NCDD Member Tom Prugh is working with Resilience.org to launch a blog series on the site, titled “Democracy Rising.” The goal of the blog is to introduce the readership to deliberative democracy. He’s working with some fellow NCDD members already, but is looking to expand the list of contributors. What better way than to reach out to you, the NCDD network!

Below is a description of the series and its purpose from Tom. Read on for more information on how to express your interest.

Democracy Rising will be a series of blog posts for the website Resilience.org that will lay out the basics of deliberative democracy: why it’s powerful, why the time is right for it, how it works, and how to get it going in one’s community. I will curate the series and write some posts myself, as well as reach out to various scholars and practitioners for contributions. I expect to submit a post every week or two for a year or so.

The underlying premise is that our system of democratic governance is in peril. Many top-down tweaks to the system are possible and necessary, but they will not be sufficient. Changes to the machinery of politics can help fix what’s broken at the top—but not what’s broken at the bottom. DD can help with that: it has a proven track record of bridging divides, tapping our collective intelligence, and mitigating political animus. It is possibly the best means of promoting the education into citizenship that makes for strong communities—especially as we approach an era when increasing localization seems likely.

The problem is that while DD is well known among the many scholars, practitioners, and citizens from all over the world who have experience with it, it’s mostly off the public radar. The field doesn’t lack expertise or results—there is a deep well of both within the DD community. But you could scan the mainstream media for years without seeing a single mention of a town meeting, citizens’ council, or technology review panel. The local focus means local obscurity.

DD needs more evangelism—an effort to publicize it to the wider world and build a movement of “democracy preppers” who want to stockpile social and community capital rather than beans and ammunition. The Resilience readership is largely focused on preparing for a post-carbon world–one of lower energy, less economic growth, and rising ecological stresses–and DD has much to offer as a means for communities to weather the turmoil ahead. This is a largely untapped audience that seems primed for the deliberative democracy message. The Resilience website has had 3 million unique visitors.

In addition to posting on Resilience.org, contributors are welcome to post on their own sites, and NCDD will be cross-posting as well. Contributions may be recurring or one-time. Brief author bios appended to each post will allow contributors to reach out to this new audience with information about their professional services and/or scholarship.

Topics should aim to fit into one of five categories, particularly topics 3 and 4:

1. history and surveys of examples
2. theory and arguments for DD
3. handbook-type posts on how to do it; there is a huge amount of info on the NCDD website already that could be adapted for posting
4. strategies and tactics for seeding it in a community
5. further research, ongoing musings (further into the project)

If you are interested in exploring this opportunity, please reach out to Tom at PRUGHT@msn.com.

NCDD hopes you will consider contributing your perspective, resources, and research to this project! This is an exciting opportunity to reach more folks and share the opportunities that deliberative democracy can offer us all in working through today’s toughest challenges together.

The National Civic League, an NCDD member organization, released the National Civic Review (NCR) Summer 2021 edition 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. Thanks to Rebecca Trout, NCL’s Program Director for All-America City Award & Communications, for sharing this announcement with the NCDD network!

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.

National Civic Review Summer Edition 2021 – Access Code: NCDD21

The summer issue of the National Civic Review celebrates cities that are making progress on addressing challenges such as racial equity, health equity and community resilience. Review authors offer insightful ideas on measuring the value of public participation, engaging urban residents through block clubs, promoting public trust with better service delivery and digital communication, and the most effective ways of seeking input from youthful residents. Former Missoula Mayor and Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives Dan Kemmis offers his ideas on what a small “d” democratic renewal movement might look like in the 21st Century.

You can access this edition by going directly to the table of contents and entering your access code: NCDD21.

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.

Public Agenda is hosting an upcoming webinar that we encourage you to join – Equitable and Inclusive Engagement: Community Solutions for Advancing Health Equity in NYC on Wednesday, August 18, 2021 from 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM Eastern, 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM Pacific. Thanks to Nicole Cabral, Public Agenda’s Associate Director of NY Engagement Programs, for sharing this announcement with the NCDD network! Learn more below and register here.

Equitable and Inclusive Engagement: Community Solutions for Advancing Health Equity in NYC

Public Agenda would like to invite you to a free webinar on August 18, 2021, led by our Associate Director of NY Engagement Programs, Nicole Cabral. Nicole will be speaking with Dr. Alyson Myers, Medical Director of Inpatient Diabetes at North Shore University Hospital, and community advocate, Lisa Foster, about how health care providers, policymakers, and residents are advancing health equity in New York City.

While this conversation will be focused on health equity in the NYC area, we believe the conversation will resonate in other communities as well. Feel free to share this information with your networks. (more…)

Did you miss America Talks? This incredible event kicked off the 4th annual National Week of Conversation from June 12-20, 2021. Although the National Week of Conversation 2021 has passed, you can stay connected to their upcoming events here!

Including this announcement from the #ListenFirst Coalition about a special event happening tomorrow July 1 at 12pm Eastern, 9am Pacific – “Thursday marks another milestone as we help launch the Partnership for American Democracy, a new initiative that will serve as the collaborative nerve center to attract and direct greater attention, energy, and resources to efforts to renew and strengthen our democracy. Bridging cultural and political divides, embodied in our #ListenFirst Coalition, is one of five priorities the Partnership will support.” Join the launch here!

The Launch of the Partnership for American Democracy

We’re launching the Partnership for American Democracy, a collective impact initiative bringing greater attention and resources to the renewal of American democracy. (more…)

NCDD is excited to announce the lineup of events for the first-ever Summer Learning Springboard event, July 26-30, 2021!

The Springboard is a week-long series of  virtual skill-building, learning exchange, and networking events. Spend some time this summer improving and exploring your dialogue and deliberation practice with your peers in a variety of sessions!

Registration for the SLS is just $10 for NCDD Members and $20 for non-members, and includes access to all included sessions and networking spaces. Other workshops are offered with a separate registration fee. Discounted rates are available to NCDD Members! Not a member? Consider joining NCDD today to take advantage of these great deals.

Review the agenda below, and register today to join us! (more…)

Please join us in praising the winners of the Civvys!

Recently six organizations, were recognized by the American Civic Collaboration Awards during their virtual livestream ceremony.  This year’s ceremony saw a peak number in nominations, reflecting the growing civic efforts happening in the United States.

Congratulations to The Civic Responsibility Project, SA2020, Green Our Planet, Pandemic Voting Project, Issue Voter, DoSomething.org’s Our 2020 Vision campaign for elevating democracy with your impactful civic- oriented work!

Read more below for more details on the winners or navigate to the original post here.

Six Exemplary Projects Named Civvys Winners

The American Civic Collaboration Awards honored six organizations for their impactful work across the country in civic engagement in a livestreamed, virtual ceremony on April 19th.

The six winners represent outstanding examples of civic-oriented work that elevate democracy at every level of American life. The 2020-21 award cycle saw the highest number of nominees, making for a competitive selection process — and demonstrating the growing breadth and depth of civic efforts happening across the nation.

In case you missed it, you can stream the ceremony again at civvys.org. This year’s awards were hosted by F. Willis Johnson, Jr., Vice President of Partnerships and Programming with Bridge Alliance, and feature award announcements by esteemed members of the Civvys Review committee. This year’s program also included a special tribute to Joel Odom, who accepted the Youth award on behalf of Generation Nation last year and sadly lost his life in 2020. Join us in honoring Joel and the work of all Civvys nominees, finalists and winners.

In total,18 finalists were selected from this year’s nominees in three different categories. Read on to meet this year’s 6 Civvys winners, and stream the ceremony if you missed it.

Meet The Civvys Winners

Please join us in congratulating all finalists and honorable mentions!

NATIONAL WINNER – CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY PROJECT

The Civic Responsibility Project brings the broader business community together in collaboration to support voter participation and civic engagement. Research shows that supporting democracy is good for business – and the Civic Responsibility Project helps brands create and implement civic responsibility programs that get their employees and consumers actively engaged in our democracy. Through their work, thousands of companies actively supported voting in the 2020 election, and other industries can take lessons from this coalition, service-based model.

LOCAL WINNER — SA2020

Throughout the year 2020, nearly 12,300 people in San Antonio reaffirmed and strengthened a shared vision originally created by nearly 6,000 people in 2010. Both processes were led by SA2020, the nonprofit organization responsible for driving progress toward San Antonio’s Community Vision through research, storytelling, and practice. This work includes measuring progress on more than 60 community indicators, telling stories that broaden perspectives and reshape narratives about San Antonio, and holding institutions accountable to leading change. SA2020’s work is a model for broad based community visioning and impact.

YOUTH WINNER – GREEN OUR PLANET

From its hub in Las Vegas, Green Our Planet has projects all over the U.S. and is making immediate impact as the largest “school garden” program. In a creative approach, they bring together STEM learning, hydroponics, school yards, and the business world of farmers’ markets, to help young people connect with the Earth, their own skills and knowledge, and civic responsibility in communities. Across 10 states, 3500 teachers, thousands of students – Green Our Planet demonstrates impact, teaching self-reliance and hard work, entrepreneurship and climate science, and healthy living and eating. It’s a holistic, engaging, real approach to getting young kids involved in community and civic life.

COMMITTEE CHOICE AWARD – PANDEMIC VOTING PROJECT

Missouri’s impressive voter turnout in 2020 had the Pandemic Voting Project to thank, organized by the NAACP Missouri State Conference and Show Me Integrity. This truly cross-partisan initiative brought together Republicans and Democrats, the public and private sector, as well as an initiative called DoctorsForDemocracy, that collaborated to help more people in Missouri vote safely. Together, they gave people more ways to vote absentee, supported election authorities, registered and educated voters, and launched new technology at MoVote.org that registered 16,000 voters with a 92% voting rate.

COMMITTEE CHOICE AWARD — MARIA YUAN AND ISSUE VOTER

Issue Voter connects constituents to members of congress and uses technology to make peoples’ voices heard. Given the urgent need for an easy, clear understanding of issues, Issue Voter breaks down complicated policy and ballot measures and helps citizens to be more informed. Maria Yuan was also nominated for her work in streamlining data collection to better track and combat anti-Asian hate crimes. Her work in gathering, organizing and disseminating key data – on ballot issues and hate crimes alike – provides a replicable, scalable model that other civic collaborators might learn from.

COMMITTEE CHOICE AWARD — DOSOMETHING.ORG

The pandemic, the election, and protests for racial justice all changed the way we live in 2020, but young people were especially affected, as school and major milestones were disrupted. DoSomething.org’s Our 2020 Vision campaign mobilized in response to give young people more of a say – with their vote. The “Our 2020 Vision” campaign registered 250,000 voters all online, and 37% of those were rural voters. DoSomething.org’s work focused on gathering broad stakeholders, serving immediate needs and making an impact.

Six civic engagement organizations were recognized Monday night for their work to strengthen democracy in a cross-partisan way.

Keep The Collaboration Going

Ready to help repair America’s divides, one conversation at a time? America Talks is a powerful two-day event that invites Americans to connect one-on-one, face-to-face on video across our political divides. Find dialogue and bridge-building events near you during the National Week of Conversation.

Mark your calendar for America Talks and the National Week of Conversation, kicking off June 12!

Find the original version of this post on the American Civic Collaborations Awards’ site at: www.civvys.org/the-2020-civvys

NCDD Member Public Agenda is looking to hire two Research Fellows for the Healthier Democracies Project.  The Healthier Democracies Project, concentrates on identifying innovative participative democratic practices in foreign governments at the local and state levels to demonstrate back to American public officials examples of what can be implemented to fortify our own democratic processes in the United States.

The duration of the engagement is short term, approximately 25 hours a week for 10 weeks, to be completed remotely.  The position calls for a Master’s degree, bilingualism in English and Spanish/Portuguese, experience in civic engagement or public participation in participatory democracy to conduct international qualitative case study research.  Students from a varied range of disciplinary backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

This is an astounding  opportunity for those looking to broaden their network around the world with a community of public participation professionals, receive mentoring on conducting research in an international context, experience working in grant funded research environment and the chance to publish with Public Agenda!

Please send a cover letter, cv, writing sample and 3 reference letters to Ms. Mikayla Townsend, mtownsend@publicagenda.org,  by May 14, 2021.

Read more below on the needs, desired qualifications and compensation for the Fellowship and find the original post here.

Summer Senior Research Fellow: Healthier Democracies

Salary: $30/hourly, or about $7500 total for the summer

Job Type: Full-time/Part-time/Contract

Term: A 10-week contract, with an approximate start date of May 25 (dates flexible)

Reports to: Associate Director of National Engagement

Location: Remote

Introduction:
Public Agenda, a nonprofit organization that focuses on strengthening democracy, is currently seeking 2 graduate students with experience in civic engagement, public participation, or participatory democracy to conduct international qualitative case study research as a part of the Healthier Democracies project. Students may come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds including Communication, Political Science, Sociology, Public Policy, or other degree programs.

This is a remote, short-term, part-time position for summer 2021. Students will work a total of 250 hours, approximately 25 hours a week for 10 weeks, however hour allocation can be flexible according to students’ scheduling needs. Compensation will be $30/hourly, or about $7500 total for the summer.

The Healthier Democracies project is an international research endeavor

(more…)

NCDD is excited to announce the launch of session applications for our upcoming Summer Learning Springboard!

Don’t miss out on the chance to celebrate the 4th American Civic Collaborations Award Ceremony! Since it’s very beginning, the Civvys have highlighted outstanding efforts of civic collaboration impacts in national, local and youth communities. The Civvys are the only national awards program dedicated to exalt projects that emphasize working together across divides to strengthen communities and empower citizens, this year with an added focus on building a more diverse and equitable America.

This year, NCDD is proud to be a partner in national award finalist, the With the People Initiative, coordinated by the National Issues Forums Institute. We’re excited this effort is being recognized and look forward to celebrating it an all the finalists at the ceremony!

The event is free, open to the public and will be streamed on Monday April 19th  from 7:00- 8:00 ET.

TO ATTEND  RSVP HERE

To view the list of all impressive finalists read below or find the original invitation here.

Attend the 4th Annual Civvys Awards Ceremony

Monday, April 19th, 2021 at 7:00 – 8:00pm ET

You are cordially invited to attend the virtual awards ceremony for the 4th annual American Civic Collaboration Awards, or “Civvys,” highlighting exemplary efforts that worked to repair and improve our nation in 2020.

More than ever, in a moment when democracy and community – the fabric of our nation – are stretching at the seams, we look to initiatives like these to work across divides and lead the way in building a stronger, fairer America.

From a record number of inspiring nominees, a substantial set of honorable mentions paving the path forward, and a set of best-in-class finalists, this year’s Civvys winners represent the most collaborative, highest impact and most scalable initiatives from 2020.

Join the livestreamed award ceremony on Monday, April 19th at 7pm ET, 6pm CT or 4pm PT, to learn about their work, congratulate all of our finalists and winners, and hear from the Civvys Review Committee on these inspiring case studies of democracy in action.

This event is virtual. Attendance is free and open to the public.

RSVP TO ATTEND

Meet The Civvys Finalists
Please join us in congratulating all finalists and honorable mentions!

National Category
Braven
The Civic Responsibility Project
Hidden Common Ground Initiative and Strange Bedfellows Series from Public Agenda and USA Today with The National Issues Forums Network and the America Amplified Public Media Consortium
Issue Voter and Maria Yuan
Millenial Action Project
With the People, coordinated by National Issues Forums Institute

Local Category
Akron Civic Commons (Akron, OH)
Interfaith Council of Metro DC (Washington, DC)
Pandemic Voting Project, organized by NAACP (Missouri State Conference) and Show Me Integrity (Missouri)
SA2020 (San Antonio, TX)
STL Approves (St. Louis, MO)
Tarrant County College Civic Engagement District Work Team (Fort Worth, TX)
Youth Category
Changeist
The Conversationalist
DoSomething.org’s “Our 2020 Vision” campaign
Green Our Planet
KidsVotingDurham
Student PIRGS New Voters project, including specifically nominated Eckerd College, California Student Vote and NAACP Youth and College Division initiatives
See All Finalists and Honorable Mentions

About The Civvys
The Civvys are the only national awards program dedicated to celebrating projects that emphasize working together across divides to strengthen communities and empower citizens, this year with an added focus on building a more diverse and equitable America.

Essential Conversations is celebrating one year! Essential Conversations was created by the Center for Purposeful Leadership as a response to the disruption felt worldwide with the events of 2020, in the hopes of engaging and activating leaders.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, Essential Conversations is a weekly event with the purpose of hosting provocative and evocative conversations, interactive breakouts, and community conversations  to equip you with strategies, inspiration and ideas to create change and innovation needed for  coherence, resilience and positive impact.  Anyone looking to create a positive impact in their family, community or organizational circles are welcomed to these 1.5 hour conversations.

Additional details on upcoming sessions and to register read below or navigate to the original post here.

Find the original version of this event on the Center for Purposeful Leadership’s site at: www.centerforpurposefulleadership.com/essential-conversations