On February 17th NCDD held our first call of 2021. This all-network call asked participants to share where they are putting energy into their work this year. They proposed topics they would like to discuss with others, and we had about 6-7 active sessions going on simultaneously. It was a great networking event!

Topics mainly focused in a few areas:

• Online engagement, including expanding participation, access, and inclusion
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Building others skills and increasing the value of good process

In the wrap-up of the event, the groups shared highlights from the conversations, and plans to continue talking or explore further. It was an inspiring session, and it helped NCDD learn more about what we can help support through programming in 2021.

If you would like to see the introduction and the wrap-up, check out the call recording here. Half of the event took place in breakouts, so the recording only captures the main room conversation, which provides a good recap of what happened in each room.

The topics were proposed in a spreadsheet which can be accessed here. Those who proposed the topic and others interested shared names and contact information. Some groups even shared link to their notes! If there is a topic of interest, feel free to connect with those who said they are interested.

Is there a topic we missed? Feel free to share it in the comments!

NCDD looks forward to the next conversation!

You don’t want to miss the upcoming Equitable and Inclusive Engagement webinar hosted by Public Agenda, an NCDD member org, this coming Wednesday February 24th. The event will take place from 1-2:15pm Eastern, 10-11:15am Pacific. This segment will spotlight BIPOC Women Leading Disaster Recovery and the indispensable role they play in assisting their communities with what was needed in the aftermaths of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. This conversation is part of Public Agenda‘s FREE webinar series. Register here! Read more below about the event or find the original posting here.

Equitable and Inclusive Engagement: BIPOC Women Leading Disaster Recovery

Join Nicole Cabral, Associate Director of NY Engagement Programs at Public Agenda, in conversation with Maria Garrett, President of the Fresh Creek Civic Association in Brooklyn, New York; Myrtle Phillips, President of Grand Bayou Families United in Grand Bayou, Louisiana; and Daphne Viverette, former Community Development Director of the City of Moss Point, Mississippi.

Nicole will facilitate a conversation with these three leaders about the integral role they play in the recovery of their respective communities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.

Register here.

Maria Garrett is the founding member and first elected president of the Fresh Creek Civic Association in Brooklyn, New York. For over twenty-five years, Maria has been deeply involved in community building, conservation, and environmental resilience through her work with Flatland 7 and Flatland 8 Community Block Associations, United Canarsie South Civic Association (UCSCA), Community Board 18, the 69th Precinct and more. She resides in Canarsie with her husband and children.

Myrtle Philips was born and raised in Grand Bayou village in the bayou of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. She is the President of Grand Bayou Families United. As a Native American activist, she is dedicated to fighting for the community, even in the face of extreme environmental and political challenges.

Daphne Viverette is the former Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources in the Office of Coastal Restoration & Resiliency, where she played an integral role in her community’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina. Her past work includes twenty-five years in a public service capacity implementing and administering local, state, and federal grants as Community Development Director at a Gulf Coast multiple government.

Nicole Cabral is the Associate Director for New York Engagement Programs at Public Agenda. She manages the Public Engagement team in the development and execution of projects on a variety of local and national issues.

For reasonable accommodation requests to attend this discussion, please contact Jennifer Orellana at pe@publicagenda.org no later than Wednesday, February 17, 2021.

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NCDD sponsor organization, Essential Partners, recently released their new comprehensive dialogue guide titled, Race in America. This guide is designed to support community conversations on race; including instructions, a facilitator guide, and several case studies on racial dialogues happening in the U.S. You can learn more about the guide in the post below and download the guide for free via EP’s site here.

Race in America: A Dialogue Guide

Informed by decades of experience, Race in America: A Dialogue Guide will provide a roadmap for you to lead courageous, constructive conversations about race in your community.

Essential Partners has collaborated with grassroots groups, activists, schools, faith institutions, and communities across the United States to make new conversations about race possible. Recent projects include:

• Dialogues between police and Black community members in Raleigh, NC
• Community dialogues about faith, race, and ethnicity in Columbia, MD
• Dialogues among BIPOC educators about the dual strains of COVID and BLM
• A set of student-led race dialogues at a secondary school in Cary, NC

This guide contains everything you need to hold three dialogues: one for an all-white group, one for an inter-racial group, and one for a group composed of participants who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC). (more…)

With Presidents’ Day this coming Monday, we have some great reading for our network to dig into over this holiday weekend! The National Civic League, an NCDD member organization, released the 2020 Winter Edition of the National Civic Review (NCR) and  NCDD members receive a digital copy of NCR for free! (Find the access code below.). This esteemed quarterly journal offers insights and examples of civic engagement and deliberative governance from around the country.

Friendly reminder that the League is always seeking articles for NCR on community-based examples of civic engagement, public deliberation, co-production, and democratic innovation – more info here! Submissions for the Spring 2021 edition of NCR are due March 15th, and Summer edition submissions are due by July 15th. You can read about NCR in the post below and find it on NCL’s site here.

National Civic Review Winter Edition — Access Code: NCDD21

With a deadly pandemic, an economic crisis, events highlighting racial inequity and a political crisis, 2020 was a year of hardship and turmoil for America’s communities. As we begin a new year, the National Civic Review offers these unique perspectives on how the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can work together on innovative strategies to promote civic renewal, community resilience, and individual well-being.

You can access this edition by going directly to the table of contents and entering your access code (NCDD21) when prompted.

One of the Nation’s Oldest and Most Respected Journals of Civic Affairs

Its cases studies, reports, interviews and essays help communities learn about the latest developments in collaborative problem-solving, civic engagement, local government innovation and democratic governance. Some of the country’s leading doers and thinkers have contributed articles to this invaluable resource for elected officials, public managers, nonprofit leaders, grassroots activists, and public administration scholars seeking to make America’s communities more inclusive, participatory, innovative and successful.

Happening this Thursday, February 11th is the launch event for the film, The Reunited States. This film is inspired by its’ namesake book, The Reunited States, authored by Mark Gerzon, president of Mediators Foundation, an NCDD member org. The Reunited States is a powerful and urgent documentary that follows the unsung heroes on the difficult journey of bridging our political and racial divides. The film, like the book, urges us to consider that everyone has a role to play in reuniting the country. To attend the Red and Blue Carpet premiere event of the The Reunited States film sign up here!

Students spend most of their days in school. Naturally, when national events occur, this extends the teachers regular duties to the role of  “first responders”. This publication from Essential Partners was adapted for the classroom from their Reflective Structured Dialogue, and is offered as a tool for teachers to create a space of self- reflection, deep listening and open sharing in the classroom.  The prompts and guidelines to consider, proactively invite the students to process crisis in a healthy way.

Read about the structure and prompts offered below or find the original post here.

Holding Space in a Moment of Crisis

Along with their parents, teachers are often the “first responders” for students when a major national crisis takes place. It can be difficult or impossible to have a normal class in the wake of a traumatic or disruptive event.

Creating a space of self-reflection, deep listening, and open sharing in the classroom can proactively invite students to process and discuss crises in healthy ways. What could be a moment of trauma and division can become, instead, an opportunity for connection, empowerment, and mutual support.

Adapted for the classroom from EP’s Reflective Structured Dialogue approach, the tools below can be used to create a dialogic space in your classroom after a disruptive event.

Be transparent. Name the event, outline the process.

Whether it’s an event in the national news or a challenging paragraph in a text you are reading together, transparently name the disruption that you know the class is feeling. This offers permission for students to

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Everyday Democracy is delighted to present the winners and runner ups of the prestigious Paul and Joyce Aicher Leadership in Democracy Award. This award honors the work that creates opportunity for meaningful participation for all people, by bridging all kinds of divides by making dialogue a regular part of how community operates.

The recipient of the award this year is Point Diversity for creating a more diverse community for the past seven years in Roanoke VA. The first runner up for the award is Lashon Amado, CEO of Mas Um Chance, an organization dedicated to increasing economic opportunity for people of the Cabo Verdean diaspora. The second runner up was awarded to Jenny Spencer for her remarkable involvement in Cleveland politics, where her efforts have been dedicated on increasing voter registration.

To get better acquainted with the recipients keep reading below and find the original announcement here.

Everyday Democracy is Excited to Announce the Winner and Runners-up of the 2020 Paul and Joyce Aicher Leadership in Democracy Award

This year’s winner is Points of Diversity in Roanoke, VA. Points of Diversity has worked in Roanoke for almost seven years to create a more diverse community by “connecting, engaging and [educating] in cross-cultural discussions and experiences.”

“We have to learn to understand each other,” Katie Zawacki, Executive Director of Points of Diversity, explains. “We don’t have to agree, but we still have to have respect for each other. It’s about respecting human dignity.”

While Points of Diversity was the clearest example of the principles Paul Aicher founded Everyday Democracy with in action, there were other deserving candidates as well.

The first runner up for the award is Lashon Amado, CEO of Mas Um Chance, an organization dedicated to increasing economic opportunity for people of the Cabo Verdean diaspora. Mr. Amado is passionate about working with young adults and empowering them to make positive change in their lives. His grassroots efforts

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NCDD is excited to kick off our 2021 network programming with an all-network call Wednesday, February 17th at 1:00 PM Eastern/10:00 AM Pacific. Register today to secure your spot!

Unlike many of our past webinars and calls, this all-network call will put participants in the driver’s seat. As we all start 2021, there is so much work to be done with regards to engaging our communities, bringing people together across differences, and tackling the challenges of this moment. We know you are all thinking about how your work fits in, and where you want to put your energy in 2021.

Join us to share what you’re focusing on, and connect with others working in the same kinds of spaces or on the same kinds of issues. Our work is strengthened when we learn from one another, so let’s give us all a collective boost by joining together in this interactive session. Bring you passion and connect with others to support your work and the practices of dialogue and deliberation across the country and world!

This session is FREE and open to all interested in helping people and communities engage through dialogue and deliberation. Register today to join us!

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) is a network of innovators who bring people together across divides to discuss, decide, and take action together effectively on today’s toughest issues.  NCDD serves as a gathering place, a resource center, a news source, and a facilitative leader for this vital community of practice. Learn more about us here!

Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change (GSLC) is announcing new exciting opportunities for professionals and executives with the launch of their Professional Certificate Series.  These two certification programs are timely with the presence of the many changes felt by our communities. Each course offers the convenience of being self-paced with a weekly average of 4-5 hours over the duration of three months.

Certificate 1: Leading for Inclusion and Racial Justice Certificate is designed for anyone with an interest in challenging racism at a structural or systemic level within their institutions, organizations or communities. You do not have to be in a formal leadership role in order to benefit from the material offered, as the Certificate is based in the belief that leadership for inclusion and racial justice occurs at all levels of any human community.

Certificate 2: Leading Transformative Change is for either emerging leaders or any leader who wants to “up” their ability by understanding the pros and cons of change leadership practices.

Read more below or find more information on the Professional Certificate series of your interest here.

Antioch University Unveils New Leadership Certification Courses

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Professional Certificate Series by Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change (GSLC). The purpose of the series is to offer cutting-edge and intellectually engaging courses on leadership and change for professionals and executives. Drawing upon Antioch’s 160-year legacy of human-centered innovative education, the participants will benefit from becoming familiar with novel, evidence-based frameworks, and practical approaches, which directly inform their practice as leaders and professionals in the chosen areas.

Participants can expect to experience a motivating and creative mix o f learning methods. They can also expect to have access to world-class instructors. Flexibility is built into these offerings and all the work may be completed asynchronously (at the participants’ own pace) requiring around 4 to 5 hours of work per week. However, unlike many other programs, we have created regular,

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The JAMS Foundation and NCDD’s partner the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) are accepting submissions for their 2021-2023 Community Mediation Mini- Grant Program. This opportunity is extended to those interested in offering a new or enhanced process to how their organization currently serves their communities, with a focus on healing an ongoing or long standing community divide towards a path of re-connection.

The Program is designed to encourage creativity and variation based on research. Service strategies will be developed through the implementation of the “Listening for Action” Leadership Process and strengthened by at least one policy or procedure change developed and locally implemented over a two-year period. Program recipients will work together throughout the grant period anchored in the Learning Community. The Learning Community is a structured and collaborative peer working group facilitated by NAFCM.  Written materials developed through these grants will be shared with community mediation centers and mediators across the continent and even internationally to support the mediation community.

Five organizations will be awarded yearly $12,000 grants for the 2021-2023 cycle. Applications must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m., local time of applicant on March 15, 2021 to admin@nafcm.org.Read more information on this exciting program below or find the original posting here.

NAFCM/JAMS Foundation Mini-Grant Bidders Conference

The JAMS Foundation and National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) are pleased to announce the 2021-2023 funding track of the Community Mediation Mini-Grant Program (“Program”).

Strengthening Community Connections: This is an opportunity to assist one or more of the communities you serve by helping this community to develop a long-term process focused on healing their current or long-standing community divide. The proposed project should expand how your organization currently serves your communities (through mediation, restorative justice practices, conflict coaching, conflict management training or dialogue processes), by offering a new or enhanced process to help people, institutions, and the community as a whole on their path toward re-connection.

Systemic changes developed as part of this process should (more…)