Here’s an important announcement from John Spady of the National Dialogue Network project… Hello friends, I have important results to share with everyone! The National Dialogue Network (NDN) conducted a survey in April 2013. A total of 415 people participated (including both self-selected and random panel responses). Each participant ranked their top five choices from a provided list of twenty-two issue titles to identify the top issue for our inaugural 2013 national conversations that will take place in communities across the U.S. in September. The top ranked issue ... (continue)

In preparation for our NCDD Confab call on Wednesday at 2pm on the current state of liberal-conservative dialogue, we’ve been thinking about key milestones and programs in this area that NCDD members have spearheaded or have played a major role in. Andy Fluke, NCDD’s creative director and co-founder, created a timeline for us to take a look at during this popular confab call (over 120 people have signed up so far!), to help us think about the trajectory of red-blue (or transpartisan, or political bridge-building) dialogue ... (continue)

Here’s a thoughtful message and some great questions from Jacob Hess, one of our two featured speakers on next Wednesday’s confab call on red-blue dialogue.  See the full description of the confab, and register here if you’d like to join us.  We’re excited that 110 people have already signed up! Rush Limbaugh taught me, in my teenage years, that liberals were trying to destroy America. And I believed him. They were the enemy. And I was a combatant in a desperate culture war against them ... (continue)

Join us for our next NCDD Confab call on Wednesday, May 15th from 2:00 to 3:30 EST.  May’s featured NCDDers are Phil Neisser and Jacob Hess, who will lead a discussion on the current status of liberal-conservative and transpartisan dialogue, and how we might work together to expand this area of dialogue and deliberation further. 5/13/13 update: Jacob is surveying call participants here about their work and ideas re: red-blue dialogue.  Please add your thoughts if you haven’t already.  Also check out our 10-year timeline of milestones in red-blue dialogue ... (continue)

We want the NCDD community to know about a great opportunity to participate in the 2013 Civic Data Challenge: The Civic Data Challenge turns the raw data of ‘civic health’ into useful applications and visualizations that have direct impact on public decision-making. In order to achieve an exceptional level of real-world usefulness, designers, data scientists, researchers, and application developers will collaborate with local leaders and respond to the needs of specific communities or social issues… Through the Challenge, participants will bring new minds and skill sets to ... (continue)

The National League of Cities, as part of its work with Knight Foundation, is hosting a free webinar highlighting civic engagement in Philadelphia this Wednesday (April 24) at 2pm Eastern. While many tech entrepreneurs are passionate advocates for their communities, most are ambivalent about city hall: neither expecting nor offering assistance, and often working around rather than with local elected leaders. This is not the case in Philadelphia, where a dynamic partnership has developed among city government, civic leaders and entrepreneurs from the technology community. ... (continue)

Do you work in or study collaboration in public policy? Are you interested in health? Education? The environment? Do you want to learn more about participatory problem solving, finding common ground, and becoming a collaborative leader? The Association for Conflict Resolution’s Environment & Public Policy Section has an exciting conference planned for May 21-22, 2013 in Washington, DC. The conference will highlight innovative approaches to collaborative problem solving and action in this era of divided government and vitriol and the breakthroughs people are achieving on ... (continue)

You are invited to join “A Nation in Debt,” an online deliberative forum beginning on Monday, April 8, and continuing through April 20. The site will be open to participants continuously during that period, but you must register by Monday, April 8, at 4 pm. How does the national debt affect individuals, businesses, and communities? Together we will consider the impact of the national debt and explore three possible options for addressing this issue, and work to find common ground. The forum adapts A Nation in ... (continue)

I’m looking forward to this year’s Participatory Budgeting conference in Chicago next month, and hope to see many NCDD members there!  Let me know if you’re coming; I’ll probably be organizing an NCDD dinner or meetup during the event. This second regional conference on Participatory Budgeting will take place in Chicago March 3-5, to allow participants to observe and celebrate the final vote for PB Chicago. This new joint process across four city wards builds on the first PB initiative in the US, in the ... (continue)

NCDD is holding a meetup for our members (and potential members) right before this year’s Frontiers of Democracy conference begins at Tufts right outside Boston in Medford, Mass.  We have so many fabulous NCDDers in the area, and we’ll also have some exciting members coming in from outside the region, so we thought this would be a good opportunity for us to get together. Whether or not you’ll be attending the Frontiers conference July 18th through 20th (http://tinyurl.com/ceezm9u), if you’re within driving distance of Boston, please ... (continue)