Category Archives: field news

Workshop on Building Trust through Civil Dialogue at National CSG meeting

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This post was submitted by supporting member Ted Celeste, former Ohio State Representative and initiator of the Next Generation initiative of the National Institute for Civil Discourse.

TedCelesteAfter a year of development, I will be co-facilitating a workshop and introducing several new practical modules at the annual national meeting of the Council of State Governments in Kansas City this month. This hands-on workshop was developed specifically for legislators around the country. Learn more at the CSG website at www.csg.org/2013nationalconference/Civility.aspx.

Ted Celeste served in the Ohio Legislature from 2007-2012. Known for working effectively “across the aisle” whether he was in the majority or the minority, he has lived his belief in respectful dialogue. One of the only candidates for state office who insisted on running a positive campaign, he won each of his 3 races with a comfortable majority in a swing district.  He was recognized for his emphasis on civil dialogue with the John Glenn Public Policy Institute’s Outstanding Public Service Award in 2011. Celeste lives in Columbus, Ohio, is married and has two daughters and 3 grandchildren.

Here is a description of the workshop:

The National Institute for Civil Discourse has developed an active discovery process, “Building Trust through Civil Discourse,” designed tobuild a new set of skills and attitudes about civil engagement with a goal of improving personal and group productivity. This interactive workshop, facilitated by present and former legislators, has been piloted in Nebraska and Ohio. This is your chance to experience the workshop, as well as preview several other skill-building modules available to your state.

Established in February 2011 at the University of Arizona, the National Institute for Civil Discourse is dedicated to integrating research and practice to support: a legislative and executive branch working to solve the big issues facing our country, public demand for civil discourse and media that informs and engages citizens.

Online dialogues on mental health with Zilino

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This post was submitted by Tim Bonnemann of Intellitics, Inc., an NCDD organizational member, via the Add-to-Blog form.

By now I’m sure everybody here has heard about the Creating Community Solutions initiative, part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health (if not, check the NCDD blog to catch up).

Zilino-ImageMy company, Intellitics, is working on an offering to support communities across the country that want to host online dialogues on the issue that are time-bound and outcome-oriented and closely follow the official discussion guide and other materials.

We’ll be hosting a Zilino online demo this Wednesday, September 4 to preview some of what this might look like:

Zilino Online Demo “Creating Community Solutions”
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
11am-12pm Pacific Time (2-3pm Eastern)

Register now at http://zilino-demo-20130904.eventbrite.com if you’d like to participate.

Hope you can join us!

Participate in research on public participation and win $50

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Research is underway to understand how participants perceive communication in public participation processes. With funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Social and Environmental Research Institute has developed a short online survey.

We need your help to spread the word about this important research.

Publics, stakeholders, or experts who are taking part in any public participation process are eligible. Please share this invitation widely. There is a drawing for several $50 cash awards.

Take the survey on a smartphone or computer at: http://fluidsurveys.com/s/Publicparticipation/

Thomas Webler
Social and Environmental Research Institute

New issue of the International Journal of Collaborative Practices

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The current issue (Issue 4) of the International Journal of Collaborative Practices is out! The Journal provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and stories from practitioners, researchers and scholars who utilize collaborative principles in their daily work and disciplines.

The journal is published once a year, with new issues coming out in the Spring. Sponsored by the Houston Galveston Institute, the Taos Institute, and the Psychology Department at Our Lady of the Lake University, it is an open-access on-line publication that is offered in the spirit of promoting community and collaboration. You can subscribe by emailing journal@talkhgi.com.

Your participation is encouraged through the submission of articles and your responses through the Journal blog.

Here is a list of the articles featured in the new issue:

  • ‘Good Enough’, ‘Imperfect’, or Situated Leadership: Developing and Sustaining Poised Resourcefulness within an Organization of Practitioner-Consultants (Jacob Storch and John Shotter)
  • Of Crabs and Starfish: Ancestral Knowledge and Collaborative Practice (Rocio Chaveste and Papusa (Maria Luisa) Molina)
  • Invitation to Therapeutic Writing: Ideas to Generate Welfare (Elena Fernandez)
  • A Lawyer’s Provocative and Reflective Journey into Social Constructionism and Not-Knowing (Bill Ash)
  • The Practice of Collaborative Dialogue in Education – The Case of Kai-Ping (Hui-Wen Hsia, with reflections by Shi-Jiuan Wu)

Also featured in the issue:

  • An Essay in Six Voices: A Story of Overseas Online Dialogue (Jitka Balasova, Jakub Cerny, Pavel Nepustil, Katerina Novotná Rocío Chaveste & M.L. Papusa Molina)
  • FAQ: Is Collaborative Practice Politically and Socially Sensitive? (Saliha Bava, Rocio Chaveste, Marsha McDonough & Papusa Molina)
  • Two poems and a painting
  • And several essays on “books of interest”

This issue was edited by Harlene Anderson, Ph.D. & Saliha Bava, Ph.D.

More on the Journal

The International Journal of Collaborative Practices brings together members of a growing international community of practitioners, scholars, educators, researchers, and consultants interested in postmodern collaborative practices.

This community responds to important questions in social and human sciences such as:

  1. How can we make our theories and practices have every day relevance and how can our ordinary experiences have relevance for our theories and practices, for as many people as possible in our fast changing world?
  2. What will this relevance accomplish?
  3. And who determines it?

Globalization and technology are spawning social, cultural, political, and economic transformations in our shrinking and interdependent world. People everywhere are constantly exposed to real time events in the world and enlightened through television and the Internet. They are fast losing faith in the rigid institutions that treat them as numbers and ignore their humanity. People expect to be directly involved in whatever affects their lives and they demand flexible systems and services that honor their rights and respect their needs.

Faced with such local, societal and global shifts, with the unavoidable complexities they engender, and with their effect on our lives and our world, practitioners are wondering how best to respond. The Journal is designed to serve as one part of a timely and valuable response by spotlighting important interconnected issues such as:

  1. The juxtaposition of democracy, social justice, and human rights;
  2. The importance of people’s voices locally and globally; and
  3. The fundamental need for professional collaboration.

The Journal is an open access on-line bilingual (English and Spanish) interactive publication.

Turn Up The Volume!

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This post was submitted by NCDD member Jeffrey Abelson of Song Of A Citizen. If you are interested in getting involved or sharing your stories with Jeffrey, email him at ja@songofacitizen.com.

Many of you know me from the videos I’ve produced with D&D leaders over the last few years.

I’ve done that under the umbrella of my non-profit, non-partisan “Song Of A Citizen” project — the mission of which is to create an ongoing slate of films and videos to inspire fellow Americans to engage as citizens more seriously, and to participate in dialogue and deliberation forums as one of the best ways to do that.

But as you all well know, most people have never heard of D&D. So shining a bright spotlight on the field is critical. Doing it through the production of mass appeal media is one of my top priorities. I seek nothing less than to make D&D a household word.

And I could use your help.

If you haven’t seen the original Video Op-Ed series we did, you might want to check that out.

Ditto the series of interviews I filmed with D&D leaders at the last NCDD conference.

Now it’s time to shift from projects that feature experts, and therefore have a limited (though critical) audience — to projects designed to resonate with the general public. That’s actually my strong suit. I’ve been making films and videos that reach and impact millions of people for 30 years (from prime time PBS documentaries to high profile MTV videos). You can learn more about my creative work at http://jeffreyabelson.com.

But my main focus these day is how to turn up the volume on D&D so the general public, and mainstream media, know that (a) these processes and opportunities actually exist and (b) that they very well may be the elusive answer that frustrated and cynical citizens have long been looking for.

To that end, I’d like to mention one project I’ve been developing that I’d love see take off soon. It’s a documentary feature film called “The Deciders” — which will tell the stories of diverse citizens who’ve participated in successful deliberative forums in recent years, along with some enlightened public officials who’ve participated as well. The film will tell their stories using a variety of artful cinematic devices. It won’t be a typical talking heads film.

Courtesy of Tyrone Reitman and Elliot Shuford, I’ve already spoken with a number of people who participated Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review. And they told me some really inspiring stories about how their participation triggered big attitude shifts (in how they viewed the issue being considered, or the role as a citizen more broadly).

Now I’d like to connect with folks in other parts of the country, who’ve participated in other projects, and who have other compelling stories of transformation to tell.

I imagine many of you know of many such people/stories. If so, I’d love to hear about them, and get some contact info.

And if you feel you might have other ideas or resources that could help this project, or the overall “Song Of A Citizen” mission — then, by all means, please let me know.

It’s time to crank up the dial, and make some noise about all this!

Reminder: Info call on DDPE certificate program tmw at 6pm Central

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The next info call for the DDPE certificate program is taking place tomorrow at 6pm Central (that’s 7pm Eastern or 4pm Pacific).

DDPE-logoYou can sign up for the call here if you’re interested in learning more about the program.

The award winning Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement Certificate Program, which is now run by Kansas State University, is a transformative professional development program focused on making wise choices for engagement.

NCDD is a ‘Collaborator’ of the program, and NCDD supporting members enjoy a 10% discount on program fees.

This year’s cycle begins September 23rd. Learn more about the course offerings and costs here. NCDD strongly encourages our members to enroll. It’s a great way to deepen your practice and gain some credentials in this work. The program’s faculty is an amazing group of leaders: Keith Melville, Hal Saunders, John Dedrick, Phil Stewart, Linda Blong, Jan Elliot, and Lyn Carson. Making connections with this group of superstars is worth the cost of enrollment!

To learn more, go to www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/dialogue/.

IISD Announces Mark Farr as New President

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IISD LogoIISD logoWe hope you will join us in extending a warm NCDD congratulations to Mark J. Farr on his recent appointment as the new president of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue.  IISD’s work in fostering sustained dialogue here and abroad has made important inroads in our field, and we look forward to seeing how someone with Mark’s background will guide this important organization in its next chapter.

Founded by our friend Hal Saunders, IISD is a long-time organizational member and supporter of NCDD. You can read IISD’s official announcement below and find out more about Mark here.

The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue has announced the appointment of Mark J. Farr as its new president.  Dr. Harold ‘Hal’ Saunders, Institute Founder and senior U.S. diplomat in the Arab-Israeli peace process and the Camp David accords, will remain chairman of the board.

President Mark Farr, 53, is a former president of Capitol Hill’s Faith & Politics Institute, a Senior Director at President George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light Institute, and National Faith Director at General Colin Powell’s legacy foundation America’s Promise.

“The transformative power of this unique, life-changing approach can make a key difference: in our communities, in every campus and corporation, on Capitol Hill — anywhere where Americans are tired of our embattled civic space and want a more harmonious approach,” Saunders said. “It’s time for a change. We are thrilled that Mark will help lead us in that direction.” Learn more about Mark Farr’s experiences and background.

Peter Levine takes on the question “Do we live in a republic or a democracy?”

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I am excited to see the latest post on scholar Peter Levine’s blog, which tackles the bewildering question (I’ve found it bewildering, anyway!), Do we live in a republic or a democracy?

My pat answer to that question has been both — the U.S. is a democratic republic or a representative democracy; that in a large country you need some combination of elected representatives and direct citizen voice.  I’ve also said that this is partly a question of semantics and of changing definitions over time.  I’m happy to see I wasn’t far off. :)

But Levine has taken the time to answer this question thoroughly, with quotes and details from throughout America’s history. As many of our field consider themselves to be part of a movement towards a more deliberative, engaged democracy (NCDD members have written many books with titles like Democracy in Motion, Slow Democracy, the Tao of Democracy, and the Next Form of Democracy), we’d better be able to channel Peter an perhaps quote Ronald Reagan (see below) when we’re on the receiving end of this question!

Peter begins with a quote from Ronald Reagan:

“You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.”

- President Ronald Reagan, Normandy, June 6, 1984

Here are some pertinent excerpts from this valuable post:

From World War I until recently, leaders of both major political parties routinely claimed that the United States was a democracy. Politicians often called us “the greatest democracy on earth” and asserted that the purpose of both world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War had been to defend democracy. The main debate was whether we had attained a democracy or were still struggling to be one, with the strongest skeptics on the left. A perennial argument pitted left critics–who asserted that our domestic and foreign policies were anti-democratic–against conservative defenders of our credentials as a real democracy.

This consensus about goals has broken down because the hard right now says that we were not founded as a democracy and should not be one….

How did this semantic ambiguity arise? The word “democracy” is of Greek origin. It literally means “rule of (or by) the people.” One could hold that the sovereign power in the US is the people–and hence we have a democracy in the etymological sense. Like all old words, however, “democracy” has accumulated resonances beyond its etymological origins. It may invoke the Greek city-states (whether seen as ideals or as disasters) or mass modern societies.

“Republic” comes from the Latin. My Latin dictionary says that “publicus” means “belonging to the people.” Thus “res publica” means the “thing belonging to the people,” whereas “democracy” is the “people’s rule.” If there is a significant difference in the etymological sense of these words, it is the difference between something that the people have (a republic) versus a power they wield (democracy)…

Ultimately, the United States can be called republican and democratic. The two words have interestingly different origins and resonances but are not sharply distinguishable. Nor do we have either a pure republic/democracy. Some limitations on the republic/democratic element are wise, but our current system is flawed by most standards. Although our democratic/republican aspirations are only partly realized, they remain beacons.

Check out the full post at http://peterlevine.ws/?p=12096.

LA Days of Dialogue addresses Trayvon Martin verdict

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Days of Dialogue — a long-time NCDD organizational member based on Los Angeles — got some great TV coverage of their recent event in a series of dialogues designed to help the L.A. community process their emotions and opinions about the Trayvon Martin verdict.

LA-DaysOfDialogue-Coverage

They’re in the midst of running a series of three events titled Days of Dialogue:  The Death of Trayvon Martin… Unfinished Business.  The first event, which received the coverage on NBC News in Southern California, took place on  Saturday (July 27).

The Days of Dialogue events are hosted by The Empowerment Congress, Price Chapel A.M.E., Holman Methodist Church, The Violence Prevention Coalition of Los Angeles, Community Partners, Urban League, Holman Methodist Church, and others.

Last Friday, Avis Ridley-Thomas asked me to share a flyer with the network on these events, but I was traveling at the time. In the flyer, people interested in attending, facilitating, or offering other assistance are asked to contact Maria Garcia at maria.l.garcia@lacity.org or (213) 485-8324.

Upcoming dialogues are scheduled for:

  • Saturday, August 3, 2013, 9:00 a.m., Empowerment Congress, 700 State Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90007
  • Sunday, August 11, 2013, 6:00 p.m., Community for Racial Justice, The Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405
  • Saturday, August 17, 2013 10:00 a.m. Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90018

By the way — one great way to learn more about Days of Dialogue is to watch the great video interview Jeffrey Abelson filmed at the 2012 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation in Seattle.

Time to register for the 2013-2014 DDPE Certificate Program

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It’s time to sign up for the next cycle of the award winning Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement Certificate Program. Kansas State University’s DDPE program is a transformative professional development program focused on making wise choices for engagement.

DDPE-logoNCDD is a ‘Collaborator’ of the program, and NCDD supporting members enjoy a 10% discount on program fees. Please note that information calls on the program are scheduled for today at 6pm Central, August 8 at 10am Central, August 22 at 6pm Central, September 4 at 10am Central and September 12 at 5pm Central.

This year’s cycle begins September 23rd. Learn more about the course offerings and costs here. NCDD strongly encourages our members to enroll.  It’s a great way to deepen your practice and gain some credentials in this work. The program’s faculty is an amazing group of leaders: Keith Melville, Hal Saunders, John Dedrick, Phil Stewart, Linda Blong, Jan Elliot, and Lyn Carson. Making connections with this group of superstars is worth the cost of enrollment!

This distinctive program focuses on developing mastery in making wise choices for bringing dialogue, deliberation, and engagement into situations where they are most effective. Through DDPE, we invite you to:

  • Work with proven frameworks for selecting and adapting effective processes.
  • Develop new skills for designing and facilitating meetings and whole initiatives.
  • Ground your work in the foundational underpinnings of dialogue and deliberation.
  • Deepen and broaden your knowledge of the diverse ways of working in this field.
  • Learn through collaborative reflective practice that impacts your work in the world.
  • Focus on effective action and the questions that are most pressing for your work.

The 20-week DDPE certificate program is composed of four component courses: Two involve learning at a distance (online and on the phone), and the other two are face-to-face workshops.

Designed and delivered in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, the Kettering Foundation, and the Public Dialogue Consortium, the DDPE program is led by an outstanding faculty of scholar-practitioners who have played key roles in developing this field. It also features widely recognized guest scholar-practitioners who join us on the phone, and we are proud to partner with the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation and other organizations that lead the field.

To learn more, go to www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/dialogue/

A couple of recent comments from DDPE alums:

“DDPE was one of the most valuable professional development programs I have experienced, and it was pivotal in grounding my work as I launched my own business as an engagement practitioner.”

Diane Miller President, Civic Collaboration and Board Member, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation

“Out in real world, my DDPE certificate is one of the most valuable tools I have.”

Dr. Kathy Armijo Etre Vice President of Community Health, St. Vincent Regional Medical Center

Tuition and Registration Information

Costs and package discounts: www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/dialogue/programcosts

Register Online: www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/dialogue/registration