How D&D Can Help Communities Adapt to Rapid Change Since the 1960s, the US Department of Justice has provided peacekeeping services via its Community Relations Service (CRS) for community conflicts and tensions related to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and disability. In 2015, the heads of the CRS and the National …
The Surprising Power of Community-Based Journalism I just completed my first community outreach event on electricity. If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d be doing this, I’d have laughed. Like most people, I only even thought about electricity when it was out. Electricity seemed like a tedious subject best left to experts. …
Face-to-face events like public meetings and consultations are, with good reason, at the heart of much public engagement. They provide a dedicated block of time and a common space to learn about, discuss, and gather community input into public issues. However, no matter how well designed the event, such gatherings are pointless if nobody shows …
Engaging on the Edges: Creative Street and Online Engagement Read More »
The Story of Aurora Community Study Circles. Last week a small but dedicated group of Chicago area dialogue & deliberation (D&D) practitioners traveled through a heavy snow storm to Aurora, IL to meet with Mary Jane Hollis, creator of the Aurora Community Study Circles (1996-2007). Our original goal was to learn about her approach to …
Transforming a Community with Sustained Dialogue Read More »
I honestly didn’t realize just how ambitious trying to understand the use of dialogue & deliberation for civic engagement in Chicago actually was until a veteran facilitator exclaimed “wow, you’ve taken on a mighty big project!” After all, at first, I couldn’t find much happening in the Windy City. As the project progressed, it certainly …
Surveying the D&D Territory of a City: Lessons from Chicago Read More »
Over a long and rainy weekend in Seattle, I joined members of the US-based National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD) in a trendy downtown eco hotel for their semi-annual conference. NCDD celebrated their 10th anniversary as an organisation by taking on the monumental challenge of envisioning a robust “civic infrastructure” for public dialogue and …
Americans envision a civic infrastructure for public dialogue and deliberation Read More »
America is a foreign place. This shouldn’t be so. I’m American. I was born here. I’ve lived most of my life here. But five years ago I left and moved to Belgium. Five eventful years of economic recession and political dysfunction and environmental catastrophe. Now I’m back in the same city, same neighborhood, even same …
All the old unfamiliar places: America is home-but why doesn’t it feel that way? Read More »