With the elections behind us, Essential Partners, an NCDD sponsor member is offering post-election support. This assistance arrives straight to your inbox in the form of one newsletter per week over the course of the next 4 weeks.  Each newsletter comes with guiding prompts and resources from the pool of experts and 30 years of experience of EP to better assists in continuing the work of healing and caretaking in all of our community circles.  Click here to sign up to the EP email newsletter list! Read below to find the upcoming themes and for the original post here.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? EP OFFERING 4 WEEKS OF POST-ELECTION SUPPORT

The election is finally here. Years of campaigning, media coverage, social media shares, and protests have culminated in this one event.

Now we all turn to the pressing question: what happens next?

During this time of extreme polarization, fear of an uncertain future, and a general reticence to speak with people about what matters most, many dialogue organizations are bringing folks together for post-election conversations.

But we think there is a lot of work to be done—on a personal level, in our trusted circles, and in our larger networks—before our communities are healthy enough to come together again for that kind of dialogue.

Essential Partners will spend the next four weeks doing what we do best—empowering you to repair the fabric of your community, piece by piece. In one email each week over the next four weeks, we will draw on 30 years of experience to offer guidance and resources in support of this crucial work. Click here to sign up to the EP email newsletter list. Here’s what we have planned.

Week 1: Your Best Political Self

We’ll begin with ourselves, taking some much-needed time and space to reflect on what matters most to us and who we want to be.

In this first week, we’ll share a tool to help you think about the stories that inform your political values, the people who influenced you, and the places where you grew into yourself.

We want to help you become curious about who your best political self is—and how that connects to what you decide to do now that the election season is over.

Click here to download the free Week 1 resource.

Week 2: A First-Draft Conversation
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The growing sense of division in our country has been felt  strongly this year in conjunction with the physical separation of pandemic life and elections right around the corner. This article published on USA Today, written by David Mathews, President of Kettering Foundation, explores a narrative that is rarely reported on. USA Today networks and America Amplified, a public media collaborative, equipped with research provided by organizations including Public Agenda and the Kettering Foundation want to uncover the common ground. The main findings reported demonstrate more common ground exists than we realize, and sustains the possibility of collaboration as divergent narrative for Americans and journalists alike.

To read the op ed in detail read below and for the original posting on USA Today click here.

How Americans can learn once again to solve our nation’s problems together

To solve really difficult problems, people realize that they have to work with others who may be different.

NCDD member org, The National Civic League released the 2020 Fall Edition of the National Civic Review, published in collaboration with NCDD member, the Kettering Foundation. This esteemed quarterly journal offers insights and examples of civic engagement and deliberative governance from around the country. Friendly reminder that NCDD members receive the digital copy of the National Civic Review for free! (Find the access code below.) We strongly encourage our members to check out this great resource and there is an open invite for NCDD members to contribute to the NCR. You can read about NCR in the post below and find it on NCL’s site here.

National Civic Review Fall Edition 2020 – Access Code: NCDD20

As this edition of the National Civic Review goes out, our nation is approaching a crucial presidential election, dealing with a terrible pandemic and grappling with vexing racial disparities. An article by Martín Carcasson discusses approaching the challenge of public deliberation as a “wicked problem,” in other words, an issue or challenge with conflicting underlying values and no technical solution. Perhaps at this juncture we are in a wicked time, a period with similar attributes of conflicting values and complexity. This edition of the Review was published in collaboration with  Charles F. Kettering Foundation. We hope the articles in the edition will provide some ideas and tools to rally communities across the country to address complex issues and thrive.

You can access this edition by going directly to the table of contents and entering your access code (NCDD20) 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.

Everyday Democracy, an NCDD member org, announced they are hosting a Joy of Voting Youth Video Challenge and submissions are being accepted until Friday, October 23rd. This contest is an opportunity for youth, ages 14-25, to submit a short video on the importance of voting, and which issues being voted on during Election Day, are the most impactful for their communities and our democracy.

Please note, that submissions are limited to residents of Connecticut or those students enrolled at a Connecticut school. Read more about the contest requirements below and find the original posting here.

Everyday Democracy Announces Joy of Voting Youth Video Challenge

The Joy of Voting Youth Video Challenge invites youth and young adults ages 14-25 to submit a video entry between October 1 through noon EST on October 23, 2020 sharing why voting is important. 

Inspired by Eric Liu’s TED Talk on the importance of voting and his Joy of Voting initiative, the Joy of Voting Youth Video Challenge is an opportunity for youth to engage in civic action through a creative medium—videography! Participants in the challenge are invited to create and submit short (1-2 minutes) videos on how voting connects with issues they care about, their communities, and our democracy. What policies or initiatives could be impacted by their vote on (more…)

The Professional Certificate Leading Smart Communities will be hosted online this fall by our friends at NCDD member org, the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civil Leadership! The intersection of government and technology has drastically changed in the past few years, and these changes are even more drastic with the health precautions needed due to COVID-19. Learn essential skills from leaders in government technology on how to better utilize #govtech, and impact of technology in the future. Don’t miss out on this training series – program starts in less than three weeks on Tuesday, October 27th! For more details on this virtual certificate program read below and find the original announcement here.

Creating a Better Future through Emerging Technologies

Due to the current situation surrounding COVID-19, we have adapted our traditional program to offer our first ever virtual Professional Certificate in Leading Smart Communities this Fall 2020 held via Zoom. This virtual offering will consist of a series of five, two-hour modules held over the course of five Tuesday afternoons from 3-5 pm (PST).

From online public participation platforms to blockchain, technology is fundamentally changing the government-resident relationship. The impact of technology is felt across all departments in municipal governments-from public safety to planning. Given the pace of change, it’s time for public policy schools to incorporate graduate-level education in the essential area of (more…)

We received this announcement from NCDDer Peter Levine at Tufts’ Tisch College of Civic Life, sharing many exciting updates happening at Tisch that we wanted to help boost to the larger NCDD network. Don’t miss out on the next announcement and sign up for this newsletter via the Frontiers of Democracy Updates Email List linked here. Do you have information you’d like to share with the NCDD network? Then check out this page to learn how to boost information with the expansive coalition.

Update about Frontiers of Democracy and Civic Initiatives at Tufts

Via Peter Levine on email list for the annual Frontiers of Democracy conference at Tufts’ Tisch College of Civic Life.

RE: Frontiers of Democracy conference and/or the Summer Institute of Civic Studies at Tufts’ Tisch College of Civic Life. We canceled both of those events in 2020 due to COVID-19. We will make decisions early in 2021 about whether to hold them in-person or to offer online programming instead next summer. The dates for Frontiers will be June 25-27, 2021; the Summer Institute will be June 21-25.

In the meantime, we wanted to update you about several projects involving Tisch College that (more…)

ICYMI –  The McCourtney Institute for Democracy  an NCDD member org, is hosting their next virtual book club event TODAY, featuring the book, Beyond Civility: The Competing Obligations of Citizenship. Come share a discussion with the authors, William Keith and Robert Danisch, on civility in democracy and public discourse. You can purchase the book through Penn State University Press, and receive a 30% discount when you use the promo code “NR20”! The event is via zoom at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific; reading of the book is not required to join. Learn more about this virtual event below and register ASAP on the McCourtney Institute site here.

Virtual Book Club

Beyond Civility: The Competing Obligations of Citizenship

By William Keith and Robert Danisch

The NCDD network has been invited to join the University Network for Collaborative Governance‘s Virtual Conference this year and have the opportunity of sharing collaborative discourse on the future of our communities!  The event will span three Fridays in October – the 26th and 23rd, and November 13th. This conference is great for those connected to a college or university, and interested in the tenets and implementation of collaborative governance. Make sure you register here by October 8th. Read below to learn more about the conference and find the original announcement here.

One last plug for today’s NCDD Online Engagement Showcase – you can still join this free event happening at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, highlighting the many civic tech tools available for virtual engagement! Register ASAP here.

Did you know?! NCDD is hosting our first ever Online Engagement Showcase and it’s happening tomorrow! We’ve teamed up with the wonderful Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University to host this exciting free event happening on Tuesday, September 29th from 1:00-3:00 PM Eastern/10:00 AM-12:00 PM Pacific on Zoom and QiqoChat. RSVP at this link in order to save your spot!

The Online Engagement Showcase will feature synchronous tools and platforms that can help you with your virtual engagement. In this uniquely formatted event, you will have the opportunity to learn about numerous platforms in a booth format in QiqoChat, where participants can learn more about each tool they choose to. Presenters will be available in private zoom rooms for participants to engage with, ask questions, and learn more!

Some of the presenters will include:

• Axis Workshops
• Common Ground for Action
• Ethelo
• GroupMap
• QiqoChat
• And more!

Join us for this first event in what we hope will be a recurring series featuring these and other platforms and tools in the future! To register go to https://bit.ly/3gXkllb – this will take you directly to QiqoChat.

Our event flyer is linked here – please use this to spread the word with your networks: Showcase-Announcement!

NCDD is extremely grateful for the partnership of the Center for Public Deliberation on this event. We’ve been working on a resource to share of the different tools and platforms out there as well – stay tuned!

We want to take a moment to recognize exceptional individuals in our field by extending this invitation from NCDD member org, National Issues Forums Institute, to submit your applications for the Elizabeth “Libby” Kingseed Teaching with Deliberation Memorial Award Libby’s commitment to civic education and deliberation continue to be an inspiration; and it is in this spirit that NIFI has created this award to grant $500 to any K-12 teacher working to implement deliberation or deliberative pedagogy in the classroom.

Applications will be accepted until next Wednesday, September 30th; so make sure you apply ASAP! Learn more about Libby Kingseed and the award in the post below, and find the original post here.

Elizabeth “Libby” Kingseed Teaching with Deliberation Memorial Award

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) is now accepting applications for the Elizabeth “Libby” Kingseed Teaching with Deliberation Memorial Award at this time. A fund established to commemorate and in memory of Libby Kingseed.

Application Process

• September 30, 2020: Deadline for applications
• November 2, 2020: Applicants will be notified of the selection committee’s decision
• Grant Period: December 1, 2020 – November 30, 2021

This grant is not open to organizations. The $500 annual award will be granted to an individual.

Click here to complete the online application form. If you have questions, please (more…)