“Hawo’s Dinner Party” is a resource to support conversations and actions around building bridges between refugees from Muslim majority countries and receiving communities in the U.S. in the lead up to the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. This 30-minute DVD will serve as a tool for service providers, grassroots community groups and employers nationwide that are helping to integrate newcomers with unique needs, often against considerable obstacles. NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS. Contact sahar@activevoice.net to learn more. (continue)

20,000 Dialogues is a nationwide campaign to bring people of different faiths together using films about Muslims to stimulate discussion and promote understanding. It brings the concept of interfaith dialogue into the hands of ordinary people who want to make a positive difference. 20,000 Dialogues is a Unity Production Foundation (UPF) project in cooperation with Connecting Cultures, LLC. (continue)

Active Voice is a nonprofit, fee-based service provider whose work is an outgrowth of promising practices developed by the Television Race Initiative (TRI). Active Voice creates campaigns based on powerful issue-driven films. AV campaigns encourage individuals and community groups to probe, discuss and take action on timely and relevant social justice issues. In collaboration with a wide range of partners, Active Voice creates companion materials and trains facilitators in how to use the films as catalysts for civic engagement, volunteerism and coalition building. (continue)

American Documentary, Inc. builds new audiences, educates viewers, and fosters sustained public discourse and activity around the contemporary social issues raised by P.O.V. (Point of View) documentary programming. Their film Girls Like Us, for example, used broadcast media to encourage adults to become aware of the issues affecting the young women in their lives. (continue)

Should we encourage a parent to stay home even if it means a loss of financial security or a slow down in their career? What if there's only one parent or if a family simply can't live on one income? What kinds of child care policies by government and employers would be the most helpful to today's families? This Citizen ChoiceWork Guide (and video) from Public Agenda examines three approaches: help parents take care of their own children; provide quality, affordable child-care options for those parents who need the most help; and provide comprehensive, quality child care for all families. (continue)

This Citizen ChoiceWork guide (and video) from Public Agenda was developed for community conversations, classrooms, study groups, and individuals. Too many schools have students who are just getting by, or failing to learn much at all. We look at four hypothetical school communities and their different approaches to boosting student achievement: set high expectations and hold schools accountable; increase resources for classroom essentials; increase parent and community involvement; and ensure effective leadership. Spanish language version available. (continue)

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law the “nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration,” (NY Times, April 23, 2010), which aims to identify and deport illegal immigrants from the state. Highly controversial, the immigration issue has been a hotly-debated topic in Arizona politics in particular over the past few decades. Rarely is this debate more thoroughly examined than in the award-winning film, CROSSING ARIZONA, a critical tool in educating students to all sides of this debate. CROSSING ARIZONA, Directed by Joseph Mathew & Daniel DeVivo ... (continue)

A documentary is available featuring a several-day-long dialogue process held in Nigeria in October 2010. 200 Muslim and Christian youth met in a safe place in Nigeria for several days of face-to-face, in-depth dialogue experiences. The women and men discovered their equal, shared humanity and that "an enemy is one whose story we have not heard." It was part of the 2nd International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Communication in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. (continue)

Encounter Point is an 85-minute feature documentary film that follows a former Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their lives and public standing to promote a nonviolent end to the conflict. Their journeys lead them to the unlikeliest places to confront hatred within their communities. The film explores what drives them and thousands of other like-minded civilians to overcome anger and grief to work for grassroots solutions. It is a film about the everyday leaders in our midst. (continue)

Following the devastating events of 9/11, filmmaker Ruth Broyde-Sharone saw an urgent need to document the efforts of courageous Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Los Angeles who are determined to bring healing to a fragmented nation. The film illustrates how interfaith dialogue, community outreach, and even dinner conversation can be harnessed to dissolve fear and suspicion and, ultimately, to create a path towards true reconciliation. God/Allah is always talking to us, but are we talking to one another? (continue)