I received a packet in the mail the other day from Angus Reid, who I was privileged to meet in November at the North American Summit on Citizen Engagement. Reid, a famous Canadian pollster, is launching a new division of Angus Reid Consultants called “Dialogue Networks.” Headed by Dr. Alexandra Samuel, an expert on electronic engagement, Dialogue Networks will offer software and services in support of publication and dialogue. In his letter, Angus said “organizations are hungry for new tools and approaches to public dialogue, ... (continue)

Today’s issue of Policy Consensus E-News included an inspiring excerpt from a speech by William Ruckelshaus, the first Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In February, Ruckelshaus gave this year’s Chafee Memorial Lecture on Science and the Environment, which he titled “Choosing our Common Future: Democracy’s True Test.” In the lecture, he addresses how collaborative processes serve as important tools for democratic decision making. The full speech can be downloaded at www.policyconsensus.org/pubs/pci_pubs/Ruckelshaus_Full_Text.pdf (continue)

Sandy Schuman of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) sent me a copy of the brand new “IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation” and I encourage all of you to go out and get a copy for yourselves! Edited by Schuman and sponsored by the IAF, the Handbook is not only an overview of the facilitation field but also a reliable reference for experience group facilitators. Written by 50 leading practitioners and scholars, the chapters cover such things as building trust and improving communications, developing a ... (continue)

Click below for a powerful message from Tom Atlee, Founder of the Co-Intelligence Institute. In this message, Tom points to the substance of our looming economic crisis in the context of other crises, emphasizing the need for dialogue and deliberation to generate the collective intelligence to deal with the emerging “Age of Consequences.” As Tom says, “Now is the time to invest in widespread, high quality dialogue — and for the dialogue-promoting community (e.g., members of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation) to plan ... (continue)

I just received this inspiring announcement from the September Project – the highly successful project that got hundreds of public libraries to hold events on democracy, citizenship and patriotism on and around September 11, 2004. The message announced that the September Project is going forward again in 2005, and it is my hope that the dialogue & deliberation community can make a real splash in the program this year. This is a great opportunity for D&D activists, organizers and facilitators to build ongoing relationships with ... (continue)

I learned about this interesting initiative on the NIFI (Nat’l Issues Forums Institute) website. Andrea Kavanaugh from the Center for Human Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech announced a new research project (September 2004-2007) supported by a grant from the NSF Digital Government program to the Center for Human Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. The purpose of the research is to model citizen-to-citizen deliberation at the local level and the related use and impact of online tools. They are also investigating the role of information and ... (continue)

The League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) recently launched “Local Voices: Citizen Conversations on Civil Liberties and Secure Communities,” an eight-month initiative that will foster public dialogue about the balance between civil liberties and homeland security. The League will develop materials, train local facilitators, and encourage citizen participation in large League-led conversations about this topic. Click below for the full press release for this exciting project. (continue)

NCDD Steering Committee member Tom Atlee sent an email to his popular e-mailing list today that I wanted to share with all of you. Tom forwarded an op-ed written by John Gastil and Ned Crosby about the remarkable Citizens’ Assembly that has been breaking ground in British Columbia, Canada. Tom considers the Citizens’ Assembly to be the most empowered version of citizen deliberative councils that he has seen anywhere in the world so far, and he hopes it is only the first of many such ... (continue)

AmericaSpeaks recently released Millions of Voices: A Blueprint for Engaging the American Public in National Policy-Making, a detailed report outlining a comprehensive strategy to engage millions of Americans in solving the nation’s most critical problems. The report reflects the collaborative thinking of 12 leaders in the citizen engagement field, convened by AmericaSpeaks over nine months. Millions of Voices is based on the premise that if we are to reinvigorate American democratic institutions, new structures and processes are needed to engage citizens in the nation’s policy-making ... (continue)

Today’s Public Agenda Alert announced that President Bush “ruled out increating Social Security payroll taxes to bail our the program and repeated his call to create private retirement accounts instead.” Public Agenda reminds us about their issue guide on Social Security, stating that their ‘Choicework’ discussion guides lay out the different alternatives to reform. “With Choicework, we’re not claiming to have the “correct” solution to a problem. What you’ll find are four different points of view about how to address the issue. The broad choices ... (continue)