Oh the Places You’ll Go & People You’ll Meet at NCDD2018!

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Annie Rappeport

A Quick Guide to Networking at the NCDD Conference that will set you on a course for successful partnerships.

What happens when you bring together a few hundred innovators in dialogue and deliberation and give them dedicated spaces to spark conversations and partnerships? MAGIC.

Every two years, NCDD does just that. This November, our three-day conference will convene at the Sheraton Denver Downtown and include 400+ attendees from around the globe. Fellow humans passionate about public engagement ready to connect and create friendships and partnerships that will last years into the future.

NCDD’s planning team has been hard at work to ensure an environment that facilitates idea generation and times and places to find your D&D tribe.

Here’s what you need to know:

Start early! Be sure to download and use the interactive conference guide brought to us by Konveio. This will allow you to browse the events, learn more about the networking opportunities, and many of the great attendees presenting and speaking at the conference. To learn more about how to use the guide attend the Tech Tuesday on October 23rd!

Want to get a jump start on meeting fellow NCDD attendees and don’t want to wait until Friday morning? Then make sure you check out the six pre-conference sessions being offered on Thursday, November 1st! We have limited space for available for each of the sessions, so register ASAP to reserve your seat.

Dinner Time! Saturday night is “on your own” but what we really mean is “with new NCDD friends”. First, meet up at the hotel bar (Mix16 Lounge) and then pick a place to wander to and get into the full conference spirit by connecting over food and drink at any one of Denver’s delicious eateries.

Use the On-Site Networking Board! Those returning will fondly remember our extra-large NCDD bulletin board made to suit all of your conference networking needs. We’ll have those great networking cards that will help you post your interests and propose opportunities to connect with others.

Do not miss the plenaries! Our opening plenary will feature “lightning talks” by civic innovators to spark inspiration and will include a networking activity to assist every attendee with identifying goals for the conference and beyond. On Saturday and Sunday, we will be focusing the plenaries almost exclusively on connecting, by using Open Space and Pro Action Cafe, respectively, for folks to propose the topics and ideas they most want to connect with others about!

Places for YOU! For when you want to meet outside of our scheduled sessions, there are four rooms and a foyer available on a first-come basis. Just look for Plaza Court rooms #2, #3, #4 and #5 for more privacy and swing around to the Plaza Exhibit Foyer for more casual seating space for discussions.

We also thought it might be helpful to create a space to connect before the conference. Please use the comment section below to start finding who you want to connect with in Denver this November! Propose a meet-up over lunch, dinner, or in between, and start finding folks to join you! We’ll keep sharing and pointing people to this post up until the conference kick-off.

We hope you are as revved up as we are about NCDD 2018!

Democracy Fund Revamps electiononline Website

Posted on October 19, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

If you are looking for unbiased news and information on US elections, then check out the newly revamped electionline website! The Democracy Fund – a sponsor of NCDD2018, recently redeveloped the platform, which is a resource for our nation’s elections and offers tools and best practices for improving the voter experience. The site has daily news, an elections calendar, training resources, jobs marketplace – and is a great space for civic organizations, elected officials, or anyone interested in learning more about US elections. You can read the announcement below and find the original version here.

Democracy Fund Relaunches electionline

Today we are pleased to unveil a new and improved electionline — America’s only politics-free source for election administration news and information.

In January 2018, we announced that electionline had become a project of Democracy Fund’s Elections program. We felt then, as we do now, that it is a vital platform for finding trusted news and information about the people and processes that guide our nation’s elections, and for sharing tools, best practices, and innovative ideas for improving the voting experience. Our simple goals for redeveloping the site were to enhance its capabilities and expand content — but our long-term plans are to create a place where readers are exposed to new ideas, opportunities for continuing education, and relationship building.

To do this, we started by thinking long and hard about the site’s current audience and their needs. Starting today, election administrators, academics, voting advocates and other regular readers of electionline will find new items of interest on the site, including:

A calendar of national, state and other field-relevant events;
A directory of organizations and their areas of expertise;
Reports, trainings, tools, guides, and other materials;
A marketplace featuring job openings in the elections field and information on used election equipment for sale; and
Better search functionality throughout

Electionline remains the only place on the internet to find state-by-state curation of daily election administration news. In addition to publishing the classic electionline Weekly newsletter, we will also begin sharing original reports and exclusive content from leaders and experts in the field — making the site a must-read for local election officials, civic organizations, and journalists who cover elections.

While redeveloping the site, we learned two really insightful lessons that might be helpful for others who are developing virtual spaces for information sharing and engagement.

First, collaborate with your audiences and include some “outsider” perspective. As our team weighed important decisions about the look and feel of the website, we were grateful to receive insight and direction from many readers who already trust and rely on electionline.

Second, reflect your values. Redeveloping or creating a new platform is an opportunity to reinforce essential characteristics that inform readers who your organization is, and what they care about. For us it meant focusing on authenticity (even if it means publishing unflattering stories about ourselves or our partners); transparency about who we support with resources in the field; and cultivating greater interest for under-covered areas of importance like voting trends for overlooked communities.

Through this process, we hope we were able to successfully incorporate the feedback we heard from current readers. We also hope that the new electionline website more deeply resonates with all those who are interested in elections in America. We’re excited to hear your thoughts and reactions as you explore the new website. Please visit www.electionline.org and let us know what you think!

You can find the original version of this announcement on the Democracy Fund site at www.democracyfund.org/blog/entry/democracy-fund-relaunches-electionline.

Taylor Willingham Grant Accepting Applications Until Nov 20

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

In case you missed it, the National Issues Forums Institute, an NCDD member org is now accepting applications for the 2019 Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund grant. The grants are intended to honor the legacy of Taylor Willingham and her contributions to the field of deliberative democracy by supporting projects in the field, and we highly encourage NCDD members to apply for a grant or donate to the fund. Applications are due November 20, 2018, so make sure you submit yours before it’s too late! Click here to learn more about Taylor’s life work and past awardees’ work – 2018 winner Matt Miller, 2017 winner Lauren Gabbard, and 2016 winner Edward W. “Chipps” Taylor III. You can read the announcement below and find the original on NIFI’s site here.

Apply Now for a Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Grant to Help Your Community Talk about Public Issues

Applications are now being accepted (deadline is November 20, 2018) from individuals who are interested in being considered to receive a Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund grant. Grants are provided to individuals to enable them to develop an understanding of deliberative democracy and launch one or more deliberative dialogues in their communities and organizations in order to advance NIFI’s overall mission, which is to promote public deliberation about national issues.

Grants are expected to be in the range of $500-1,000.

The Taylor L. Willingham Fund was established to honor the work of Taylor Willingham in the deliberative democracy movement and is administered by the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI).

Click here to download an application.

You can find the original version of this announcement on NIFI’s blog at www.nifi.org/en/apply-now-taylor-l-willingham-legacy-grant-help-your-community-talk-about-public-issues.

Single-day Tickets for NCDD2018 Now Available!

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

Single-day tickets for the 2018 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation (#NCDD2018) are now available! If you want to join NCDD2018 but can’t attend the whole weekend, then join us for just the day! The single-day tickets are $175 and will give you an opportunity to learn about new civic tech tools and engagement efforts going on, and connect with folks doing dialogue, deliberation, and engagement work. We have been hard at work to design a conference that will be engaging, educational, and provide ample space to network with fellow attendees.

We’ve announced several exciting components that we encourage you to check out, like the full conference schedule, the line up of over 60 workshops, our D&D Showcase presenters, and the pre-conference sessions (happening on Thursday, November 1st). If you are looking to join us for the whole weekend, make sure you get your tickets ASAP as the late registration will kick in soon. On October 24th, late registration for the 3-day tickets will go up to $550/day, so save yourself $100 and purchase your tickets today!

Friendly reminder to our NCDD member, you get $50 off the 3-day registration with your membership! We sent the code to our members recently, but if you missed it (or just joined as a member), then please email keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org and I’ll send you the discount code. For those who are on the fence about joining NCDD as a member, now is a great time to join! Register as an NCDD member today and receive a discount on the conference, in addition to so many more benefits! Not only will you be supporting one of the major groups working to organize D&D practitioners, but the membership almost pays for itself with the conference discount.

Get extra excited for the conference with this teaser video…

Not sure what the heck NCDD conferences are? What’s all this hype you’ve been hearing throughout the D&D grapevine? Well fret not, you can read all about our past events here and watch highlight videos of our NCDD2014 and NCDD2016 conferences. Watch them and join the action!

Ben Franklin Skills for Commitments and Virtues

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

We love gems of wisdom like the ones below on commitments and virtues, shared by Ben Franklin Circles, an NCDD member org and presenter at NCDD2018. Last year NCDD partnered with BFC and we’ve shared many stories about the powerful way that Circles bring people together and inspire change. For those attending NCDD2018, we encourage you to participate in the BFC workshop happening during the first session block from 1-2:30 pm on Friday, November 2nd. You can listen to the webinar below and find the original on BFC’s site here.

BFC Circle Host Forum – Commitments and Virtues

For this Ben Franklin Circle Host Forum, we interviewed BFC Host, Ryan Cooke to discuss the virtues and making commitments.

For review, the basic structure of a Ben Franklin Circle meeting is as follows:

Welcome/ review group guidelines
Discuss virtue
Make commitments

Virtues are aspirational and are not easily defined. We may never fully reach our aspirations towards these virtues which give us something to continuously work on.

After each meeting, Ryan sends a recap of the discussion and the commitments made. Halfway between meetings, he sends a reminder of the commitments to check in with the group as well as a preview of next virtue.

Here are some of the best practices we discussed for making 30-day commitments around the virtues:

Make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/Relatable, Time-Bound)
Take inspiration from other hosts and the sample commitments provided in the Meeting Guides
Start small by making micro commitments. Check out tinyhabits.com for inspiration.
Track your progress. Use a paper calendar or an app track Streaks, like Jerry Seinfeld’s one joke a day habit
Make the commitment appropriate to your readiness for change (see Stages of Change model)
Work with others who can provide accountability
Consider shared group commitments to work on together

You can find the original version of this article on the Ben Franklin Circles’ site at www.benfranklincircles.org/webinar/bfc-circle-host-forum-commitments-and-virtues.

Join the Online Facilitation Unconference on Oct 15-21

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

The fifth Online Facilitation Unconference (OFU) is happening on Oct 15-21! This digital gathering is hosted by the Center for Applied Community Engagement LLC, and is a great opportunity for anyone interested in virtual facilitation – no previous experience needed! The early bird tickets are available until Oct 12th, so make sure you register and get your tickets ASAP! Follow OFU on Twitter with the hashtag #OFU18 for more #FacWeek updates. You can read the announcement below for more info or find the original on the OFU Exchange site here.

Online Facilitation Unconference 2018

Your favorite online event on the art and practice of facilitating in virtual environments is back!

Join us October 15-21, 2018. Tickets on sale now!

What is the Online Facilitation Unconference (OFU)?
The Online Facilitation Unconference (OFU) is a learning exchange on the art and practice of facilitating in virtual environments. It is a community-driven event that brings together people from the public, private and non-profit sector from around the globe whose work includes, or who have an interest in, facilitating online.

OFU is a place to share, learn, make new connections – and have fun!

What is an unconference & how does it work?
OFU is an unconference. While traditional conferences come with a pre-determined schedule, an unconference allows the participants to create the agenda on the fly based on who shows up and what their interests are. In a nutshell, participants bring their questions and topic ideas and – in collaboration with their peers – suggest, schedule and host the sessions and workshops that meet their needs.

Unconferences require attendees to put in a bit of extra work, but the results can be magical.

How much time is involved as an attendee?
You can spend as much or as little time as you like. Based on past experience, the average participant tends to attend a handful of sessions over the course of the entire week. Sessions can vary in length but usually take anywhere between 45 and 90 minutes.

What do you mean by “virtual environments”?
“Virtual” refers to any process or experience that takes place outside a strictly in-person context. At OFU, we explore the methods for delivering facilitation using any tool, technology or channel that provides virtual venues, for example phone conferences, online chat, video conferencing, virtual reality, augmented or hybrid in-person processes and events.

Who’s organizing the event?
The event is run by the Center for Applied Community Engagement, LLC, a private institute and social enterprise based in San José, CA (USA) serving the growing professional field of community engagement and public participation practitioners from around the globe through market research, content publishing, industry events and other services.

What’s the history behind OFU?

In 2013, a group of people took this idea, which had been brewing for a while, and decided to run with it. Within a few short weeks, the first OFU was held.
In 2014 and 2015, OFU was organized by San José, CA-based digital engagement consultancy Intellitics, Inc.
In 2017, the Online Facilitation Unconference was moved under the ownership of the Center for Applied Community Engagement, LLC.
2018 will be the fifth event.

ABOUT THE 2018 EVENT

When does the event take place?
OFU 2018 will take place October 15–21, 2018 – once again alongside and as part of International Facilitation Week, which is being hosted by the International Association of Facilitators (IAF).

What’s the schedule?
More details will become available the week prior to the event, but here’s a rough overview of how the week will unfold.

From now through October 15, you are welcome to:

Read this FAQ page to learn more about the event
Tune into the conversation on social media (see links below)
Think about topics you’d like to cover (either as a knowledge sharer, or knowledge seeker, or both)
Tell your friends and colleagues
Find out what areas of interest registrants have on their mind (sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll tell you)
Register for the event

Early in the week of October 15-21 (Tuesday through Thursday), you will have an opportunity to:

Attend one of several welcome mixers to get any questions answered, meet a first few of your fellow participants etc. (exact times TBD)
Join the online forum to introduce yourself, meet fellow participants, and discuss session topics
Attend one or more pre-scheduled warm-up sessions to help get your creative juices flowing (details TBD)
Add your sessions to the schedule

Later in the week of October 15-21 (Friday and Saturday), we hope you will:

Attend the unconference sessions
Add more sessions to the schedule (hey, it’s an unconference)

After the week is over, you can:

Explore on the session notes
Add your own notes and materials to the website
Read the conference report
Share your feedback and ideas for OFU 2019

We will announce specific times or windows for most of these activities shortly so you can plan ahead. Thank you for your patience!

Are all the sessions delivered in real time? Can I dip in and out or catch up later?
Yes, all sessions tend to be offered live (via some synchronous form of communication, e.g., Zoom, WebEx or the like). In theory, sessions could also be run as an asynchronous conversation (e.g., on the online forum we will set up), though not sure if we have seen too many of those in the past.

We encourage all session hosts to record their sessions and make them available afterwards. However, some sessions won’t get recorded due to various reasons (e.g., because they contain sensitive conversations). In that case, we encourage hosts to at least share a brief write-up or any other notes or materials they can make available that would give others an idea what was covered and help them explore the topic on their own.

Based on our experience, the average unconference attendee will make it to a handful of sessions. We will try our best this year to get participants to

a) populate the unconference session plan as early in the week as possible, and

b) stick to the recommended session windows

so as to make it more likely for more participants to be available for more sessions.

TICKETS

How much do tickets cost?
A regular ticket costs $49. Our early bird rate is $29 (good September 24 through October 10).

Students, retirees and other low-income people can attend for only $15.

For everyone else, including people from developing countries, we offer a “pay what you wish” option. We strive to be inclusive and don’t want anyone to miss out on the event due to cost burden.

Members of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) will receive a significant discount. Details to be announced by September 25.

How do I register?

Please go to our Eventbrite page to purchase your ticket.

INTENDED AUDIENCE

Who should attend?
Anyone with an interest in facilitating in virtual environments is invited to join.

Do I have to be a professional facilitator in order to attend? No.

While a good number of our attendees do facilitation for a living, many others come from other backgrounds and perform the functions of convener and facilitator as part of their regular job or event outside their day-to-day work.

Do I have to have prior experience with virtual facilitation or technology? No.

Whether you are a complete newbie or already and expert – anyone with an interest in online or virtual facilitation is welcome.

In the past, OFU has always attracted a broad range of expertise levels (beginner, intermediate, expert, and everything in between). Thanks to the unconference format, everyone can contribute to the best of their capabilities!

Who are the attendees?
The people who show up at OFU wear many hats. Here are just a few of the job titles we saw at OFU 2017 (in alphabetical order):

CEO
Coach
Collaboration engineer
Community organizer
Community strategist
Consultant
Director
Facilitator
Founder
Head of school
Independent scholar
Organizer
Planner
Program analyst
Program coordinator
Senior product manager
Trainer

You can find the original version on this on the OFU site at www.ofuexchange.net/.

NCDD2018 Sheraton Discount Extended to Friday Oct 12th!

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

Great news! We received word the Sheraton Denver Downtown has extended the deadline for the NCDD2018 discounted room rate until 5:00 pm MST this Friday, October 12th. The 2018 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation (#NCDD2018) is being held at the Sheraton and we’ve negotiated a great rate of $165/night for conference attendees. Located right the on the 16th Street Mall, not only will you be in close proximity to the NCDD2018 magic, but you will be staying right in the heart of downtown Denver.

Here’s a little teaser of what’s to come…

Make sure you book your lodging ASAP as rooms are filling up fast! The discounted rate will be available until 5:00pm MST on Friday. You can learn more about the hotel on their website here, but you must use this link to get the NCDD rate:

www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/NCDD2018

Alternatively, you may book by phone by calling Central Reservations at 888-627-8405 and mentioning you are part of the “National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation – NCDD2018” block.

While the official conference kicks off the morning of Friday, November 2nd, we wanted to give attendees a heads up to consider arriving on Wednesday evening or Thursday because we have a full line-up of pre-conference sessions scheduled for Thursday, November 1st. You won’t want to miss these preconference sessions, check them out here!

We recently announced the exciting schedule, over 60 workshops, and line-up for the D&D Showcase happening on Friday evening. The conference will run until Sunday, November 4th around 4pm, so we recommend you stay until Sunday evening or depart Monday, November 5th. Find out more about your transportation options on our NCDD 2018 travel & lodging page.

If you are looking for a roommate at the conference, we encourage folks to use this blog post for coordinating NCDD2018 logistics. Interested to learn more details about the conference – click here.

Can’t wait to see you all in the Mile High City for NCDD2018!

Join Our NCDD2018 Sponsorship Superheroes Today!

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

These leading organizations in the dialogue and deliberation community are generously supporting the 2018 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation. We are so grateful for their commitment to the conference and this community. We couldn’t do it without them!

We hope you’ll consider joining them by supporting this important convening and becoming a sponsor of NCDD 2018. Becoming an All-Star Sponsor ($10,000+), Collaborator ($5,000+) Co-Sponsor ($3,000), Partner ($2,000), or Supporter ($1,000) provides you with lots of PR, goodwill, and name recognition. NCDD conference sponsors are traditionally a “who’s who” of leading organizations in our field, and your organization could be among them this year! Learn more of the sponsorship benefits and tiers here. Let us know this week, in order to be printed in our guidebook!

We also launched our NCDD 2018 Scholarship Fund Drive to help those who need some financial assistance in attending the conference, particularly students and young people. We are hoping to raise at least $10,000 for scholarships, if not more, and we can’t do it without you! Whether you can give $5, $500, or beyond – please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Scholarship Fund today!

THANK YOU!!!

Our Collaborator (donated $5000) is the Democracy Fund.

Our Co-Sponsors ($3000) are Essential Partners and the Interactivity Foundation.

Our Partners ($2000) are FaciliCase LLC, Jefferson Center and the National Issues Forums Institute.

And our Supporters ($1000) are Common Knowledge, Everyday Democracy, Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration, and the National Civic League.

Collaborator

The Democracy Fund

The Democracy Fund is a bipartisan foundation established by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar to help ensure that the American people come first in our democracy. Today, technologies and innovations offer new opportunities for public engagement in a more vibrant democracy — even as serious challenges including hyper-partisanship, money in politics, and struggling media threaten the health of our political system. The Democracy Fund invests in organizations working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

Co-Sponsors

Essential Partners

Essential Partners (formerly the Public Conversations Project) equips individuals and groups with skills for relationship that keep people connected while naming and claiming their differences. We design courageous conversations on the issues that matter most, and which many people feel ill-equipped to engage. We train facilitators and leaders, offering a skill set that can be adapted to many challenges and settings. We work with our partners in their contexts to build communities that find strength and new possibilities in both their shared concerns and their differences.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube • Email

The Interactivity Foundation

At the Interactivity Foundation, we’re always asking, “what if…?” We use a small-group discussion process to help people collaboratively explore diverse perspectives and generate alternative possibilities. Our process is divergence seeking, expanding the ways to frame complex topics and expanding the possibilities for approaching those topics. Join with us in any of our three main areas of activity. Our Project Discussions are sustained series of citizen discussions to generate divergent innovative possibilities, with the results forming citizen discussion guides. Our Public Discussions are shorter, exploratory discussion series, often using the possibilities generated by our projects as springboards. Our Education activities focus on training students and others as discussion facilitators in our process, with a special emphasis on developing the vital 21st century skills needed to strengthen our civic infrastructure. We welcome partnerships to extend these activities collaboratively. We are a non-partisan, non-advocacy, non-profit operating foundation. www.interactivityfoundation.org.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Email

Partners

Jefferson Center

The Jefferson Center is a Minnesota-based nonpartisan nonprofit that engages Americans directly to solve shared challenges and craft better policy. Their mission is to strengthen democracy by advancing informed, citizen-developed solutions to challenging public issues. They advance the public interest by creating opportunities for in-depth citizen education and deliberation that generates informed, inclusive solutions to today’s toughest problems. Their current work focuses on engaging citizens to shape health policy and healthcare implementation, participatory journalism and local media, climate change and extreme weather planning, and electoral and governance reform.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Vimeo • Email

National Issues Forums Institute

Based in Dayton, Ohio, the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that serves to promote public deliberation about difficult public issues. Its activities include publishing the issue guides and other materials used by local forum groups, encouraging collaboration among forum sponsors, and sharing information about current activities in the network. The institute has a distinguished group of 16 directors and officers drawn from such diverse fields like government, journalism, and secondary and higher education. Many NIFI directors also have extensive experience in neighborhood and civic organizations, libraries, and religious organizations.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Netflix • Email

Supporters

Common Knowledge

Led by founder Susan Stuart Clark, Common Knowledge specializes in bringing new combinations of people together to listen to and learn from each other. Leading together. We facilitate powerful new connections across sectors, silos, and social divides that generate breakthrough civic participation, employee and community engagement programs. Why? Every project shows that greater inclusion leads to greater innovation.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube

Everyday Democracy

Everyday Democracy has more than 25 years of experience offering structured dialogues to help communities work together to solve problems and build greater civic involvement. Our process incorporates use of a racial equity lens and other principles, including involving diverse groups of people, especially those who have been marginalized; opportunities for authentic listening and sharing; building capacity in communities; and connecting dialogue and deliberation to action and change. We offer discussion guides in how to use our process on issues such as poverty, police-community relations, racism, education reform and more, and how-to materials and coaching in our process for communities and organizations. Having seen the power of authentic connection among diverse groups of people, we cultivate community leaders and institutions to champion and carry out this work. We also convene practitioners from various fields to build a common vision of a democracy that works for everyone.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration

mopc MOPC is a research center and the state office for public collaboration serving government agencies and citizens of Massachusetts as a neutral forum for conflict resolution and consensus-building and an administrator of public mediation programs. Established by statute in 1990, MOPC provides effective forums for collaborative planning, problem-solving and public engagement on contentious public issues, and builds capacity within state, regional and municipal government through evidence-based programming and expedited procurement of resources.

Website • Email

National Civic League

The mission of the National Civic League is to advance civic engagement to create equitable, thriving communities. We achieve this by inspiring, supporting and recognizing inclusive approaches to community decision-making. Founded in 1894 by a group of civic leaders that included Theodore Roosevelt and Louis Brandeis, the National Civic League is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. Today, more than ever, the work of the National Civic League is critical to helping create vibrant and healthy communities and a strong democracy.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Email

Join these distinguished leaders of the dialogue and deliberation field and become a NCDD2018 Sponsor today!

MetroQuest Online Engagement Tips Webinar on 10/17

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

In two weeks, NCDD member org MetroQuest will be hosting the webinar, 10 Tips for Successful Online Engagement Every Time; which was co-sponsored by NCDD and the American Planning Association (APA). This free webinar on Wednesday, October 17th will offer best practices for online engagement and share stories from successful engagement efforts. You can read the announcement below or find the original on MetroQuest’s site here.

10 Tips for Successful Online Engagement Every Time

Find out how ENR’s #1 transportation planning agency, an MPO, and County consistently engage 1000’s online!

Wednesday, October 17th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

Navigating public involvement for your transportation plan doesn’t have to feel like a bad commute. In this webinar, ENR’s #1 transportation design firm, an innovative MPO, and creative County will help you find the shortest route to successful participation every time.

Join Jim Meyer, Senior Planner at AECOM, as he shares proven tips for effective online public involvement by exploring how he engaged 12,000+ citizens on three successful transportation projects. He’ll be joined by public outreach experts Amy Elmore from Pasco County and Johnny Wong from Hillsborough MPO to share their real-world journey to success.

Attend this complimentary 1-hour webinar for 10 proven tips! You’ll learn how to:

Engage 1,000s online for all planning projects, large and small
Integrate online engagement effectively in your process
Promote like a pro using innovative multi-media tactics
Collect public input that’s both quantifiable and actionable
Reach Environmental Justice communities

The session will culminate with answers to your questions in a live Q&A session with Jim, Amy, Johnny, and Dave Biggs, Chief Engagement Officer at MetroQuest.

Speakers
Jim Meyer, AICP – Senior Transportation Planner, AECOM
For over 22 years, Jim has provided mobility solutions for state DOTs, MPOs, counties, and communities across the Country. Jim specializes in long range, multimodal transportation plans, having prepared over 30 long range transportation plans. Jim is actively involved in stakeholder and public outreach activities to ensure the plan recommendations reflect the desired community vision.

Amy Elmore, M.S. – Branch Communications Coordinator, Pasco County
Amy specializes in developing communication strategies and overseeing a variety of proactive marketing, communications, and production activities with the goal of promoting Pasco County, Florida. She has over 10 years of experience in social media marketing for small business and government organizations. Amy used her expertise to aid in county-wide social media efforts throughout Hurricane Irma.

Johnny Wong, PhD – Senior Planner, Hillsborough MPO
Johnny manages the performance measurement program and serves as liaison to the Intelligent Transportation Services committee. He served as project manager for the outreach portion of the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan update. It was the first time the LRTP produced a tri-county initiative, requiring extensive coordination with the neighboring counties of Pasco and Pinellas.

You can find the original version of this announcement on MetroQuest’s site at http://go.metroquest.com/10-Tips-for-Successful-Online-Engagement-EveryTime.html.

Submit Application for NCL’s 2019 All-American City Awards

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Keiva Hummel

It’s that time again! Applications are now being accepted for the 2019 All-American City Awards until March 5th, 2019. Hosted by the National Civic League, an NCDD partner and conference sponsor, the award will be given to the communities working towards improving health equity through inclusive civic engagement. We encourage you to watch the video from the 2018 awardees with tips on applying and how the award has benefitted their communities. You can read the announcement below and find the original version on NCL’s site here.

Creating Healthy Communities Through Inclusive Civic Engagement

The National Civic League invites you to apply for the All-America City Award – the nation’s most prestigious community award, now in its 70th year.

The AAC Award offers the opportunity for both recognition and reflection. Applications require communities to come together to assess their strengths and challenges. The 2019 All-America City Award is focused on celebrating examples of civic engagement practices that advance health equity in local communities. We are looking for communities that demonstrate inclusive decision-making processes to create better health for all, and particularly for populations currently experiencing poorer health outcomes.

Download the application now and mobilize local groups to work together and display on a national stage the people and projects that make your community a great place to live, work and play.

Details and Dates
Applications on behalf of cities, counties, towns, or tribes are due March 5, 2019. Leaders from local government, schools, nonprofits, community foundations, libraries, chambers of commerce and youth have all led their communities to win the All-America City Award. APPLY NOW!

July 2018 – June 2019
All-America City Promising Practices Webinar Series
Nov. 14, 2018
Letter of Intent due (not required to apply)
March 5, 2019
Application Due
April 2019
Finalists Announced
June 21 – 23, 2019
Awards Competition and Conference

Want to submit a competitive application? Watch the webinar recording below to hear 2018 All-America City winners, Kershaw County, SC and Las Vegas, NV, present on their All-America City journey with tips for applying, the types of projects they submitted and an update on the benefits they have seen from winning the award.

You can find the original version of this announcement on the National Civic League’s site at www.nationalcivicleague.org/creating-healthy-communities-through-inclusive-civic-engagement/.

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