This book describes a step-by-step process for planning and leading a Future Search conference, where diverse community members come together to envision and plan their shared future. (continue)
Martha McCoy and Pat Scully of Everyday Democracy (formerly the Study Circles Resource Center) wrote this excellent article that distinguishes deliberation from dialogue and discusses the merits of 'the marriage of deliberation and dialogue.' Although the article focuses on the Study Circles process (now called dialogue-to-action), it is a great introduction to public engagement processes and their principles. This is a very readable 19-page article that we highly recommend you read. (continue)
The Restorative Gentrification Listening Project seeks to understand the harms of gentrification by listening to the stories of those most directly impacted and then working to repair the harm and prevent further harm. "Gentrification" is the purchase and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income people, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses. This project of Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement is run by NCDD member Judith Mowry. The project uses restorative listening circles to address issues of racism and social injustice in order to build community and cultural understanding and to find ways to act together to include and value all members of the community. (continue)
At the 2008 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, we focused on 5 challenges identified by participants at our past conferences as being vitally important for our field to address. This is one in a series of five posts featuring the final reports from our “challenge leaders.” Action & Change Challenge: Strengthening the relationship between D&D and action and policy change. How can we increase the likelihood that D&D engagement streams of “exploration,” “conflict transformation,” and “collaborative action” will result in community action? How can […] (continue)
