Category Archives: tools

Democracy Rising – Call for Contributions

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NCDD Member Tom Prugh is working with Resilience.org to launch a blog series on the site, titled “Democracy Rising.” The goal of the blog is to introduce the readership to deliberative democracy. He’s working with some fellow NCDD members already, but is looking to expand the list of contributors. What better way than to reach out to you, the NCDD network!

Below is a description of the series and its purpose from Tom. Read on for more information on how to express your interest.

Democracy Rising will be a series of blog posts for the website Resilience.org that will lay out the basics of deliberative democracy: why it’s powerful, why the time is right for it, how it works, and how to get it going in one’s community. I will curate the series and write some posts myself, as well as reach out to various scholars and practitioners for contributions. I expect to submit a post every week or two for a year or so.

The underlying premise is that our system of democratic governance is in peril. Many top-down tweaks to the system are possible and necessary, but they will not be sufficient. Changes to the machinery of politics can help fix what’s broken at the top—but not what’s broken at the bottom. DD can help with that: it has a proven track record of bridging divides, tapping our collective intelligence, and mitigating political animus. It is possibly the best means of promoting the education into citizenship that makes for strong communities—especially as we approach an era when increasing localization seems likely.

The problem is that while DD is well known among the many scholars, practitioners, and citizens from all over the world who have experience with it, it’s mostly off the public radar. The field doesn’t lack expertise or results—there is a deep well of both within the DD community. But you could scan the mainstream media for years without seeing a single mention of a town meeting, citizens’ council, or technology review panel. The local focus means local obscurity.

DD needs more evangelism—an effort to publicize it to the wider world and build a movement of “democracy preppers” who want to stockpile social and community capital rather than beans and ammunition. The Resilience readership is largely focused on preparing for a post-carbon world–one of lower energy, less economic growth, and rising ecological stresses–and DD has much to offer as a means for communities to weather the turmoil ahead. This is a largely untapped audience that seems primed for the deliberative democracy message. The Resilience website has had 3 million unique visitors.

In addition to posting on Resilience.org, contributors are welcome to post on their own sites, and NCDD will be cross-posting as well. Contributions may be recurring or one-time. Brief author bios appended to each post will allow contributors to reach out to this new audience with information about their professional services and/or scholarship.

Topics should aim to fit into one of five categories, particularly topics 3 and 4:

  1. history and surveys of examples
  2. theory and arguments for DD
  3. handbook-type posts on how to do it; there is a huge amount of info on the NCDD website already that could be adapted for posting
  4. strategies and tactics for seeding it in a community
  5. further research, ongoing musings (further into the project)

If you are interested in exploring this opportunity, please reach out to Tom at PRUGHT@msn.com.

NCDD hopes you will consider contributing your perspective, resources, and research to this project! This is an exciting opportunity to reach more folks and share the opportunities that deliberative democracy can offer us all in working through today’s toughest challenges together.

New Essential Partners’ Dialogue Guide on Race in America

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NCDD sponsor organization, Essential Partners, recently released their new comprehensive dialogue guide titled, Race in America. This guide is designed to support community conversations on race; including instructions, a facilitator guide, and several case studies on racial dialogues happening in the U.S. You can learn more about the guide in the post below and download the guide for free via EP’s site here.

Race in America: A Dialogue Guide

Informed by decades of experience, Race in America: A Dialogue Guide will provide a roadmap for you to lead courageous, constructive conversations about race in your community.

Essential Partners has collaborated with grassroots groups, activists, schools, faith institutions, and communities across the United States to make new conversations about race possible. Recent projects include:

  • Dialogues between police and Black community members in Raleigh, NC
  • Community dialogues about faith, race, and ethnicity in Columbia, MD
  • Dialogues among BIPOC educators about the dual strains of COVID and BLM
  • A set of student-led race dialogues at a secondary school in Cary, NC

This guide contains everything you need to hold three dialogues: one for an all-white group, one for an inter-racial group, and one for a group composed of participants who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC).

The Guide contains an introduction to EP’s theory and approach, step-by-step instructions to design and lead a dialogue, a complete facilitator script, as well as tips for those new to this kind of facilitation.

Find the original version of this on Essential Partners’ site at: www.whatisessential.org/race-in-america-a-dialogue-guide.

Student Support with Dialogue in Time of National Crisis

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Students spend most of their days in school. Naturally, when national events occur, this extends the teachers regular duties to the role of  “first responders”. This publication from Essential Partners was adapted for the classroom from their Reflective Structured Dialogue, and is offered as a tool for teachers to create a space of self- reflection, deep listening and open sharing in the classroom.  The prompts and guidelines to consider, proactively invite the students to process crisis in a healthy way.

Read about the structure and prompts offered below or find the original post here.

Holding Space in a Moment of Crisis

Along with their parents, teachers are often the “first responders” for students when a major national crisis takes place. It can be difficult or impossible to have a normal class in the wake of a traumatic or disruptive event.

Creating a space of self-reflection, deep listening, and open sharing in the classroom can proactively invite students to process and discuss crises in healthy ways. What could be a moment of trauma and division can become, instead, an opportunity for connection, empowerment, and mutual support.

Adapted for the classroom from EP’s Reflective Structured Dialogue approach, the tools below can be used to create a dialogic space in your classroom after a disruptive event.

Be transparent. Name the event, outline the process.

Whether it’s an event in the national news or a challenging paragraph in a text you are reading together, transparently name the disruption that you know the class is feeling. This offers permission for students to

acknowledge and begin to process their emotions. It may also relieve tension about whether you’ll pretend that nothing is amiss.

Depending on the circumstance, you might also acknowledge your own emotional response too, even if you don’t go into details about what those emotions are.

Many people dive into work or school to avoid the difficult feelings that a crisis can raise. Being transparent and naming the disruption hits the pause button on business-as-usual. It signals that this is going to be a different kind of space, at least for now.

You can further the work of creating a new kind of space by letting the class know the process of this structured, reflective exercise. You can use this time to preview what the students will be asked to do. This could be a general outline or include some specific examples. The purpose here is to provide some clarity, certainty, and security.

Give direction and time for reflection.

Reflection without purpose and direction can veer into a blank staring and long silences. An anchor for reflection provides focus.

Below are two sets of anchors that you can use to guide the students’ reflections. The first is a set of questions that can be used as either journal prompts or as the questions for a timed and structured go-around:

  • How have you been impacted by what happened? What feels most at stake? What would you like others to understand about what matters most to you about this event?
  • Where do you feel stuck or what dilemma does this moment bring up for you? What does this dilemma tell you about what you think is important or a value that you hold?

The second anchor is more abstract. Display a set of images for the students to look at (printed out or shared in a digital folder). Ask the students to respond to one of these question prompts:

  • Find an image that reflects how you are feeling right now after what happened.
  • Find an image that represents an alternative vision you have for what could be possible.

Reflection is also a process that can take time. Some students will have something to share immediately, but others might need a few minutes to collect their thoughts and explore their own feelings. Be sure to provide quiet time for individual reflection and for students to make notes before inviting them to share.

Structure the group sharing.

If you have time for the students to share some of their reflections, a structure can maintain the space you have worked to create. It underscores that this isn’t a usual class, and limits the dynamics of debate and argument. Some recommended structures are:

  • Allowing students are able to pass if they don’t feel ready or comfortable sharing
  • Making sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to share/speak (especially if you plan to have a less structured conversation afterwards)
  • Pausing briefly to let the group hear and process what someone has said before moving on to the next speaker
  • Letting students know the order they will be invited to share (especially online) by announcing a rolling “batting order”—first Jim, then Cassie, then Alejandra—which encourages students to be prepared to speak when it’s their turn

Set aside time to close in an intentional way.

As we encourage students to develop social-emotional skills, we also teach them how to bring closure to these difficult moments in order to re-enter day-to-day activities.

It can be tempting to follow the flow of a discussion at the expense of watching the clock—only to have the bell ring and class abruptly end. That can be disorienting for students, and hard for them to transition. Allow time at the end of your class or exercise for a closing activity. This should invite students to process and synthesize what they’ve heard from others and discovered about themselves. Here are several examples of closing prompts:

  • Thinking about what’s been said here today, what is one hope you have for us as a nation going into this new year
  • Write down on a post-it note (to post on the wall of the room) one theme from what you’ve heard shared here today that you want the community to remember.
  • Share one thing that you’ve heard shared here today that you want to take with you into this week.
  • Reflecting on everything you’ve thought about, shared about and heard today, what is one word or phrase that describes what you want to remember moving forward.

Creating a dialogic space for students to reflect and share lets them reconnect with their internal strengths and resources in crisis moments—skills that will serve them throughout their lives. It helps them make meaning from difficult and disruptive events. And it encourages reflection on the way students want to engage with the world around them.

As always, we are here to support you. If you need more help holding difficult classroom discussions, please reach out.

You can find the original version on The Essential Partners’ site at www.whatisessential.org/holding-space-moment-crisis

 

Antioch University Unveils Leadership Certificates

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Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change (GSLC) is announcing new exciting opportunities for professionals and executives with the launch of their Professional Certificate Series.  These two certification programs are timely with the presence of the many changes felt by our communities. Each course offers the convenience of being self-paced with a weekly average of 4-5 hours over the duration of three months.

Certificate 1: Leading for Inclusion and Racial Justice Certificate is designed for anyone with an interest in challenging racism at a structural or systemic level within their institutions, organizations or communities. You do not have to be in a formal leadership role in order to benefit from the material offered, as the Certificate is based in the belief that leadership for inclusion and racial justice occurs at all levels of any human community.

Certificate 2: Leading Transformative Change is for either emerging leaders or any leader who wants to “up” their ability by understanding the pros and cons of change leadership practices.

Read more below or find more information on the Professional Certificate series of your interest here.

Antioch University Unveils New Leadership Certification Courses

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Professional Certificate Series by Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change (GSLC). The purpose of the series is to offer cutting-edge and intellectually engaging courses on leadership and change for professionals and executives. Drawing upon Antioch’s 160-year legacy of human-centered innovative education, the participants will benefit from becoming familiar with novel, evidence-based frameworks, and practical approaches, which directly inform their practice as leaders and professionals in the chosen areas.

Participants can expect to experience a motivating and creative mix o f learning methods. They can also expect to have access to world-class instructors. Flexibility is built into these offerings and all the work may be completed asynchronously (at the participants’ own pace) requiring around 4 to 5 hours of work per week. However, unlike many other programs, we have created regular,

optional opportunities to engage with the course instructors on a real-time basis. This relational aspect is a hallmark of the GSLC.

Currently, the series includes the following two certificates, each comprised of three courses:

Certificate 1: Leading for Inclusion and Racial Justice
Courses: Developing ‘Identity Intelligence’; Leading for Inclusion; Challenging Social Systems

Certificate 2: Leading Transformative Change
Courses: Foundations of Transformative Change; Strategic Planning for Sustainable Futures; Leading and Implementing Successful Change

For additional information and for course start dates, please visit GLSC Professional Certificates.
For organizations sending three or more individuals, we will offer a 15% discount.

You can find the original version on the Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change at www.antioch.edu/academics/leadership-management/certificates/.

JAMS and NACFM Offer Grants to Community Mediators!

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The JAMS Foundation and NCDD’s partner the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) are accepting submissions for their 2021-2023 Community Mediation Mini- Grant Program. This opportunity is extended to those interested in offering a new or enhanced process to how their organization currently serves their communities, with a focus on healing an ongoing or long standing community divide towards a path of re-connection.

The Program is designed to encourage creativity and variation based on research. Service strategies will be developed through the implementation of the “Listening for Action” Leadership Process and strengthened by at least one policy or procedure change developed and locally implemented over a two-year period. Program recipients will work together throughout the grant period anchored in the Learning Community. The Learning Community is a structured and collaborative peer working group facilitated by NAFCM.  Written materials developed through these grants will be shared with community mediation centers and mediators across the continent and even internationally to support the mediation community.

Five organizations will be awarded yearly $12,000 grants for the 2021-2023 cycle. Applications must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m., local time of applicant on March 15, 2021 to admin@nafcm.org.Read more information on this exciting program below or find the original posting here.

NAFCM/JAMS Foundation Mini-Grant Bidders Conference

The JAMS Foundation and National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) are pleased to announce the 2021-2023 funding track of the Community Mediation Mini-Grant Program (“Program”).

Strengthening Community Connections: This is an opportunity to assist one or more of the communities you serve by helping this community to develop a long-term process focused on healing their current or long-standing community divide. The proposed project should expand how your organization currently serves your communities (through mediation, restorative justice practices, conflict coaching, conflict management training or dialogue processes), by offering a new or enhanced process to help people, institutions, and the community as a whole on their path toward re-connection.

Systemic changes developed as part of this process should be able to be replicated by community mediation centers as a path for sustainability and growth for the field of community mediation, as well as to inform the development of training, evidence-based strategies, policy, and research at the national level as well.

The Program is designed to encourage creativity and variation based on research. Service strategies will be developed through the implementation of the “Listening for Action” Leadership Process and strengthened by at least one policy or procedure change developed and locally implemented over a two-year period. Program recipients will work together throughout the grant period anchored in the Learning Community. The Learning Community is a structured and collaborative peer working group facilitated by NAFCM. This structure serves as an incubator for innovation by aiding in the development of “good practices.” Written materials developed through these grants will be shared with community mediation centers and mediators across the continent. By distributing these materials, sharing programmatic resources, providing training, and developing national partnerships, NAFCM supports the replication of these service models and ensures the Program’s impact on an international level.

The Learning Community will meet twice a month for the first five months, and monthly thereafter using a specified on-line meeting platform. This community will follow the “Listening for Action” structured guidance offered by NAFCM that is intended to strengthen the unique work of each project as well as create an executive learning environment that allows the members to grow both individually and professionally.

2021 Solicitation of Interest (SI) Overview

The 2021 Program selection process has two distinct phases.

Phase 1 begins with the release of this 2021 Solicitation of Interest (SI) protocol. This phase is open to any organization which works to incorporate the 9 NAFCM Hallmarks of Community Mediation and believes that this funding and technical assistance support opportunity is a good fit for the needs of their work and those with whom they work.

A community mediation center is an entity that works to achieve the following nine hallmarks of a community mediation center:

  1. A private non-profit or public agency or program thereof, with mediators, staff and governing/advisory board representative of the diversity of the community served.
  2. The use of trained community volunteers as providers of mediation services; the practice of mediation is open to all persons.
  3. Providing direct access to the public through self-referral and striving to reduce barriers to service including physical, linguistic, cultural, programmatic and economic.
  4. Providing service to clients regardless of their ability to pay.
  5. Providing service and hiring without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, age, disabilities, national origin, marital status, personal appearance, gender orientation, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income.
    Providing a forum for dispute resolution at the earliest stage of conflict.
    Providing an alternative to the judicial system at any stage of a conflict.
  6. Initiating, facilitating and educating for collaborative community relationships to effect positive systemic change.
  7. Engaging in public awareness and educational activities about the values and practices of mediation.

Phase 2 begins in April 2021 and is open only to those who submitted a response to the SI during the prior phase and have been invited to submit a full proposal.

This 2021 Program is for those Community Mediation Centers wishing to embed the core values identified by community mediators and recorded in the 2019 State of Community Mediation Report: Fairness, Peacemaking and Violence Prevention.

Funding Project Process Step 1 – Open to all now until March 15th, 2021

  • Interested organizations are required to submit a 1-3-page response to the Solicitation of Interest (SI) (using the guidelines on the following page) to NAFCM no later than 11:59 PM local time of the organization’s legal/main location, March 15, 2021 to siminigrant2020@gmail.com
  • An informational conference call will be held on Monday February 8, 2021- 4:30 PM Eastern Time. There is a limited number of spaces for this teleconference and you must be registered no later Friday February 5, 2021. To obtain the link for the conference please send a notice of interest to NAFCM at siminigrant2020@gmail.com

Funding Project Process Step 2 – By invitation only

  • The NAFCM Grant review committee will notify applicants if they have been selected to develop a full proposal by April 1st, 2021. For selected applicants a review webinar will be offered on Tuesday April 16, 2021 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. The link for attendance will be sent to those applicants who are invited to submit a full proposal.
  • Full proposals (with a required application protocol provided upon notification) will be due to the NAFCM Grant review committee no later than 11:59 PM local time of the organization’s legal/main location on Monday, June 15th, 2021.
  • Notifications of the final decision will be made by August 31st, 2021.

Please address questions about grant program to D.G. Mawn, President, NAFCM, at siminigrant2020@gmail.com.

You can find the original version on the National Association for Community Mediation at www.nafcm.org/news/546106/NAFCMJAMS-Foundation-Mini-Grant-Bidders-Conference.htm.

EP Offers Four Weeks of Post Election Healing Support

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With the elections behind us, Essential Partners, an NCDD sponsor member is offering post-election support. This assistance arrives straight to your inbox in the form of one newsletter per week over the course of the next 4 weeks.  Each newsletter comes with guiding prompts and resources from the pool of experts and 30 years of experience of EP to better assists in continuing the work of healing and caretaking in all of our community circles.  Click here to sign up to the EP email newsletter list! Read below to find the upcoming themes and for the original post here.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? EP OFFERING 4 WEEKS OF POST-ELECTION SUPPORT

The election is finally here. Years of campaigning, media coverage, social media shares, and protests have culminated in this one event.

Now we all turn to the pressing question: what happens next?

During this time of extreme polarization, fear of an uncertain future, and a general reticence to speak with people about what matters most, many dialogue organizations are bringing folks together for post-election conversations.

But we think there is a lot of work to be done—on a personal level, in our trusted circles, and in our larger networks—before our communities are healthy enough to come together again for that kind of dialogue.

Essential Partners will spend the next four weeks doing what we do best—empowering you to repair the fabric of your community, piece by piece. In one email each week over the next four weeks, we will draw on 30 years of experience to offer guidance and resources in support of this crucial work. Click here to sign up to the EP email newsletter list. Here’s what we have planned.

Week 1: Your Best Political Self

We’ll begin with ourselves, taking some much-needed time and space to reflect on what matters most to us and who we want to be.

In this first week, we’ll share a tool to help you think about the stories that inform your political values, the people who influenced you, and the places where you grew into yourself.

We want to help you become curious about who your best political self is—and how that connects to what you decide to do now that the election season is over.

Click here to download the free Week 1 resource.

Week 2: A First-Draft Conversation

Next, we’ll give you a resource to have an intentional conversation with someone who knows you best, someone you trust and feel fully yourself with.

It has been hard to escape the polarizing forces of this election cycle and easy to lose yourself in the campaign. Our resource will help you reflect deeply, with someone close to you, on how you’re doing as this election season comes to a close and on what matters most as you think about the challenges you’ll face next.

This is a first draft conversation. It might be messy. Our hope is that you will be able to worry less about speaking carefully in this first conversation because you’re already so well understood by the other person.

We want to invite you to practice talking about your values and priorities in ways that feel connecting, valuable, and important.

To be published: Tuesday, November 17

Week 3: Building Community

With three weeks of reflection, and some space from the election, try connecting with someone in your life who might feel isolated because of the outcome. This could be a family member, colleague, fellow parishioner, or an acquaintance.

That person doesn’t have to believe something different than you (although they might). They might feel like they’re the only person with their beliefs in the room, the only one who hasn’t responded in the way others have, that they aren’t welcome in conversations, or have felt excluded in the past.

You’ll be given guidance on how to help that person feel heard, fully and seriously. It’s a chance to build or re-build relationships on a foundation of trust and understanding.

To be published: Tuesday, November 24

Week 4: A Group Conversation

Finally, we want you to think of this series as culminating in group conversations. In the last week, we’ll provide tools for you to lead a group discussion that welcomes different perspectives and begins to repair your community after the divisive 2020 election.

This doesn’t have to be a formal dialogue. Maybe it’s a family conversation over a holiday dinner, part of a check-in during your weekly team meeting, or part of a classroom discussion.

To be published: Tuesday, December 1

Whatever the circumstances are, know that better conversations don’t happen overnight. It takes work and time for people to bring their best selves to a discussion across different perspectives—especially in the wake of a polarized conflict like this. But these are necessary conversations if we want to move forward together.

Click here to sign up to the EP email list if you want to receive post-election resources.

If you feel like you need help urgently, you can also reach out to us for a free consultation. We are here to help all those who do the hard work of tending to the health of their community.

You can find the original version on this on the Essential Partners’ site at https://whatisessential.org/what-happens-next-ep-offering-4-weeks-post-election-support.

Join in on the AllSides Connect “Hackathon” Starting Today!

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All are invited to test drive the freshly renamed civil discourse digital platform, AllSides Connect, and give your feedback! For the next three days, August 18th, 19th, and 20th –  NCDDers AllSides and Living Room Conversations are hosting the AllSides Connect “Hackathon”, and we encourage you to check it out! Folks may remember the platform by its’ former name, “Mismatch”. This platform is an opportunity to build connections and share conversation, which many of us are greatly in need of during these times of increased physical distancing due to the coronavirus. Read more in the post below and sign up here! Thank you so much to Kristin Hansen, Director of AllSides Connect, for sharing this announcement with us!

AllSides Connect “Hackathon!”

AllSides and Living Room Conversations request your help! Please sign up for the AllSides Connect “Hackathon,” taking place this week – August 18th, 19th, and 20th.
 
What is AllSides Connect?
A realtime video platform that is purpose-built to foster civil discourse and dialogue across geographic distance and political, racial, faith-based, and other divides in America. AllSides Connect has been built collaboratively by Living Room Conversations, AllSides, and Bridge the Divide. AllSides Connect is intended to broadly serve and scale the bridging/dialogue/civil discourse field. (You might know the platform by its prior name, “Mismatch.”)

What’s the Hackathon, and how do I sign up?
Join the hackathon to experience online civil discourse, test drive the realtime video platform, and give the AllSides Connect team your feedback on the experience … all in 30 minutes or less!

Best of all, you don’t need to be a techie to “hack” AllSides Connect … non-techies needed!

All you need to do is sign up for one 30-minute slot on Tues Aug 18, Wed Aug 19, or Thurs Aug 20. Up to six people can sign up for each time slot.

Here’s the link to sign up: AllSides Connect Hackathon – Sign Up Form – Aug 18, 19, 20

What happens next?
Next, you’ll receive a calendar invite, a URL link, and some basic instructions about how to join your scheduled conversation. You’ll be joined with one or more other “hackers” to hold a short online conversation, with a built-in guide.

Thank you for helping these organizations to scale civil discourse, respectful dialogue, and empathetic listening across America!

NIFI Updates Issue Guide on Immigration

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NCDD member org, the National Issues Forums Institute released their new updated issue guide, Immigration: What Should We Welcome? What Should We Do? In this short updated guide, you can find helpful information and three approaches to assist conversations on this topic that affects almost every single person in America. Read the new announcement below or find the original on NIFI’s here

New Issue Guide – Immigration: Who Should We Welcome, What Should We Do?

This issue is part of the Hidden Common Ground initiative, and sets of free materials are available for conveners and moderators. Scroll down for the Immigration issue guide and other related materials. Need help with your order? Contact customer service.

The immigration issue affects virtually every American, directly or indirectly, often in deeply personal ways. This guide is designed to help people deliberate together about how we should approach the issue. The three options presented here reflect different ways of understanding what is at stake and force us to think about what matters most to us when we face difficult problems that involve all of us and that do not have perfect solutions.

The US government essentially shut down immigration, at least temporarily, during the coronavirus pandemic. But as our country begins to reopen, difficult questions remain:

  • Should we strictly enforce the law and deport people who are
  • here without permission, or would deporting millions of people outweigh their crime?
  • Should we welcome more newcomers to build a more vibrant and diverse society, or does this pose too great a threat to national unity?
  • Should we accept more of the millions of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing gang violence and war, or should we avoid the risk of taking in people whose backgrounds may not have been fully checked?
  • Should our priority be to help immigrants assimilate into our distinctively American way of life and insist they learn English, or should we instead celebrate a growing mosaic of different peoples?

The concerns that underlie this issue are not confined to party affiliation, nor are they captured by labels such as “conservative” or “liberal.”

The research involved in developing the guide included interviews and conversations with Americans from all walks of life, as well as surveys of nonpartisan public-opinion research, subject-matter scans, and reviews of initial drafts by people with direct experience with the subject

You can find the original version of this announcement on the National Issues Forum site at www.nifi.org/en/issue-guide/immigration.

Check Out the April Tech Tuesday with EnCiv!

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Last week, we held the April Tech Tuesday featuring EnCiv and the Undebate platform! We were joined by 40 participants as Will Ferguson, David Fridley, and Adolf Gundersen of EnCiv walked us through their Undebate platform, and the newer Unrountable they are developing. If you weren’t able to make the call, this post includes all of the key link and information – check it out!

EnCiv automates proven human-interaction methods to scale productive democratic discourse. The Undebate is being made available to voters across the country this election season by EnCiv partner Ballotpedia under the label “Candidate Conversations.” In this Tech Tuesday event, EnCiv shared with us an example of how Undebate was used for the San Francisco District Attorney race, which can be viewed at this link.

They also introduced us to the Unroundtable, a platform to allow people to share their thoughts or stories about a topic or issue through brief video responses. You can check out the example they shared with us of an Unroundtable on “What is Democracy?” at this link.

THANK YOU to Will, David, Adolf, 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

Tech Tuesdays are a series of learning events from NCDD focused on technology for engagement. .To learn more about NCDD’s Tech Tuesday series and hear recordings of past calls, please visit www.ncdd.org/tech-tuesdays. 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!

Join Webinar on Optimizing Online Engagement for Planning

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NCDD member organization MetroQuest is hosting another of their great webinars on optimizing online engagement for planning. This webinar is free and happening next Wednesday, May 6th at 11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern. You can read more in the post below and find the original on MetroQuest’s site here.

MetroQuest webinar – “Optimizing Online Engagement for Planning with MetroQuest”

Wednesday, May 6th
11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern (1 hour)
Educational Credit Available (APA AICP CM)
Complimentary (FREE)

After reviewing hundreds of case studies, it turns out that there’s a formula for success with online public engagement to support planning.

Online tools are a critical part of the planner’s public engagement toolbox, especially as we look for safe, effective methods to engage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital town halls? Online surveys? Social media? Online forums? Find out which options result in positive, actionable community input for your urban and transportation plans.

It’s time to learn from the best performing case studies. In this webinar, you’ll learn how hundreds of agencies have engaged 1000s of participants, collecting 30,000 to 200,000 data points by combining well-designed surveys with targeted social media.

Discover the critical success factors to help you replicate the exceptional results that agencies and firms have been able to achieve – unprecedented levels of participation, broader demographic reach, informed public input, and actionable results to support data-driven plans.

This deep-dive session is the fastest way to get up-to-date on MetroQuest and a wide range of other tools and best practices for optimizing public engagement for planning.

Online public engagement can help teams move forward safely and effectively. In this webinar, we’ll explore how to:

  • Identify the right tools to achieve the best engagement results for planning
  • Deliver outstanding public engagement experiences using online tools
  • Embed microlearning to ensure that public input is informed
  • Achieve your top public engagement goals
  • Collect thousands of data points to support local plan

REGISTER: https://metroquest.com/webinars/optimizing-online-engagement-planning-metroquest