtag to invite others!

LEARN MORE: http://ncdd.org/29312

IAP2 Monthly Webinar: Victoria Encore – “Creating Communications And P2 Roadmaps”

Tuesday, April 9th
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

P2 and Communications are closely related and yet not the same. Understanding the differences for these disciplines along with the overlaps can help us to do both more successfully. This webinar — a reprise from the session at the 2018 IAP2 North American Conference in September — looks at the way we design programs of communications and P2 that are truly integrated and play to the strengths of each discipline. You’ll learn how to create a roadmap for your communications and P2 planning that illustrates how they come together and when they diverge. Walk away with a tool that you can use for your own practice to enhance both your P2 and communications practices.

REGISTER: https://iap2usa.org/event-3167774

MetroQuest webinar – Celebrating Women | Balanced Engagement for Equitable Plans 

Wednesday, April 10th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

Online tools are a critical part of the public engagement toolbox. This webinar will help you optimize your online engagement for the best results. MetroQuest has become the most widely used online public engagement software and it’s time to learn from the best performing case studies. You’ll learn the critical success factors to help you replicate the exceptional results that agencies and firms have been able to achieve – unprecedented levels of participation, broad demographic reach, informed public input, and actionable results. This comprehensive session is the fastest way to get up-to-date.

REGISTER: http://go.metroquest.com/Optimizing-Online-Engagement-with-MetroQuest-2019-04-10.html

National Issues Forums Institute Deliberation Day

Wednesday, April 10th
Forums start at: 10am ET, 12:30p ET, 4p ET, 9p ET.

Join us on Deliberation Day, for four back-to-back Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberative forums during the National Week of Conversation. In each forum, we’ll be talking about the new NIFI issue guide “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?”.

REGISTER: http://ncdd.org/29451

*NIFI is also holding several college student CGA forum series during the National Week of Conversation, that we encourage folks to participate in! Learn more here.

International Association of Facilitators webinar – IAF Methods Library

Wednesday, April 10th
3 am Pacific, 6 am Eastern

Come and join us to learn more about one of the most practical resources the IAF has to offer: The IAF Methods Library. This library is a compilation of methods, activities and exercises curated and carefully reviewed.

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

Bridge Alliance webinar – Peer Learning Session: The Fundamentals of Fundraising with Take Back Our Republic
*this webinar is for Bridge Alliance members only – learn more here

Thursday, April 11th
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

The Bridge Alliance Education Fund is proud to host its next Peer Learning Session with Whitney Armentor of Take Back Our Republic! On April 11th @ 2 PM EST, Whitney will be covering the one subject that every non-profit is interested in — how to bring in funding. Specifically, Whitney will be teaching “The Fundamentals of Fundraising.” I’ll let her explain further: “Does the idea of asking for money make you break out in a sweat? Does the word “fun” being in fundraising seem wrong to you. Join us for a webinar on April 11th to learn how raising money doesn’t have to be intimidating. We’ll be discussing the demographics and science of giving, how the donor cycle works, and other tips and tricks to the trade to help you feel more confident when making the ask. “

RSVP for this peer session through the Bridge Alliance site member page sign-in.

Living Room Conversations webinar – Tribalism 101: Next Door Strangers

Saturday, April 13th
12:30 pm Pacific, 3:30 pm Eastern

Join us for a free online (using Zoom) Living Room Conversation on the topic of Tribalism. Please see the conversation guide for this topic. Some of the questions explored include: Name one or more groups you feel at home or strongly identify with (where you find a sense of belonging and/or feel stronger together). What generalizations do you make about other groups? How do you evaluate or check the validity of your generalizations, if at all? How important is it to you that your generalizations are accurate? Some groups come together based on sharing a common culture, vision, or enemy. What is the commonality for your group? What need does your group fulfill in your life?
. Some of the questions explored include: What norms do you follow when expressing your opinion? I.e. do you hold back, attempt to persuade others, “let it fly” or ??? What do you consider hate speech? What rules or norms should there be at colleges and universities?

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/online-living-room-conversation-tribalism-101-next-door-strangers-5/

SAVE THE DATE: NCDD Tech Tuesday featuring Ethelo

Tuesday, April 23rd
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

Ethelo helps their clients to offer more transparency and participation on the hottest public issues in a way that creates better outcomes and stronger buy-in. Their participatory decision platform has been used by all levels of government as well as the private and non profit sector ensure inclusive, fair processes and defuse opposition. In this webinar, we will be joined by John Richardson, founder and CEO of Ethelo. John will give a quick overview of the software and walk through some real-world examples of how its been used by different clients to engage stakeholders in solving contentious, real-life problems. Read more in the blog post here. Don’t miss out – register today to secure your spot!

REGISTER: http://ncdd.org/29489

Register for NCDD’s April Tech Tuesday Featuring Ethelo!

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NCDD is happy to announce our April Tech Tuesday featuring Ethelo. This FREE event will take place Tuesday, April 23rd from 2-3pm Eastern, 11am-12pm Pacific. Don’t miss out – register today to secure your spot!

Ethelo helps their clients to offer more transparency and participation on the hottest public issues in a way that creates better outcomes and stronger buy-in. Their participatory decision platform has been used by all levels of government as well as the private and non profit sector ensure inclusive, fair processes and defuse opposition. It’s unique algorithms and ability to solve solve complex problems while building support has been described by the Canadian government as “an exceptional advance that is clearly ahead of competitors.”Ethelo has been used for community planning, project design and evaluation, budgeting, grantmaking, and policy development in North America and abroad.

In this webinar, we will be joined by John Richardson, founder and CEO of Ethelo. John will give a quick overview of the software and walk through some real-world examples of how its been used by different clients to engage stakeholders in solving contentious, real-life problems. Ethelo is particularly helpful for stakeholder engagement and communications professionals in the government, business and nonprofit space who need to engage large groups of people on sensitive and challenging issues. When an upfront investment in a fair, inclusive process is critical to prevent opposition down the road, Ethelo provides a robust and proven solution.

“Ethelo is a dramatic new technology that can facilitate democratic citizen participation in political decision making. As people insist on more say in the decisions that can affect them, Ethelo can make modern citizen engagement possible and practical.”Judy Rebick, Founder Rabble

About our presenter

John Richardson is an internationally recognized social entrepreneur, with a background in mathematics, law, political policy and technology. In 2005, he was awarded an Ashoka Fellowship for his work in creating high-impact social initiatives. John and his colleagues founded Ethelo to develop online approaches for participatory decision-making that could scale to large groups. John is dedicated to advancing new approaches to digital engagement and direct democracy.

This will be a great chance to learn more about this . Don’t miss out – register today!

Tech Tuesdays are a series of learning events from NCDD focused on technology for engagement. These 1-hour events are designed to help dialogue and deliberation practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them. You do not have to be a member of NCDD to participate in our Tech Tuesday learning events.