Register to Attend the National Dialogue Awards, Oct. 9

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Roshan Bliss

We encourage our members to consider registering to attend the 2nd annual National Dialogue Awards this October 9 in DC, which are hosted by the Sustained Dialogue Institute and supported by the Kettering Foundation, both of which are NCDD member organizations. You can learn more about the awards in the SDI announcement below or by visiting SDI’s new website at www.sustaineddialogue.org.

2nd Annual National Dialogue Awards

We sincerely hope that you will join us for the Second Annual National Dialogue Awards on Friday, October 9th, 2015 beginning at 6:30 pm at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

We will honor those whose lives have been powerfully marked by the principles and values of Sustained Dialogue. Some recipients are drawn from our network, and some from beyond it, but all have displayed the qualities that our organization values. This year’s keynote awardee is Senator George Mitchell, a renowned diplomat and key architect of several peace agreements in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. Our corporate award will be presented to Evolent Health for its expression of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Additionally, we will recognize three leaders from the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. These leaders include: Lane McLelland – a faculty member and administrator at the University of Alabama, Taylor Sawyer – an alumna of The Ohio State University, and Brittany Chung – a student at Case Western Reserve University.

We would be honored to have you and your guests attend.

Please RSVP at the event website to secure your tickets for this celebration. If you have any questions, please contact Sonia [soniaATsustaineddialogue.org].

Are you or your organization interested in becoming a sponsor? Learn more about sponsoring the National Dialogue Awards.

You can find the original version of this Sustained Dialogue Institute announcement at www.sustaineddialogue.org/?post_type=event&p=1333.

The Future of Work: How Should We Prepare for the New Economy? (NIFI Issue Guide)

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Keiva Hummel

The National Issues Forums Institute published the 13-page Issue Guide, The Future of Work: How Should We Prepare for the New Economy?, in February 2015. This guide is designed to help facilitate balanced deliberation about how we should prepare for the future economic reality of work.

From the guide…

The nature of the work we do has changed in ways that few Americans a generation ago could have imagined, and it will undoubtedly be dramatically different in yet another generation. These changes will bring both opportunities and difficulties…

The stakes are high. Many Americans share concerns about the nation’s competitive edge, stagnant wages, and a sense that young people today will be worse off than previous generations.

We have choices to make together in shaping the future of work. Business, government, individuals, and communities all play a role in addressing this issue. This guide presents some of the options we might pursue, along with their drawbacks.

This issue guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: “Free to Succeed”
Give individuals and businesses the freedom they need to innovate and succeed

Option Two: “An Equal Chance to Succeed”
Make sure all Americans have a chance to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment

Option Three: “Choose the Future We Want”
Strategically choose to support promising industries rather than simply hoping that the changes in work and the economy will be beneficial

More about the NIFI Issue Guides
NIFI’s Issue Guides introduce participants to several choices or approaches to consider. Rather than conforming to any single public proposal, each choice reflects widely held concerns and principles. Panels of experts review manuscripts to make sure the choices are presented accurately and fairly. By intention, Issue Guides do not identify individuals or organizations with partisan labels, such as Democratic, Republican, conservative, or liberal. The goal is to present ideas in a fresh way that encourages readers to judge them on their merit.

Issue Guides are generally available in print or PDF download for a small fee ($2 to $4). All NIFI Issue Guides and associated tools can be accessed at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guides.

Follow on Twitter: @NIForums.

Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/future-work

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

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Roshan Bliss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Medicare and Medicaid (NIFI Issue Guide)

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Keiva Hummel

The National Issues Forums Institute published this 16-page Issue Guide, Medicare and Medicaid, in 2015. This guide is to help facilitate deliberation around the health-care choices.

From the guide…

Nearly everybody will, at some point, get sick and need the help of health-care professionals. Finding the resources to cover these public programs is an ever-increasing challenge at a time when our national debt is at an all-time high. Ultimately, all Americans—policymakers as well as citizens—will have to face painful decisions about reducing the cost. This may mean fewer choices in health care for the tens of millions of people enrolled in these programs. The choices are difficult; the stakes, enormous.

The guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: “Do What It Takes to Maintain Our Commitment”
Keeping the programs solvent may mean higher taxes for workers and companies, or raising the age of eligibility for Medicare. It could mean asking Medicaid patients to share the cost of their coverage. We need to do what is necessary to continue the commitment even if that costs everyone more. But, raising taxes to pay for both programs may cost them the broad-based support they now enjoy. Making people wait longer to collect Medicare or forcing the poor to pay part of their health care may cause people to delay getting help, resulting in higher costs later on.

Option Two: “Reduce Health-Care Costs Throughout the System”
It is critical to put Medicare and Medicaid on a better financial footing. We need to pay for fewer lab tests people get and reduce money spent on end-of-life care. The U.S. government should negotiate for lower drug costs as other countries do. But, fewer tests may mean more people will die from undiagnosed illnesses. Less end-of-life intervention may mean that more people will die sooner than they would otherwise need to. And lowering the profits of drug companies will mean less money for research into better drugs that benefit everyone.

Option Three: “Get Serious about Prevention”
One reason Medicare and Medicaid are headed for a crisis is because so many Americans have unhealthy lifestyles that cause them to develop preventable illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. We should stop expecting others to pay for the consequences of our bad choices. Government incentives should reward those who weigh less, eat right, and exercise more. But, an emphasis on prevention and requiring that people adopt healthier lifestyles would invite unfair scrutiny of their behavior and would increase government intrusion into people’s lives.

Issue Guides are generally available in print or PDF download for a small fee ($2 to $4). All NIFI Issue Guides and associated tools can be accessed at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guides.

Follow on Twitter: @NIForums.

Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/medicare-and-medicaid

Minding Our Future: Investing in Healthy Infants and Toddlers (DMC Issue Guide)

Posted on July 8, 2015 by NCDD Community

Minding Our Future: Investing in Healthy Infants and Toddlers is an issue guide created by the David Mathews Center for Civic Life for our Alabama Issues Forums 2014 – 2015 series. The issue guide provides a brief overview on the importance of early childhood development, outlining three approaches towards investing in healthy infants and toddlers across the state of Alabama. The David Mathews Center—a non-profit, non-partisan organization—does not advocate a particular solution to this issue, but rather seeks to provide a framework for Alabamians to thoughtfully examine multiple approaches, weigh costs and consequences, and work through tensions and tradeoffs among different courses of action.

The issue guide’s introductory essay, authored by Dr. Ellen Abell, Associate Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist at Auburn University, highlights the importance of healthy infant and toddler development:

“Research tells us that the structure of babies’ brains is built in the first three years. During this time, the brain creates 700 neural connections each second, a rate faster than at any other time of life. These simple, beginning connections develop into stronger, more complex connections if babies are exposed to a variety of experiences appropriate for their stages of development… [E]arly adverse experiences lead to poorer learning outcomes, reduced immune system function, and a decreased ability to manage basic levels of stress… Differences in early childhood experiences contribute greatly to the growing gaps in children’s learning and achievement.”

The issue guide outlines three possible approaches to addressing the issue:

Approach One: “Develop Capable and Caring Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers”
During their first three years of life, children are completely dependent on parents, guardians, and caregivers. We must ensure that infants and toddlers receive the support that they need during these important years. Although programs and services aimed at helping children and improving community are important, we need to focus additional time and energy on strengthening the capabilities of the individuals who are responsible for raising and caring for young children… We also must prepare future parents and guardians for their upcoming responsibilities.

Approach Two: “Create Healthy and Thriving Communities”
Communities directly impact infants and toddlers. If we want to “mind our future,” then we must work to foster safe and healthy communities that support young children and their families. Parents and guardians may want to provide children with everything that they need, but unsupportive neighborhoods and workplaces that increase stress may reduce their abilities to do so. We must create additional family resource centers, encourage workplace policies that embrace families, and organize community events that focus on young children and parents.

Approach Three: “Provide Access to Comprehensive High Quality Services for All Children”
If we want to provide children with a strong foundation during their first three years of life, then we must offer wide access to necessary support services. Alabamians must make genuine commitments to invest in education, healthcare, and nutrition for all infants and toddlers; otherwise, growing children may face challenges that will impact them for the rest of their lives. Parents, guardians, caregivers, and community groups cannot provide everything that children need during their first three years – some services and support must be provided by institutions and agencies. Also, access to and use of existing services may be limited due to lack of awareness and understanding.

More About DMC Issue Guides
David Mathews Center issue guides are named and framed by Alabamians for Alabama Issues Forums (AIF) during a biennial “Citizens’ Congress” and follow-up workshops. Alabama Issues Forums is a David Mathews Center signature program designed to bring Alabamians together to deliberate and take community action on an issue of public concern. Digital copies of all AIF issue guides, and accompanying post-forum questionnaires, are available for free download at http://mathewscenter.org/resources/

For further information about the Mathews Center, Alabama Issues Forums, or this publication, please visit http://mathewscenter.org/

Resource Link: http://mathewscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Minding-Our-Future-singlepages.pdf

This resource was submitted by Cristin Foster, the Executive Director at David Mathews Center for Civic Life, via the Add-a-Resource form.

NIFI Demonstrates Potential of Deliberation in the Classroom

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Roshan Bliss

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

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

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

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

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

You can watch the inspiring video below:

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

A New Land: What Kind of Government Should We Have? (NIFI Issue Guide)

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Keiva Hummel

The National Issues Forums Institute published the Issue Guide, A New Land: What Kind of Government Should We Have?, in 2015. This guide is to help facilitate deliberation the current and future state of the US union.

From the guide…

It is the spring of 1787. We are now in a critical period. Our new republic is unstable and the liberty we won just four years ago is threatened. We’ve lost the unity inspired by our fight against Britain. Trade is difficult and our physical safety is uncertain. There are conflicts within and threats from without.

The current state of affairs has sparked conversations in pubs and shops, town squares and farmyards. Everywhere, people are asking the same questions: What should we do? How will we survive? How can our hard-won liberty be sustained? The questions boil down to this: What kind of government should we have?

This historic decisions issue guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: “Strengthen the Current Partnership Among Equals”
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union need to be amended. The current one-vote-per-state Confederation Congress assures that we are a union of equal members, but the current central government lacks the power to raise funds or make binding decisions. It needs to have the power to hold states accountable without impinging on their rights. We must figure out a workable balance that gives the central government more power and yet still respects each state’s autonomy.

Option Two: “Create a Strong Central Government”
To maintain our independence, we must ensure our stability. We need a strong central government to protect our liberty. Too much freedom at either the state or the personal level can be destructive. A republican form of federal government, with proportional representation from all of the states, guarantees that individual citizens will still have a say. A stronger central government in a new federal union of the states will also have the authority to safeguard our economic stability and physical security.

Option Three: “Let States Govern Themselves”
Now that we have our liberty, we should dissolve the Confederation and let the states govern themselves as independent republics. Local governance works best. We are too economically, geographically, and culturally diverse to form one nation. Each state has its own traditions of self-governance, some going back a century or more. Each has its own way of determining citizenship. We’ve proven we can successfully unite in the face of a common threat, and we can do it again if need be.

Issue Guides are generally available in print or PDF download for a small fee ($2 to $4). All NIFI Issue Guides and associated tools can be accessed at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guides.

Follow on Twitter: @NIForums.

Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/historic-decisions-new-land

Public Agenda Launches Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Roshan Bliss

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

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

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

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

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

The Yankelovich Center explores questions including:

How do our increasingly fragmented news media, highly polarized national politics, fast-changing information and communications technologies and changing demographics affect the public’s ability to engage issues productively and come to public judgment?

What are the prime obstacles and enablers of public judgment in communities on community problems and nationally on national and international problems?

How does public judgment affect important changes in public policy or community life?

What are the best ways to cultivate public judgment and civic engagement among millennials, groups with low voting and political participation rates, or among and across people from very different cultural backgrounds?

What can be done to encourage a broader understanding of the concept of public judgment among elected officials and the media? How can existing institutions better support a more active, engaged and informed public and what are the most promising new institutions, tools and strategies?

What role should the ideas and practices of public judgment and civic engagement play in K-12 and higher education?

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

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

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

America’s Energy Future: How Can We Take Charge? (NIFI Issue Guide)

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Keiva Hummel

The National Issues Forums Institute published the Issue Guide, America’s Energy Future: How Can We Take Charge?, in January 2015. This Issue Guide puts forth three options for deliberation of how America can address its energy consumption and how to deal with it in the future.

From the guide…

Americans depend on easy access to energy. Most of us take it for granted that we will be able to light up a room with the flick of a switch, adjust the temperature of our homes at will, and climb into our cars every morning to go to work, often at distant sites.

We use more energy than any other country. Americans make up only 4.5 percent of the world’s population, yet we consume about 20 percent of the world’s energy production. Collectively, we drive more, heat more, air condition more, and plug in more electronic devices than anyone else. We use 22 percent of the oil consumed in the world each day.

Worldwide energy use is on the upswing as well, and is projected to keep increasing, as rapidly developing countries, such as China, India, and Brazil, become bigger players in the worldwide market for energy supplies, especially oil. And— sooner or later—the world’s available supply of oil will run out.

The Issue Guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: “Produce the Energy We Need to Maintain Our Way of Life”
We need to control our own sources of energy so that we do not have to depend on other, possibly unfriendly, countries for our supplies. We have abundant sources of energy in this country and off its shores. We should develop and use them.

Option Two: “Put More Renewables and Clean Energy Sources into the Mix”
Not only is our lavish use of fossil fuels causing untold damage to the environment, but someday we will run out of oil, coal, and natural gas. We need to make the switch to renewable sources of energy, such as wind and sun, as soon as possible.

Option Three: “Find Ways to Use Less Energy”
The most practical way to deal with our current energy problems in not to produce more energy but to use less of it, and to do more with the energy we do use. This will involve both stricter government regulations and changes in our individual lifestyles.

Issue Guides are generally available in print or PDF download for a small fee ($2 to $4). All NIFI Issue Guides and associated tools can be accessed at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guides.

Follow on Twitter: @NIForums.

Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/americas-energy-future

Kettering Video on “The Creation of Politics”

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Roshan Bliss

We were impressed by the very cool video that the Kettering Foundation – one of NCDD’s key organizational members – recently released. It can be an easy and fun tool for introducing deliberative politics to your audiences, so we encourage you to read more about it below or find KF’s original post about it here.

Those of you who have participated in Kettering’s annual summer Deliberative Democracy Exchange have probably heard Kettering Foundation president David Mathews tell a story about a small village that faces a recurring flood. It is a fable of sorts. In spite of the villagers’ many efforts to stop the flood, the waters return again and again.

So the people in the story had to make a decision: should they move across the river, where another band of people already live? Should they stay in their homeland? Or, should they move to higher ground? And in coming together and making a collective decision, the people create politics.

The story is designed to be universal – one that belongs to all times, all people, all cultures. People in communities everywhere face difficult problems and must weigh the costs and benefits of potential actions and then decide how to act together. The story counters the idea that public deliberation is some kind of new technique to be used on communities and encourages a notion of democracy that is citizen-centered.

A team at the Kettering Foundation collaborated with Momentum, Inc., artist and illustrator Danijel Zezelj, and MainSail Productions to produce a new animated video, The Creation of Politics, which brings to life this archetypal flood story that imagines how politics was first created – and why.

You can find the original version of this Kettering Foundation post at http://kettering.org/blogs/new-video-creation-politics

Civic Studies

An intellectual community of researchers and practitioners dedicated to building the emerging field of civic studies

Category Archives: JLA

Register to Attend the National Dialogue Awards, Oct. 9

2nd Annual National Dialogue Awards

The Future of Work: How Should We Prepare for the New Economy? (NIFI Issue Guide)

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

Medicare and Medicaid (NIFI Issue Guide)

Minding Our Future: Investing in Healthy Infants and Toddlers (DMC Issue Guide)

NIFI Demonstrates Potential of Deliberation in the Classroom

A New Land: What Kind of Government Should We Have? (NIFI Issue Guide)

Public Agenda Launches Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment

America’s Energy Future: How Can We Take Charge? (NIFI Issue Guide)

Kettering Video on “The Creation of Politics”