Category Archives: Manuals & Guides

America’s Future: What Should Our Budget Priorities Be? (NIFI Issue Guide)

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The National Issues Forums Institute published this Issue Guide (2014), America’s Future: What Should Our Budget Priorities Be?, to provide participants a resource to deliberate national budget issues.

From the guide…

America is slowly coming out of a long recession. Unemployment, after peaking at 10 percent in 2009, has fallen below 8 percent; more new homes are being built, although just gradually. Despite the heavy blow we’ve taken in the last few years, the US economy is very large and still growing…

We have significant resources, but they are finite. What direction should we take?

The Issue Guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: Keep Tightening Our BeltNIF-America's-Future
Though painful, the sequester (mandatory across-the-board budget cuts) showed that we can get by with less. We should continue cutting gradually to bring down the deficits, shrink the national debt, and let the private sector drive the recovery.

Option Two: Invest for the Future
We are making progress on the deficit. We need to make some adjustments to entitlements, but now is not the time to slash programs; it may result in hobbling the recovery. Instead, we should make strategic expenditures and grow the economy, which in turn will shrink the deficit.

Option Three: Tame the Monsters
The steady growth of defense, Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid are the main drivers consuming the federal budget…Social Security and Medicare, in turn, should be need-based and self-sustaining. We should get away from the whole concept of “entitlement,” which is bankrupting those programs. We also should reform and simplify the tax code.

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/americas-future

The Changing World of Work: What Should We Ask of Higher Education? (NIFI Issue Guide)

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This 11-page Issue Guide from the National Issues Forums Institute, The Changing World of Work: What Should We Ask of Higher Education?, was published January 2015 to help inform participants in deliberation about the current state and future of higher education.

From the guide…

There is a pervasive anxiety in America about the future of higher education. Spiraling costs combined with seismic changes in the American workplace raise questions about whether a bachelor’s degree is still worth the cost. In a recent cover story, Newsweek magazine asked: “Is College a Lousy Investment?” For a growing number of Americans, the answer appears to be yes.

Today’s students accumulate an average of almost $30,000 in debt by the time they graduate. They will go into a job market that looks especially bleak for young people. Many college graduates are unemployed or working minimum-wage jobs. Still more are working in jobs that don’t require a college credential.

Some of the troubles facing new graduates can be attributed to the post-recession economy. But there are larger forces at work that are transforming the nature of employment in America—forces that colleges and universities have been slow to recognize, much less respond to.

The Issue Guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: “Prepare Students for the Job Market”NIF-Changing-World-of-Work
Colleges and universities should tailor their programs to the real needs of employers and direct more of their educational resources toward vocational and pre-professional training.

Option Two: “Educate for Leadership and Change”
Academic institutions should focus on preparing students to become effective citizen leaders—the men and women who will go on to create the jobs of the future, effect change, and build a better society.

Option Three: “Build Strong Communities”
Colleges and universities should harness their power to create jobs, generate business opportunities, provide essential skills, and drive development in their communities and in the region.

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/changing-world-work

Over The Edge: What Should We Do When Alcohol and Drug Use Become a Problem to Society? (NIFI Issue Guide)

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The National Issues Forums Institute published the 15-page Issue Guide, Over The Edge: What Should We Do When Alcohol and Drug Use Become a Problem to Society?, in February 2015. The Issue Guide discusses an overview of substance abuse in America and the effect it has had on people and their communities. The guide can be downloaded for free here.

From the guide…

NIFI-OverTheEdgeBy all accounts, America is a nation of substance users. More than two-thirds of us are taking at least one prescription drug, and more than half drink alcohol on a regular basis. Marijuana consumption is on the rise as more states relax their laws on its medicinal and recreational use. But even legal substances, when misused, can result in serious problems. Beyond the human suffering, the abuse of legal and illicit substances is costing the nation more than $400 billion dollars each year due to lost productivity, health problems, and crime.

This guide offers three perspectives to help start the conversation about how we should respond to the problem of substance abuse. While not entirely mutually exclusive, each provides a different lens on the nature of the problem, the kinds of actions that would have the greatest impact, and the drawbacks or consequences of each.

The Issue Guide presents three options for deliberation:

Option One: Keep People Safe
Our top priority must be to protect people from the dangers posed by substance abuse, according to this option. Whether the threat comes from sharing the same roads and highways with people under the influence, living in communities under siege by drug trade, or having our families devastated by a child or adult addict, the potential for harm is real. In order to keep people safe, we need to tightly regulate and control the production and use of alcohol and drugs, as well as impose penalties for people who break the rules.

Option Two: Address Conditions that Foster Substance Abuse
This option says we must recognize the critical role society plays regarding how and why people use drugs and alcohol. It is too easy to blame the individual—to say that if a person had just been stronger, smarter, or had more willpower, they would not have become involved in substance use. Instead, we should focus on the broader context and take responsibility for changing the social, cultural, and economic conditions that foster widespread substance use and abuse

Option Three: Uphold Individual Freedom
We must respect people’s freedom while offering them the means to act responsibly, according to this option. Overzealous efforts to control substance use infringe upon our rights, are often ineffective, discourage sick people from seeking treatment, and have led to the incarceration of large numbers of Americans for nonviolent drug offenses. Instead, we must provide the information and treatment options people need to make healthy choices, as well as reform laws that are unduly intrusive or unfair.

NIF-Logo2014More 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/catalog/product/over-edge-issue-guide-downloadable-pdf

Social Security: How Can We Afford It? (NIFI Issue Guide)

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The National Issues Forums Institute published Social Security: How Can We Afford It?, a 13-page Issue Guide in December 2014 to offer information for deliberation on the future of social security.

From the guide…

Projections in 2013 showed that the Social Security Trust Fund could run out of money in 2033. Growing federal deficits and a rising national debt have made many wonder whether Social Security will soon become too great a burden on the workers who have to pay for it…

Many Americans are reexamining the principles on which Social Security is based and are thinking anew about the nature of individual responsibility. What does the government owe the elderly? Should saving for retirement be strictly an individual responsibility? Is it fair to require succeeding generations to shoulder the increasing burden of supporting retirees?

The question we must face is this: how can we best provide for Americans’ retirement?

The Issue Guide presents three options for deliberation:

NIF-SocialSecurityOption One: Shore Up and Reaffirm Social Security
Social Security benefits represent a promise made to Americans, symbolizing a shared commitment to one another that is a fundamental value of our country. The program has earned its near-universal support, and the promise should be kept by doing whatever it takes to keep these benefits as they are.

Option Two: End Reliance on Social Security for Retirement
Government has been taking too much responsibility for the well-being of its older citizens, undermining the nation’s traditional emphasis on self-reliance. We should phase-in a privatized system of retirement savings accounts, which could be regulated by the government, but controlled and managed by individuals.

Option Three: Reinvent Retirement and Social Security
It is unrealistic to continue to support a plan that enables people to retire in their early-to-mid-60s when the average life span is now 78. The compact that Social Security represents should be adjusted to take that change into account.

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.

NIF-Logo2014

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

Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/social-security-how-can-we-afford-it-updated-edition-2014

Infectious Disease Outbreaks: How Should We Keep Our Communities Safe? (NIFI Issue Advisory)

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In January 2015, the National Issues Forums Institute released the four-page Issue Advisory, Infectious Disease Outbreaks: How Should We Keep Our Communities Safe? The Issue Advisory is not a full NIFI issue guide, though provides a basic outline of options for participants to use in deliberation on handling infectious disease. It can be downloaded for free here.

From the introduction…

The outbreak of Ebola has reached the United States and this has raised concerns among many about how to respond to international outbreaks of contagious, potentially deadly diseases for which vaccines are not yet available.

Ebola spread so rapidly in parts of Africa—and its effects are so dramatic—that many Americans are understandably frightened that isolated cases in this country could turn into a more widespread epidemic. While contracting Ebola requires direct contact with body fluids from an infected person who is showing symptoms, health-care workers who had apparently been following precautions have contracted it.

Health experts say it is important to remember that the number of Ebola cases in the U.S. is minuscule, while according to the Centers for Disease Control more than 200,000 Americans are hospitalized for the flu each year. And as we work through how best to respond, many are mindful that the lack of sanitation and health-care resources is largely to blame for Ebola’s deadly toll in impoverished areas of western Africa. Recovery by patients treated in the U.S. has been promising. But at the same time, what many see as obvious gaps in protection by a variety of institutions in the early stages of the U.S. outbreak have people wondering how ready we are as a society for other, similar problems. While Ebola is one example used in this issue advisory, these considerations might apply to many other infectious diseases, as well.

The issue advisory presents three options for deliberation:NIF-IssueAdvisory_Disease

Option One: “Enforce Safety Rules”
We must institute strong measures to contain any incidence of a deadly communicable disease.

Option Two: “Stamp It Out at the Source”
The world must vastly increase its efforts to address public health crises in the location where diseases first occur, such as the African Ebola Zone.

Option Three: “Emphasize Prevention and Preparation in the Community”
We should get serious about prevention and preparation.

More about the NIFI Issue Advisory
This Issue Advisory is meant to support deliberative forums in communities of all types. In productive deliberation, people examine the advantages and disadvantages of different options for addressing a difficult public problem, weighing these against the things they hold deeply valuable. The framework outlined in this issue advisory encompasses several options and provides an alternative means for moving forward in order to avoid polarizing rhetoric. Each option is rooted in a shared concern, proposes a distinct strategy for addressing the problem, and includes roles for citizens to play. Equally important, each option presents the drawbacks inherent in each action.

NIF-Logo2014

All NIFI issue guides and associated tools can be accessed at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guides

Resource Link: www.nifi.org/en/catalog/product/infectious-disease-outbreaks-how-should-we-keep-our-communities-safe

Community Heart & Soul Field Guide

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The Community Heart & Soul™ Field GuideThe Community Heart & Soul™ Field Guide (2014) is the Orton Family Foundation’s guide to its tested and proven method of community planning and development. This step-by-step, four-phase method is designed to increase participation in local decision-making and empower residents of small towns and rural communities to shape the future of their communities in a way that upholds the unique character of each place.

Community Heart & Soul is based on wide and broad participation from as many residents as possible. Whether the focus is on comprehensive planning, economic development, downtown planning, or an outside-the-box vision and action plan, Community Heart & Soul aims to reach all residents of a town for the best results: results that pay benefits over the long haul.

The Community Heart & Soul Field Guide outlines a model Heart & Soul process. Each of the four phases is built around specific goals for learning, capacity building, and engagement. Together they lead to the overall project goals and outcomes.

The Field Guide shows you how to:

  • REACH all demographics in your community by bridging divides and overcoming hurdles
  • MOVE the conversation out of city hall and into NEIGHBORHOODS
  • ENGAGE and learn from all kinds of PEOPLE: youth to working parents to retirees
  • UNCOVER practical, broadly supported SOLUTIONS to local problems
  • Discover the POWER of storytelling to reveal what MATTERS MOST to residents
  • Identify community VALUES and use them to inform ACTIONS
  • Build strong CIVIC CULTURE to inform DECISIONS over the long haul

Find out what Heart & Soul can do for your town. Download the FREE guide.

About The Orton Family Foundation
The Orton Family Foundation’s mission is to empower people to shape the future of their communities by improving local decision-making, creating a shared sense of belonging, and ultimately strengthening the social, cultural, and economic vibrancy of each place.

Resource Link: http://fieldguide.orton.org

Trainer’s Manual: Getting the Most from a Collaborative Process

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This Manual from the Policy Consensus Institute contains the essential information for training leaders from agencies and organizations interested in learning more about how to use collaborative processes to address public issues. These materials are practical and problem-centered, designed to capitalize on people’s experience and to help them integrate new ideas with their existing knowledge.

They are presented in eight modules, each module covering an aspect of the “best practices” for sponsoring, organizing, and conducting a collaborative governance process. Each module includes descriptions of key points to cover and activities to address the key points.

The Manual also provides audio visual materials in the form of a CD with PDF handouts and slides and a video DVD of various leaders describing their roles in collaborative processes. These materials are designed to be used in conjunction with the PCI Practical Guide to Collaborative Governance. The first step for workshop sponsors and trainers is to decide on your objectives, target audience, and the format and length of the workshop. Then you will be able to decide which modules will best serve your objectives.

At minimum, if all modules are used, the workshop will take six to seven hours. With the use of speakers, panels, and time for group interaction, the workshop will take eight hours or more. However, effectively covering all of the material in one day can be a challenge, even for experienced trainers. An alternative is to hold a series of workshops, so that each module can be covered in a more in-depth fashion. This could take the form of a two – or three-part workshop, or even a “Module a Month.” The more time spent with each module, the stronger the chances are that the material will be used effectively.

Table of Contents

Planning The Workshop

  • Introduction
  • Responsibilities of Workshop Sponsors
  • Responsibilities of Trainers
  • Steps In Planning The Workshop
  • Planning The Workshop
  • Confirming Workshop Participation
  • Preparing And Assembling Materials
  • Preparing An Example For Module 3

Keys To A Successful Workshop

  • Workshop Modules (See PDF slides and handouts provided on CD)
  • Module 1: Collaborative Governance Processes: An Overview
  • Module 2: When to Sponsor a Collaborative Process
  • Module 3: How to Assess the Potential for Collaboration
  • Module 4: Working with a Neutral Forum and Facilitator
  • Module 5: The Role of Convener
  • Module 6: Participation: Who Needs to be at the Table
  • Module 7: How to Plan and Organize the Process
  • Module 8: Tools and Techniques for Reaching and Implementing Agreements
  • Module 9: How to Close the Workshop

Resource Link: www.policyconsensus.org/publications/practicalguide/collaborative_governance.html ($75)

A Practical Guide to Collaborative Governance

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A Practical Guide to Collaborative GovernanceThis 62-page step-by-step handbook from the Policy Consensus Institute walks readers through the stages of sponsoring,convening, organizing, and participating in a public policy collaborative process. Designed primarily for elected and appointed government officials and civic leaders, the guide also is useful for those who provide leaders with the staff assistance, facilitation services, and support they need to employ these approaches effectively.

The Practical Guide was developed and written by Chris Carlson, founding director of PCI and a leading authority on consensus building in the public sector.

The Practical Guide to Collaborative Governance will help equip more leaders – present and future, in the public, private, and civic sectors – with the information and tools they need to bring about better governance through the use of collaborative practices, with instructions on how to:

  • Understand the spectrum of collaborative processes
  • Identify when collaborative processes will work and when they won’t
  • Sponsor a collaborative process
  • Conduct an assessment
  • Choose and use a neutral forum and facilitator
  • Identify and work with a convener
  • Ensure legitimacy for the process through inclusive participation
  • Plan and organize the process
  • Develop ground rules to guide the process
  • Conduct problem-solving discussions and reach consensus agreements
  • Create Mechanisms for implementation and on-going collaboration

Excerpt: Understanding The Spectrum of Collaborative Governance Processes (58kb PDF)

Reviews

“PCI’s Practical Guide to Collaborative Governance is indeed practical. It is also succinct, thorough and wise. Municipal officials and other leaders will appreciate the careful outlines of steps and considerations. Especially important are the balanced assessments of what works when and how – and what doesn’t. This is an excellent resource for local leaders.”

Bill Barnes, National League of Cities

“PCI has provided yet another practical publication for legislators and other government officials. The chapter on ‘The Role of the Convener’ gives lawmakers clear examples and tips about how they can lead and promote collaborative problem solving in their communities. The helpful guidelines should greatly assist legislators who want to try on this important convener role.”

Bruce Feustel, National Council of State Legislators

“A Practical Guide to Collaborative Governance will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable tool for anyone seeking to develop a consensus-based solution to a complex or contentious public issue. Whether the goal is conflict resolution or the development of sound public policy that all comers can support, users of theGuide will find helpful process-oriented suggestions based on the real-world experiences of those who have successfully employed collaborative governance techniques in a wide variety of circumstances. The Guide will help lawmakers and other elected officials fulfill their unique potential as “conveners” of collaborative initiatives designed to produce lasting policy results.”

Mike McCabe, Council of State Governments

Resource Link: www.policyconsensus.org/publications/practicalguide/collaborative_governance.html ($15)