In collaboration with Newtown, Connecticut resident and NCDD member Ben Roberts, NCDD has created a space on Hackpad where we can talk about last Friday’s tragedy and how our community might respond. Our community is buzzing with conversation (and opinion!) about what WE can do in light of this crisis… Can we offer facilitation support to organizations in Newtown? Can we organize a national dialogue on issues that have emerged from this crisis? — and what are the right issues to engage people around?  (Gun […] (continue)

NCDD member John Spady (Community Forums Network) just sent this to the NCDD Discussion list, where we’ve been discussing how we might respond as a community to Friday’s tragedy in Newtown… During our recent NCDD 2012 conference in Seattle, I had the honor to host (then) Sheriff Steve Strachan at my session. He touched on the subject of unmanaged mental illness and the access to firearms. Sheriff Strachan then gave a courageous call for rational dialogue on a problem we keep experiencing over and over […] (continue)

I came across a very interesting article today on Boing Boing (one of the most popular blogs on the web) that is noteworthy for people in the NCDD community. Science editor Maggie Koerth-Baker’s thoughtful piece overviewed her findings when she looked into “what the science says” about the questions that are on many of our minds today in light of the horrific shooting in Newtown: Does gun control mean fewer guns on the street and less violence? Does encouraging gun ownership mean better protected people and […] (continue)

Here’s a note from Joan Blades, who’s going to be joining me and several dozen others in Raleigh later today for an exciting summit.  Joan is co-founder of MoveOn.org and co-founder of Living Room Conversations. Today and tomorrow I’m going to be at the Redesigning Democracy Summit in NC with a remarkable group of leaders in the field of dialogue as well as a few folks that some people might not necessarily expect.  I’ll have the opportunity to present Living Room Conversations as a process […] (continue)

This post was submitted by John Coggin of NC State University via the Add to Blog form… The Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at NC State University is concerned with the future vitality of North Carolina. IEI deliberately and directly connects interested citizens in business, government, education, and the non-profit sector to problem solve emerging issues that lie along the convergence of four key areas: Education, Health, Economy, and Environments (Natural and Built). Our goal is to bring focus to the state’s complex public challenges, […] (continue)

This post was submitted by NCDD member John Coggin of the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University… We find ourselves in uncharted territory in the wake of the 2012 elections and in the face of upcoming challenges, such as improving the economy and addressing the nation’s debt. Continued polarization will lead to devastating gridlock unless we work together across differences to forge consensus. The moment calls for profound and boundary-crossing leadership, not just from political figures, but from all of us. The Redesigning Democracy […] (continue)

Hi, everyone!  Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to add new project ideas for the NCDD Catalyst Awards — two $10,000 awards designed to foster collaboration on projects with the potential to move our field forward in the categories of civic infrastructure and political bridge-building. First drafts are due today, but most projects will have some work to do between now and January 13th, when the final proposals are due — so don’t think your project needs to be completely fleshed […] (continue)

Happy Thanksgiving to all our U.S. members! I wanted to let you know about an event I’m going to be speaking at in Chicago in a couple of weeks, and to invite those of you in the region to attend. Convened by the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the 3-hour meeting will focus on the university’s role in broadening and deepening dialogue and deliberation on public issues in the Chicago area, and in nurturing an informal community of […] (continue)

As you have likely heard, the Catalyst Awards Program is NCDD’s effort to stimulate collaboration across our member organizations.  The NCDD Board is very happy to see all the projects that have been proposed, and now we are excited to push this experiment farther. We will do this by focusing as much energy as possible from our 1600+ member network on these proposals through a 75-min Maestro Conference call.  The call will consist of small-group discussion where you will have the opportunity to brainstorm with three separate […] (continue)

Congratulations to NCDD members and supporters Jacob Hess and Phil Neisser for being featured on this weekend’s This American Life! Here’s a message Jacob just shared on the NCDD Discussion listserv about the Red State Blue State show… Dear NCDD, Good news!  NPR’s This American Life did an hour episode this weekend on friendships and family connections disrupted because of election season, partisan resentment.  As a counterpoint to the animosity, the producer featured a new book Phil Neisser and I wrote, “You’re not as crazy as I thought (but […] (continue)