Category Archives: public participation

A Public Voice 2019 Tomorrow and More D&D Events

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This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs Everyday Democracy, National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), Living Room Conversations, as well as, from On the Table and  the International Associate for Public Participation.

Coming up tomorrow, you can participate with A Public Voice 2019 as it’s live streamed via Facebook. Ask your questions to folks on the Hill as they explore the current state and future of public deliberation as this long-standing annual event hosted by NCDD member organizations – the Kettering Foundation and NIFI. Learn how to participate at #APV2019 here.

NCDD’s online D&D event roundup is a weekly compilation of the upcoming events happening in the digital world related to dialogue, deliberation, civic tech, engagement work, and more! Do you have a webinar or other digital event coming up that you’d like to share with the NCDD network? Please let us know in the comments section below or by emailing me at keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org, because we’d love to add it to the list!

Upcoming Online D&D Events: A Public Voice 2019, Everyday Democracy, NIFI, On the Table, IAP2, Living Room Conversations

Everyday Democracy webinar – Civility and Civil Discourse in an Age of Divisiveness

EvDem LogoThursday, May 9th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Our nation is facing a most difficult time in its history, as there seems to be less and less tolerance for different points of view, facts are often ignored to accommodate partisan demagoguery, and antagonism and divisiveness have reached new heights. How can we find new ways to talk to each other across difference? How can we find it in ourselves to be open-minded for considering new ways of thinking? How can we engage with those who hold different views from our own to find common ground, even when we disagree on some key issues? Hosted by UCONN doctoral candidate Dana Miranda who is a Connecticut Civic Ambassador, Mr. Miranda co-runs the Initiative on Campus Dialogues and the Encounters Series at UCONN.

REGISTER: www.facebook.com/events/584605612016588/

A Public Voice 2019 Livestream on Facebook

Thursday, May 9th
9:30am Pacific, 12:30 Eastern

On May 9, 2019, the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) will host A Public Voice 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The 9:30-11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, panel discussion will be livestreamed on Facebook, where viewers will be welcome to post their comments.

LEARN MORE: http://ncdd.org/29641

CGA Forum on “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?”

Thursday, May 9th
9:30am Pacific, 12:30 Eastern

Join us after the 2019 A Public Voice broadcast for a Common Ground for Action forum on “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?” We’ll be talking about how to fix our broken political system in three different options.

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/2019-public-voice-cga-forum-house-dividedwhat-would-we-have-give-get-political-system-we-want

On the Table 101 webinar

Thursday, May 9th
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Join @Lilly Weinberg,  Director/Community & National Initiatives at Knight Foundation for this webinar that will give an overview of the history of On the Table, review the basics for implementing this initiative in your community and answer your questions.

REGISTER: www.onthetablenetwork.com/events/299

IAP2 Monthly Webinar: Victoria Encore – “Youth Shaping Cities”

Tuesday, May 14th
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

This session critically examines the underpinning theory and systemic barriers that continue to exclude youth participation, resulting in civic disengagement, lack of trust, and significant missed opportunities. By analyzing case studies and sharing best practices, techniques, and tools, we hope to empower engagement practitioners to re-imagine and redesign their youth engagement practices.

REGISTER: https://iap2usa.org/event-3167784

SPECIAL Online Living Room Conversation: Race and Ethnicity Conversation Series

Tuesdays, May 14 & 21
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

Check Out this four-minute video from a previous Race & Ethnicity Conversation Series to get a taste of this conversation! In this series of three in-depth conversations, participants explore the complexities of the concepts of Race, Ethnicity, and their impacts on people from all walks of life. We will cover new questions from the three Race & Ethnicity conversation guides found here.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/special-online-living-room-conversation-race-and-ethnicity-conversation-series/

Online Living Room Conversation: Power of Empathy

Wednesday, May 15th
7:30 pm Pacific, 4:30 pm Eastern

Empathy goes beyond concern or sympathy. Empathy is stepping into the shoes of another with the intention to better understand and feel what they are experiencing. The power of empathy can bridge our “us vs. them” perceptions and lead to new solutions, improved relationships, better strategies for social change, reduction in loneliness, and realization of our shared human needs and oneness. This conversation is about sharing experiences giving, receiving, and observing empathy.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/online-living-room-conversation-power-of-empathy/

A Public Voice 2019 and More Online D&D Events

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This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs Living Room Conversations, National Issues Forums Institute, Everyday Democracy, as well as, from Cities of Service and On the Table, and a twitter chat with Bridge Alliance. We shared earlier this week that NCDD member organizations – the Kettering Foundation and NIFI are hosting A Public Voice 2019 on May 9th that will be live streamed on Facebook.

NCDD’s online D&D event roundup is a weekly compilation of the upcoming events happening in the digital world related to dialogue, deliberation, civic tech, engagement work, and more! Do you have a webinar or other digital event coming up that you’d like to share with the NCDD network? Please let us know in the comments section below or by emailing me at keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org, because we’d love to add it to the list!

Upcoming Online D&D Events: Cities of Service, Living Room Conversations, Bridge Alliance, A Public Voice 2019, NIFI, Everyday Democracy, On the Table

Cities of Service webinar – Finding Your Messengers: Lessons on Census Field Recruitment from San Jose

Wednesday, May 1st
12:30pm Pacific, 3:30pm Eastern

One of the greatest challenges that cities will face while preparing for the upcoming 2020 Census is ensuring that accurate and consistent information reaches community members. One strategy that cities can use to ensure an accurate count is to recruit trusted, local community members to serve as field staff and enumerators. Their existing knowledge and relationships allow them to deliver a clear message about the value of being counted and to encourage participation on a more personal level.

REGISTER: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6884656227050041357

Living Room Conversations Training (free): The Nuts & Bolts of Living Room Conversations

Thursday, May 2nd
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

Join us for 60 minutes online to learn about Living Room Conversations. We’ll cover what a Living Room Conversation is, why we have them, and everything you need to know to get started hosting and/or participating in Living Room Conversations. This training is not required for participating in our conversations – we simply offer it for people who want to learn more about the Living Room Conversations practice.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/training-free-the-nuts-bolts-of-living-room-conversations-8/

SPECIAL Online Living Room Conversation: Race and Ethnicity Conversation Series

Tuesdays, May 7, 14, 21
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

Check Out this four-minute video from a previous Race & Ethnicity Conversation Series to get a taste of this conversation! In this series of three in-depth conversations, participants explore the complexities of the concepts of Race, Ethnicity, and their impacts on people from all walks of life. We will cover new questions from the three Race & Ethnicity conversation guides found here.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/special-online-living-room-conversation-race-and-ethnicity-conversation-series/

Bridge Alliance #DemocracyChat [on Twitter]

Tuesday, May 7th
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

On May 7th, @BrdgAllianceUS will ask supporters questions on Money in Politics. The event, titled #DemocracyChat, will give you and anybody else who is interested in this topic to have the opportunity to connect with Bridge Alliance leaders and become part of the conversation. So make sure to follow @BrdgAllianceUS and use the hashtag #DemocracyChat once the questions are revealed next Tuesday at 5 pm Eastern.

A Public Voice 2019 Livestream on Facebook

Thursday, May 9th
9:30am Pacific, 12:30 Eastern

On May 9, 2019, the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) will host A Public Voice 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The 9:30-11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, panel discussion will be livestreamed on Facebook, where viewers will be welcome to post their comments.

LEARN MORE: http://ncdd.org/29641

CGA Forum on “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?”

Thursday, May 9th
9:30am Pacific, 12:30 Eastern

Join us after the 2019 A Public Voice broadcast for a Common Ground for Action forum on “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?” We’ll be talking about how to fix our broken political system in three different options.

REGISTER: www.nifi.org/en/events/2019-public-voice-cga-forum-house-dividedwhat-would-we-have-give-get-political-system-we-want

On the Table 101 webinar

Thursday, May 9th
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Join @Lilly Weinberg,  Director/Community & National Initiatives at Knight Foundation for this webinar that will give an overview of the history of On the Table, review the basics for implementing this initiative in your community and answer your questions.

REGISTER: www.onthetablenetwork.com/events/299

Everyday Democracy webinar – Civility and Civil Discourse in an Age of Divisiveness

EvDem LogoOur nation is facing a most difficult time in its history, as there seems to be less and less tolerance for different points of view, facts are often ignored to accommodate partisan demagoguery, and antagonism and divisiveness have reached new heights. How can we find new ways to talk to each other across difference? How can we find it in ourselves to be open-minded for considering new ways of thinking? How can we engage with those who hold different views from our own to find common ground, even when we disagree on some key issues? Hosted by UCONN doctoral candidate DANA MIRANDA who is a Connecticut Civic Ambassador, Mr. Miranda co-runs the Initiative on Campus Dialogues and the Encounters Series at UCONN.

REGISTER: www.facebook.com/events/584605612016588/

Listen Now to Tech Tuesday Recording Featuring Ethelo!

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Last week, we held our first Tech Tuesday of 2019 and took a deep dive into the participatory decision-making platform, Ethelo! We were joined by 40 participants as founder and CEO of Ethelo, John Richardson, shared the ins and outs of this civic tech tool that empowers groups to collaborate on complex challenges. If you weren’t able to make the call, we encourage you to listen to the recording of it here.

We first learned about Ethelo back in 2014 when the platform was still in its beta form and NCDD members had the opportunity to test it out then. It is phenomenal to see how robust Ethelo has evolved over the last five years and we’re grateful to John for showing us its new capacities!

On the call, John shared how the collaborative decision-making platform inherently brings in participants’ values into the process, allows space for people to weigh priorities, engage with each other, and take action on complex issues. Ethelo is great for any size group or organization and can be applied in business settings like project management and strategic planning, and in community applications like policy-making and participatory budgeting. We learned about an exciting new development on the call –  Ethelo is merging with the budget simulator software tool, Citizen Budget (used by 1/3 of the Canadian municipalities) and will now offer the Citizen Budget tools as part of the Ethelo platform. John shares a special offer for NCDD members that we encourage our network to utilize, but you have to listen to the recording to find out the details!

Here are some of our favorite takeaways from the Tech Tuesday call:

  • Ethelo started as a non-profit organization in 2011 with a vision to improve democratic policy-making using Internet technology.
  • The platform gives participants a meaningful role in the decision-making process, enabling them to evaluate options, discuss and add ideas, weigh priorities and do trade-offs.
  • What makes Ethelo unique is the voting function and ability to prioritize the options in order of support (AND with multiple visual options on the results)
  • Ethelo brings together a decision-making framework where participants apply the same criteria to whatever is being evaluated and prioritize the criteria (this brings in peoples’ values to the process).

THANK YOU to John and everyone who joined this call! We recorded the whole presentation if you were unable to join us, which you can access here. We had several excellent questions offered in the chat, which you can find the transcript of here.

Tech_Tuesday_Badge

To learn more about NCDD’s Tech Tuesday series and hear recordings of past calls, please visit www.ncdd.org/tech-tuesdays. Archives access is a benefit of being an NCDD member, so ensure your membership is up-to-date (or click here to join). If you have an idea for a future Tech Tuesday event, please email keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org with your great ideas!

Finally, we love holding these events and we want to continue to elevate the work of our field with Confab Calls and Tech Tuesdays. It is through your generous contributions to NCDD that we can keep doing this work! That’s why we want to encourage you to support NCDD by making a donation or becoming an NCDD member today (you can also renew your membership by clicking here). Thank you!

Participate in A Public Voice 2019 Livestream on May 9th

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Next week, A Public Voice 2019, is being hosted by NCDD member organizations – the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) at the National Press Club in Washington DC on May 9th from 9:30-11:30 am Eastern, 6:30-8:30 am Pacific. This annual event will convene policymakers, Capitol Hill staffers, NIF forum moderators and analysts, and members from the dialogue and deliberation field for a panel discussion around this year’s theme of political division and the important role of public deliberation. Over the remainder of the year, National Issue Forums will convene around the issue guide, A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?, after which the forum outcomes will be compiled and analyzed in a final report to be released in early 2020. APV2019 will also be a space to explore what issues should be focused on in the future. You can watch the event live stream on Facebook and viewers are encouraged to post their comments to the stream. Learn more about the announcement in the post below and find the original version of this information on the NIFI blog here.

Watch Livestream of A Public Voice 2019 on May 9 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time

On May 9, 2019, the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) will host A Public Voice 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The 9:30-11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, panel discussion will be livestreamed on Facebook, where viewers will be welcome to post their comments.

At the event, National Issues Forums moderators, analysts of forum outcomes, and members of the policy community will talk about public deliberation; how that public thinking differs from the “public opinion” usually available to policymakers; and what public thinking has emerged to date from National Issues Forums (NIF) forums on political division, among other issues.

Additionally, panelists will exchange ideas about which issues warrant deep public deliberation and action in the next few years. They will share what some of those issues are, what concerns they have regarding these issues, how it affects them and their work, and why the issues require public deliberation.

Audience members at the event and watching on the livestream will have an opportunity to pose a question to the panel and/or comment on what they’ve heard during the program.

About the A Public Voice 2019 event:

For more than 30 years, the Kettering Foundation, in collaboration with the National Issues Forums Institute, has organized A Public Voice. This annual event brings together representatives from forum groups around the country and from national dialogue and deliberation organizations as well as elected officials and staff, to explore the contributions that a deliberative public makes to addressing some of the most challenging issues facing our communities and elected officeholders.

A Public Voice 2019 focuses on an issue important to all Americans: political division. After extensive research and testing with citizens around the country, the Kettering Foundation prepared an issue guide for the National Issues Forums (NIF): A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want? Citizen deliberations using the issue guide are taking place throughout 2019 in public forums around the country. In these public forums, citizens consider the options for dealing with a problem, share their views, and weigh the costs and benefits of possible actions. Forums are held both online and face-to-face, typically last 90 minutes, and attract participants of all ages from all walks of life.

This year, A Public Voice will use the issue of political division and a range of others to engage policymakers in conversation about public deliberation—what it is, how it differs from polls and focus groups, and why it has value for them. The session will also include an exchange among policymakers and deliberative democracy practitioners about issues the NIF network might tackle in the future. In early 2020, the Kettering Foundation and National Issues Forums Institute will publish a final report on the 2019 NIF forums on political division, followed by briefings for individual elected officials, Capitol Hill staffers, and other policymakers.

You can find the original version of this information on the National Issues Forums Institute blog at www.nifi.org/en/watch-livestream-public-voice-2019-may-9-930-1130-am-eastern-time.

Online D&D Events from MetroQuest, Nat’l Civic League, Living Room Conversations, and more!

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This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs MetroQuest, National Civic League, and Living Room Conversations, as well as, from Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).

NCDD’s online D&D event roundup is a weekly compilation of the upcoming events happening in the digital world related to dialogue, deliberation, civic tech, engagement work, and more! Do you have a webinar or other digital event coming up that you’d like to share with the NCDD network? Please let us know in the comments section below or by emailing me at keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org, because we’d love to add it to the list!

Upcoming Online D&D Events:

MetroQuest webinar – Public Engagement Jackpot | How Your Agency Can Win Big

Wednesday, April 24th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

The stakes are high in planning for regional growth in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County. On April 24, Truckee Meadows RPA will reveal the winning strategy for online public engagement! You’ll see resident survey data in action, providing a clear path to the best regional plans. Jeremy Smith will share how TMRPA used public engagement to build broad public support for infill development in core areas to stop the sprawl. You’ll also hear how Lauren Knox used 53,290+ survey data points to inform their 20-year Truckee Meadows Regional Plan.

REGISTER: http://go.metroquest.com/Public-Engagement-Jackpot-How-Your-Agency-Can-Win-Big.html

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) webinar – Lessons Learned from 3 Decades of Peace Education Work

Wednesday, April 24th
12 am Pacific, 3 am Eastern

During this webinar, peace education expert Loreta Castro will present lessons she has learned over the course of her peace education work, including insights and suggestions that might be helpful to educators who are in similar contexts.

REGISTER: www.gppac.net/peace-education-webinar-series

National Civic League AAC Promising Practices Webinar – Community Approaches to Inclusive Healthy Housing

Thursday, April 25th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Join the National Civic League to learn more about two organizations that are bringing healthy housing to their communities. Suzanne Mineck, President of the Mid Iowa Health Foundation and Emily Yu, Executive Director of BUILD Health Challenge will speak about Healthy Homes Des Moines and the BUILD Health Challenge. Leroy Moore, Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Tampa Housing Authority will join us to talk about project ENCORE!

REGISTER: www.nationalcivicleague.org/resource-center/promising-practices/

Living Room Conversations webinar – Tribalism 101: Next Door Strangers

Sunday, April 28
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Tribalism: the behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group. People on the left and right may disagree on many things, but they generally agree that “tribalism” is bad for our politics and our country. Although most people want communities where all people have dignity and respect, respectful interactions are often not what we see modeled in the media and in politics. How do we build strong and unified communities in a divisive time? Inspired by the podcast Next Door Strangers, this Living Room Conversation begins with a  15-minute podcast: http://www.kuer.org/post/1-tribalism-101-pick-side. Please see the conversation guide for this topic.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/online-living-room-conversation-tribalism-101-next-door-strangers-6/

PBP Releases New Data Map on Participatory Budgeting

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The Participatory Budgeting Project, an NCDD member org, has developed a new map of the participatory budgeting (PB) processes happening across the US and Canada, both current and past efforts. PB is a process in which community members democratically vote on a portion of the public budget, and as the map shows, the process has been growing rapidly across the country. We encourage you to learn more in the article below, view the live map here, and find the original version of this piece on PBP’s site here.

Speaking of cool tech tools, make sure you register for our FREE April Tech Tuesday happening in just a few hours (from 2-3pm Eastern, 11am-12pm Pacific), where we will explore the new participatory decision-making platform, Ethelo. You won’t want to miss it – register ASAP!

New Data-Driven Map Shows Spread of Participation in Democracy

As we celebrate the first 30 years of participatory budgeting (PB) in the world and the first 10 years of the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), we reflect on how far and wide PB has spread–and how it continues to grow! We’re thrilled to introduce a new tool to help us look back as we plan for the next 30+ years of PB. And so we’re introducing a map of PB across the U.S. and Canada. Each dot on the map represents a place where democracy has been deepened by bringing people together to decide together how to invest public resources in their community. (Below is a screenshot of the map, but make sure you view the real interactive map here!)

How can you get the most data out of this map?

Try playing with the “widgets” located to the right of the map that visualize different classes of data.

  • By default all of the processes show up first but you can select any particular year you are interested in.
  • You can also view a count of how many PB processes of a particular sort took place within the portion of the map you are viewing. For example, you can find out that in 2018 there were 56 PB city-wide, county-wide, and district-level processes in the US and Canada–our biggest year for PB yet!
  • Or, try selecting one year and zooming in to your own neighborhood to find active or pending PB processes in your community. If you click on a dot you can get more info about the process, such as how large the budget was, how many voters turned out, and where to find its website.

The map is linked to the database that PBP maintains to try to track every PB process in the U.S. and Canada. Inevitably some PB processes aren’t on our radar.

If you know that PB exists somewhere not seen on our map, or you have additional data about a PB process, please fill out this form to let us know!

If we listen closely, we hear messages from this data.

This data sheds light on larger questions, such as what is the relationship between the size of PB budgets and the number of people who participate? Looking at PBP data on processes in counties, cities, and urban districts, we find a positive correlation between the size of the PB budget per person and the number of people who take part in a PB vote (r=.22, n=245). In other words, where officials make a stronger commitment to funding PB, more people take part in the process–all the more reason to continue growing PB!

This year, as we reflect on the first 30 years of PB and the first ten years of PBP, we also look ahead to filling out more of this map. Will you join us as we celebrate and vision – by joining us at our Anniversary Benefit on May 23rd or becoming a PB Amplifier?

You can find the original version of this article on The Participatory Budgeting Project site at www.participatorybudgeting.org/pb-map/.

Don’t Miss Tomorrow’s Tech Tuesday with Ethelo – Register Now!

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We want to remind our network of our next Tech Tuesday call happening tomorrow April 23rd from 2-3pm Eastern, 11am-12pm Pacific. This free webinar will explore the digital platform, Ethelo, a participatory decision-making space that leads to higher transparency among participants and greater overall buy-in of the process. Register ASAP to save your spot on the call!

In this webinar, we will be joined by John Richardson, founder and CEO of Ethelo. John will give a quick overview of the software and walk through some real-world examples of how its been used by different clients to engage stakeholders in solving contentious, real-life problems. Ethelo is particularly helpful for stakeholder engagement and communications professionals in the government, business and nonprofit space who need to engage large groups of people on sensitive and challenging issues. When an upfront investment in a fair, inclusive process is critical to prevent opposition down the road, Ethelo provides a robust and proven solution.

“Ethelo is a dramatic new technology that can facilitate democratic citizen participation in political decision making. As people insist on more say in the decisions that can affect them, Ethelo can make modern citizen engagement possible and practical.” – Judy Rebick, Founder Rabble

About our presenter

John Richardson is an internationally recognized social entrepreneur, with a background in mathematics, law, political policy and technology. In 2005, he was awarded an Ashoka Fellowship for his work in creating high-impact social initiatives. John and his colleagues founded Ethelo to develop online approaches for participatory decision-making that could scale to large groups. John is dedicated to advancing new approaches to digital engagement and direct democracy.

This will be a great chance to learn more about this . Don’t miss out – register today!

Tech Tuesdays are a series of learning events from NCDD focused on technology for engagement. These 1-hour events are designed to help dialogue and deliberation practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them. You do not have to be a member of NCDD to participate in our Tech Tuesday learning events.

D&D Event Roundup and NCDD Tech Tuesday Next Week!

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This week’s roundup features webinars from NCDD member orgs New Directions Collaborative, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice, Living Room Conversations, MetroQuest, and National Civic League, as well as, from International Association of Facilitators and Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). We are excited to offer our upcoming Tech Tuesday next week, April 23rd, where we will learn more about the participatory decision platform, Ethelo. Register ASAP to save your spot for this free call and learn more in the post below.

NCDD’s online D&D event roundup is a weekly compilation of the upcoming events happening in the digital world related to dialogue, deliberation, civic tech, engagement work, and more! Do you have a webinar or other digital event coming up that you’d like to share with the NCDD network? Please let us know in the comments section below or by emailing me at keiva[at]ncdd[dot]org, because we’d love to add it to the list!

Upcoming Online D&D Events: New Directions, Zehr Institute, LRC, MetroQuest, NCL, IAF, GPPAC, & NCDD April Tech Tuesday feat Ethelo

New Directions Collaborative webinar  – Working as an Ecosystem

Wednesday, April 17th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Activating the full potential within an organization, community, or network requires us to see how our work fits into a larger whole and how we can connect what are often fragmented “parts.” Some wisdom, collective strength, and innovative solutions can only be activated when we engage and connect all parts of an organization, community, or system.

After working with many collaborative initiatives and seeking out tools and processes, Beth Tener of New Directions Collaborative, has combined what she has learned in this introductory workshop to build skills in working as an ecosystem. In this workshop, you will learn: principles of how systems work, practical tools to help people “see the system” and make relationships visible, participatory processes for how to connect and cross-pollinate the work and wisdom of diverse perspectives, and how and why accessing and engaging marginalized voices is critical to this work.

REGISTER: www.ndcollaborative.com/events/

Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice – Love and Living Soil – Restoring Justice for Land and Community

Wednesday, April 17th
1:30pm Pacific, 4:30pm Eastern
Guest: Jonathan McRay
Host: Johonna Turner

Restorative justice is a social movement, but it must also be an ecological one in order to answer its guiding questions: What are the needs of those harmed and those who harmed? What’s the process we can participate in to hold ourselves accountable and heal? What are the root causes of the harmful behavior in the community, and culture? What are the structures and relationships we desire? The truth is we cannot have restorative justice without restoring our relationship to land and water. However, this integration can’t be a messy mashup of mainstream environmentalism and social justice. Instead, we’re talking about power and sustenance, the ways we order our lives with nurturance or with exploitation. This is about what makes for healthy community: the ability to love, be loved, and be free from violence and waste – from hunger and landlessness to colonization and white supremacy – so we can meet our needs with a sustaining and nurturing power in which all creatures have enough.

REGISTER: http://zehr-institute.org/webinars/love-and-living-soil.html

International Association of Facilitators webinar – 2019 Facilitation Impact Awards

Wednesday, April 17th
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

Join our webinar to explore any questions you have about how to prepare a submission. Our guest awardee is Tamara Eberle who has, with her clients, received 4 Platinum and 2 Gold Facilitation Impact Awards over the past 5 years. A great achievement Tamara! If you can’t join us feel free to send any questions you have for Tamara to fia@iaf-world.org. A recording of the session will be available.

REGISTER: www.iaf-world.org/site/events/webinar-2019-facilitation-impact-awards

Living Room Conversations Training (free): The Nuts & Bolts of Living Room Conversations

Thursday, April 18th
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Join us for 60 minutes online to learn about Living Room Conversations. We’ll cover what a Living Room Conversation is, why we have them, and everything you need to know to get started hosting and/or participating in Living Room Conversations. This training is not required for participating in our conversations – we simply offer it for people who want to learn more about the Living Room Conversations practice.

Space is limited to 12 people so that we can offer a more interactive experience. Please only RSVP if you are 100% certain that you can attend. This training will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. A link to join the conversation will be sent to participants by the Wednesday before this training.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/free-training-the-nuts-bolts-of-living-room-conversations/

NCDD April Tech Tuesday featuring Ethelo

Tuesday, April 23rd
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

In this free one-hour webinar, we will be joined by John Richardson, founder and CEO of Ethelo, a participatory decision platform. John will give a quick overview of the software and walk through some real-world examples of how its been used by different clients to engage stakeholders in solving contentious, real-life problems. Ethelo is particularly helpful for stakeholder engagement and communications professionals in the government, business and nonprofit space who need to engage large groups of people on sensitive and challenging issues.

REGISTER: http://ncdd.org/29489

Living Room Conversations webinar – Status and Privilege

Tuesday, April 23rd
3:30 pm Pacific, 6:30 pm Eastern

We joke about “keeping up with the Joneses” — but there’s real competition in our society for status and the accompanying privilege. How do we decide what we most value that bestows this status? While our country seems to favor wealth, there are other forms of status and privilege. What privilege do each of us enjoy? And how does that correspond with our status? This conversation examines our own status and how we use our status in everyday life. From education to wealth to gender to race, let’s talk about what we have…and what we desire. Please see the conversation guide for this topic.

REGISTER: www.livingroomconversations.org/event/online-living-room-conversation-status-and-privilege-2/

MetroQuest webinar – Public Engagement Jackpot | How Your Agency Can Win Big

Wednesday, April 24th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

The stakes are high in planning for regional growth in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County. On April 24, Truckee Meadows RPA will reveal the winning strategy for online public engagement! You’ll see resident survey data in action, providing a clear path to the best regional plans. Jeremy Smith will share how TMRPA used public engagement to build broad public support for infill development in core areas to stop the sprawl. You’ll also hear how Lauren Knox used 53,290+ survey data points to inform their 20-year Truckee Meadows Regional Plan.

REGISTER: http://go.metroquest.com/Public-Engagement-Jackpot-How-Your-Agency-Can-Win-Big.html

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) webinar – Lessons Learned from 3 Decades of Peace Education Work

Wednesday, April 24th
12 am Pacific, 3 am Eastern

During this webinar, peace education expert Loreta Castro will present lessons she has learned over the course of her peace education work, including insights and suggestions that might be helpful to educators who are in similar contexts.

REGISTER: www.gppac.net/peace-education-webinar-series

National Civic League AAC Promising Practices Webinar – Community Approaches to Inclusive Healthy Housing

Thursday, April 25th
9 am Pacific, 12 pm Eastern

Join the National Civic League to learn more about two organizations that are bringing healthy housing to their communities. Suzanne Mineck, President of the Mid Iowa Health Foundation and Emily Yu, Executive Director of BUILD Health Challenge will speak about Healthy Homes Des Moines and the BUILD Health Challenge. Leroy Moore, Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Tampa Housing Authority will join us to talk about project ENCORE!

REGISTER: www.nationalcivicleague.org/resource-center/promising-practices/

Welcome to the Newest NCDD Sponsoring Member: The Courageous Leadership Project

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We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the Courageous Leadership Project to the Coalition as a Sponsoring Member! It is through the generous support of our members that we are able to thrive as a Coalition and work to serve you as best as possible. Huge thank you to Stephani Roy McCallum and the Courageous Leadership Project team for joining!

The Courageous Leadership Project helps people find their inner leader so they can have brave honest conversations and find solutions to the challenges they face in their lives, organizations, and communities. They offer several training opportunities to strengthen skills around having more challenging conversations and learning about the IAP2 Strategies for Public Opposition & Outrage in Public Participation.

The Courageous Leadership Project is generously offering fantastic discounts to NCDD members on their upcoming trainings, both in-person and online. There’s a special opportunity to enter to win free registration on their next month’s event, GATHER: 5 days of Brave, Honest Conversations ONLINE, happening May 13-17th. Winners for this unique NCDD giveaway will be selected on Friday, April 19th, so make sure you enter ASAP!

We strongly encourage everyone to learn more the Courageous Leadership Project and these special opportunities in the post below, and explore their website here.

About The Courageous Leadership Project

At the Courageous Leadership Project we bring our expertise in leadership development, coaching and decades of experience in high stakes, high emotion engagement to create opportunities for better results. Stephani Roy McCallum is the Chief Storm Rider at the Courageous Leadership Project, where she harnesses the energy of conflict and high emotion and rides it to clearer skies.  Working around the globe we help leaders have brave, honest conversations™ about the challenges they face to find solutions – together.

Bravely leading is in you. You just need to find it. Build your skills & knowledge for Brave, Honest Conversations™ in your life, organization and community.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

ONLINE TRAININGS

Win one FREE registration to GATHER!

We’re thrilled to offer our membership the opportunity to win one FREE registration at GATHER: 5 days of Brave, Honest Conversations™ ONLINE May 13-17. Each day there will be a live webinar where Stephani Roy McCallum from the Courageous Leadership Project will walk through the day’s topic, what it is, why it matters and how to do it. You will get a chance to ask questions and get answers. At the end of each day you’ll have access to resources, exercises and additional work to dive deeper into brave, honest conversations. Click here to enter for this registration giveaway!

It takes courage and channeling a little #braveaf in your life to say yes to growing as a leader! If this sounds like an opportunity you’d be interested in, please click here to enter your name to WIN. Winner will be drawn on April 19 so don’t delay!

Watch this short video to learn more about GATHER. You can find information on the schedule, speakers, topics and more on our website.  Do you have questions? Check out our FAQs. Register here!

NCDD members receive $50 off. Use discount code NCDD50.

IN PERSON TRAININGS

Brave, Honest Conversations: Bravely leading challenging conversations

April 17-18, 2019 – Whitehorse, YT, Canada
July 18-19, 2019 – Victoria, BC, Canada

Brave, Honest Conversations™ are a way of talking together, working together and living. When we show up with courage, compassion and integrity the possibilities are endless. The world needs more leaders who dare to make a lasting difference.

It’s time to build your leadership skills – to practice courage, compassion and responsibility for impact. When you build your capacity to lead others, groups and the world around you, you create the momentum for positive change and the opportunity to move from stuck to possible. Foundational to leading others is the ability to lead yourself, to practice courage, compassion and kindness for yourself, and to make choices that allow you to bring your best self to the world. Learn new ways of being and showing up in tough conversations, and also find some new tangible, practical tools to improve your work in the world. Register here!

NCDD members receive $100 off. Use discount code NCDD100.

IAP2 Strategies for Public Opposition & Outrage in Public Participation

May 27-28, 2019 – Calgary, AB, Canada
July 16-17, 2019 – Victoria, BC, Canada

This two-day training course combines the work of risk communication expert Dr. Peter Sandman with the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) core concepts for meaningful and effective public engagement.

Development of this course for IAP2 was led by Stephani Roy McCallum in 2009, and an update of course materials in 2017 reflects the current context of today’s charged, polarized environment. The workshop is practical, hands-on participatory mix of video, lecture, group exercises and decades of real-world experience in engaging the public in high stakes, high conflict situations. Register here!

NCDD members receive $100 off. Use discount code NCDD100. 

FREE WEBINAR: Brave, Honest Conversations™

Some conversations are hard to have. Fear and discomfort build in your body and you avoid and procrastinate or pretend everything is fine. Sometimes you rush in with urgency, wanting to smooth things over, fix them, and make them better. Sometimes you go to battle stations, positioning the conversation so you have a higher chance of being on the “winning” side.

NONE OF THIS WORKS.

Instead, it usually makes a hard conversation harder; more divided, polarized, and disconnected from others. The more people involved, the harder the conversation can be. I believe that brave, honest conversations are how we solve the problems we face in our world – together.

In this webinar, we will cover:

    • What is a Brave, Honest Conversation™? Why have one? What can change because of a brave, honest conversation?
    • How do you have one? What do you need to think about and do?
    • How do you prepare yourself for a brave, honest conversation?

Join us on one of the following 2019 dates: March 6, June 12, July 10, and August 21. All webinars are an hour and 15 minutes long and start at noon Eastern Time. Register here!

You can learn more about The Courageous Leadership Project at www.bravelylead.com/.

Exploring the Impacts of Technology in Rewiring Democracy

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As technology continues to grow at incredibly fast rates, those working to improve democratic practices are often left scrambling to keep up a with rapidly changing environment. NCDD member organization Public Agenda released the paper, Rewiring Democracy: Subconscious Technologies, Conscious Engagement, and the Future of Politics, a follow-up to the earlier-released Infogagment paper. Rewiring Democracy identifies several digital trends and each of their potential consequences on democracy. We encourage you to read the article below and find the original version on PA’s site here.

AI, Blockchain, VR, and the Complicated Future of Democracy

All kinds of changes, many of them driven by technology, affect how we live, work, vote, interact, and get information.

Too often, the people working to strengthen democracy have been caught flat-footed by the pace of new trends and innovations. All kinds of changes, many of them driven by technology, affect how we live, work, vote, interact, and get information. It’s always been difficult to understand the implications of trends in the moment, but it’s even harder today because knowledge is so vast and specialized with experts on each trend often isolated from one another, without an overarching map for everyone to see.

Rewiring Democracy: Subconscious Technologies, Conscious Engagement, and the Future of Politics is an attempt to anticipate how the next set of changes will affect democracy, map the intersections of different trends and inform how we should respond. It’s a sequel to the Infogagement report, published by Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement in 2014 and re-released with a new introduction, foreword, and commentaries in 2018. The original Infogagement described trends that later erupted into controversies over “fake news,” voter disenchantment with politics, and Facebook’s abuse of user privacy.

Like Infogagement, Rewiring Democracy is based on the assumption that transformative moments often happen when trends come together—when the wires of innovation cross. Think, for example, of how the combination of personal computers, credit cards, and the internet transformed how we shop, leading in turn to dramatic changes in fields like journalism, as newspapers lost the revenue that classified ads used to bring. Well known, slowly progressing changes like the rise in literacy rates or in economic inequality might interact with new developments like blockchain or the rapidly-growing capacities of artificial intelligence (AI).

There are great challenges and potential catastrophes at these intersections, but there can also be great benefits. The intent of the paper is to begin identifying how these trends present significant dangers, as well as opportunities, for democracy.

Many of these dangers and opportunities have to do with the interplay between two major forces. One is the growth of what we call “subconscious technologies,” driven by the new capacity of AI to make decisions and predictions, most of which are unknown to most of us, based on the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data we now generate every day. The other is the increasing determination among citizens to make their actions and opinions matter in public life, an impulse we are calling “conscious engagement.” These two forces are rampant, and the ways in which they conflict with or complement one another may be critical to the future of politics and democracy.

To explore these forces, we relied on expert interviews, conceptual mapping, and a broad-based systemic analysis to gauge the force of different trends, understand their potential implications, and show how they connect and build on one another. The experts we spoke with include:

  • Jaimie Boyd, Director of Open Government, Treasury Board Secretariat, Government of Canada
  • Peter Eckart, Data Across Sectors for Health, Illinois Public Health Institute
  • Allison Fine, author, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
  • Nigel Jacob, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston
  • David Lazer, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University
  • Josh Lerner, Participatory Budgeting Project
  • Peter Levine, Academic Dean and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Jonathan Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University
  • Abhi Nemani, Ethos Labs
  • Darrell West, Vice President and Director, Governance Studies, Brookings
  • Ethan Zuckerman, Director, Center for Civic Media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We also hope that this paper serves as an antidote for what seems to be the prevailing sentiment about the fate of democracy: deepening frustration and even resignation that our political system is ineffective and unpopular, without serious attention to how that system could be changed.

Collectively, there’s been a lot of hand-wringing about democracy, as if we were standing at the bedside of a slowly declining patient. We know frustration with American politics is higher than ever before. Trust in government and other public institutions has been ebbing for decades, and it has now reached unprecedented lows. Election after election, voters of both parties are attracted to “outsider” candidates who promise to “change the system.” The trends we describe in Rewiring Democracy bring with them tremendous implications, and they should prompt us to think more carefully about how people interact with institutions and with one another. They can help us decide how we might redesign democracy so that it fits the new expectations and capacities of citizens.

You can find the original version of this article on the Public Agenda blog at www.publicagenda.org/blogs/ai-blockchain-vr-and-the-complicated-future-of-democracy.