This 17-page booklet grows out of the authors' experiences over a number of years in the community of Arlington, Virginia. What is offered here is not a "cookbook" formula but a set of questions and touchstones--civic conversation, "inreach," and civic governance--to help citizens, in whatever roles and communities they find themselves, grapple with the need for civic engagement. Working through these questions and referring back to the touchstones is, we have found, the essence of vital and vibrant civic engagement. (continue)

This 242-page handbook by Bettye Pruitt and Philip Thomas (2007) is a joint effort of CIDA, International IDEA, OAS and UNDP, receiving valuable input from a wider network of organizations (including NCDD). This handbook is the result of a joint initiative to provide decision-makers and practitioners with a practical guide on how to design, facilitate and implement dialogue processes. It combines conceptual and practical knowledge, while providing an overview of relevant tools and experiences. NCDD highly recommends this handbook. (continue)

NCDD's website (you're here right now!) is an online resource center for organizers, facilitators, scholars, and others who want to learn more about dialogue and deliberation, improve their work, or stay informed about what's happening throughout the field. NCDD sends out a monthly email message to over 21,000 people in the D&D community to give them a heads-up about what's new on this ever-changing site--and in the field in general. (continue)

This paper, written primarily for practitioners and commissioners of public participation and community engagement, introduces the "Triangle of Engagement," which postulates that the higher the level of engagement required from participants, the fewer people there are who are willing or able to make this commitment. Some of the implications of this model for the practice of public participation are then considered. (continue)

Need great quotes for a publication, article or report you're writing? This NCDD resource lists dozens of quotes organized by topic: dialogue; deliberation; listening; communication; truth, knowledge & exploration; conflict and transforming conflict; inclusion; democracy; action & change; and a miscellaneous category for other great quotes that are relevant to this work. (continue)

Ellinor and Gerard draw upon their combined 50 years of experience in organizations to show how dialogue can change the way we work by widening information arteries so that employees at every level begin to think along 'leadership' lines and take responsibility for how their actions affect the whole organization. Leading companies including Levi Strauss, Shell, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and AT&T are unleashing the wellspring of power that flows naturally from the trust, mutual respect and spirit of inquiry that are at dialogue's core. (continue)

This determinedly optimistic manifesto-cum-workbook by the author of Diet for a Small Planet begins with the question, "Why are we as societies creating a world that we as individuals abhor?", Lappé posits that U.S. culture is grounded in a worldview of scarcity, creating a society of competitive materialists who practice a Thin Democracy of electoral politics in a one rule market economy that returns wealth to wealth and leads to an ever-increasing concentration of power. Yet she believes there is no reason we can't create a values-guided, empowering democracy based on the premise of plenty, where individuals and communities take charge of public life and engage in active listening, conflict mediation, dialogue and judgment. (continue)

The first edition of The Change Handbook, published in 1999, was the most comprehensive guide available on methods of organization and community change. The first edition provided a snapshot of a nascent field that broke barriers by engaging 'whole systems' of people from organizations and communities in creating their own future. The completely revised and updated second edition overviews 61 change methods - up from 18 in the first edition. A great introduction to large-group methods for participatory planning and redesign. (continue)

This 75-page step-by-step handbook walks readers through the stages of sponsoring, organizing, and participating in a public policy consensus process. Designed primarily for government agencies or departments, the guide also is useful for any other sponsor of - or participant in - a consensus building process. (continue)

This report documents a spectrum of tools and techniques developed largely in the nonprofit world in recent years to increase citizens' involvement in their communities and government. It also highlights ways in which public managers can develop an active approach to increasing citizens' involvement in government at all levels. This report will be useful and informative to managers across the nation seeking new, innovative ways to engage citizens. (continue)