Category Archives: NCDD projects

Join us on tomorrow’s NCDD Confab with Rich Harwood

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We’ve got 150 signed up for tomorrow’s confab call with Rich Harwood, but there are still some spots left if you haven’t registered yet! The call will take place tomorrow (Weds, August 7th) from 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern / 11-12:30 Pacific.

RichHarwoodOur confabs (interactive conference calls) are free and open to all NCDD members and potential members. Register here if you’d like to join us.

Rich Harwood is president and founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation and author of numerous books including his latest, The Work of Hope. A leader in our field for more than two decades, Rich was invited to Newtown to help community leaders and the public decide what to do with Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of last December’s mass shooting that shocked the nation and reignited debates over gun rights and mental health.

What happened, and what can Rich’s experience teach us about helping communities in crisis? Join us tomorrow to find out more, plus tell your own stories about working in distressed communities.

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

Registration open for Aug 7th Confab call with Rich Harwood

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We have a special guest lined up for our August confab call — Rich Harwood, president and founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation in Bethesda, Maryland. The call will take place on Wednesday, August 7th, from 2:00 to 3:30 Eastern (11-12:30 Pacific), and registration is now open!

RichHarwoodEarlier this year, Rich was asked to facilitate a series of meetings in Newtown, CT to help the grieving city decide what to do with Sandy Hook Elementary School, site of the horrific mass murder of children and school personnel last December. We’ve asked Rich to talk to NCDD members about his work in Newtown, and the broader work he and his colleagues are doing at the Harwood Institute for Public Engagement. (Read the amazing story here.)

He brought 25 years of experience to the task in Newtown. Through community conversations, constant innovation, and nationwide research, The Harwood Institute has developed an approach that’s helped cities, organizations, and individuals “Turn Outward” and build on public aspirations to get things done for the common good. Rich has worked in struggling communities such as Newark, Detroit, and Flint, Michigan and has created a group of “Beacon Communities” to develop a critical mass of public innovators. He’s partnered with influential organizations like United Way Worldwide, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the American Library Association in order to enhance their relevance and impact in the communities they serve.

His latest book, The Work of Hope, asserts that fixing our politics shouldn’t be our top priority. “The central task in our society is to restore belief in ourselves and one another that we can get things done, together.” It was that philosophy which guided Rich’s work in Newtown and brought about an emotional, yet harmonious, decision.

NCDDs’s “Confab calls” provide opportunities for members to connect with each other, hear about exciting projects in our field, and explore our most difficult challenges. And since many of you may be hosting and facilitating conversations on mental health as part of the White House’s initiative, we hope you’ll sign up and benefit from the conversation about Rich’s experiences in Newtown.

Register for the August 7th Confab today to reserve your spot!

Mental health dialogues happening tomorrow in Sacramento and Albuquerque

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This Saturday, community members in ‪‎Sacramento‬ and ‪Albuquerque‬ are coming together to discuss mental health topics and identify priorities. Not in CA or NM? Follow @MentalHealthCCS or join the online dialogue at www.theciviccommons.com/mentalhealth.

A bit about the project…

ccs-logoAn important component of the National Dialogue for Mental Health, “Creating Community Solutions” is a series of events around the country that will allow people to engage in dialogue and action on mental health issues.

Creating Community Solutions will engage thousands of Americans, in a range of settings: small-group discussions, large forums, online conversations, and large-scale deliberative events at ten lead sites. Supported by an array of local officials, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, foundations, and health care providers, these Creating Community Solutions activities will use proven public engagement principles to help people make progress on one of the most critical and misunderstood public issues we face.

This effort is being led by a set of deliberative democracy organizations, including the National Institute for Civil Discourse, AmericaSpeaks, Everyday Democracy, Deliberative Democracy Consortium, The National Issues Forums and the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, working in concert with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Notes from NCDD’s Meetup at Tufts University

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Here’s a snapshot from today’s NCDD meetup at Tufts University in Medford, MA. We had a great time together before the Frontiers of Democracy conference began, with over 30 NCDD members joining us for at least part of the meetup.

NCDD Meetup at Tufts

During an initial round of introductions, everyone shared one strength or gift they brought to the table that other NCDD members could potentially tap into. Later, we broke up into small groups to dig into four topics attendees were feeling challenged by at the moment:

  • the continuing need to institutionalize or embed dialogue and deliberation work into the way we do business (i.e. building civic infrastructure)
  • the national dialogue on mental health project (both online and offline aspects of it)
  • reaching out to underrepresented groups
  • standardization of the terminology, procedures and metrics we use
  • sustaining ourselves as practitioners; handling overload and retaining optimism

It was an energizing afternoon, and most of us are staying on for the Frontiers of Democracy conference at Tufts and continuing to enjoy each other’s company!