We’re excited to report that on February 4th, NCDD and the 6 other organizations in the CommunityMatters Partnership (a collective impact initiative launched by the Orton Family Foundation in June of last year), collaborated to run a workshop for 40 community leaders in Newport, Vermont. We wanted to pool our resources to offer tools and techniques to encourage broad citizen participation and improve local decision-making in a town that’s on the cusp of a lot of exciting developments that will greatly effect every resident. The one-day workshop on the 4th was […] (continue)

We’re excited to announce the winners of the NCDD Catalyst Awards — two $10,000 prizes for team projects run by NCDD members in the areas of Civic Infrastructure and Political Bridge Building. The award winner in the Civic Infrastructure category is: A Collaborative Plan for a National Dialogue Network Infrastructure (main contact: John Spady) — The award winner in the Political Bridge Building category is: Real Dialogues: D&D Reality Show (main contact: Tim Bonnemann) NCDD intends to support the winning teams in whatever ways we are able […] (continue)

If you’re an NCDD member and you haven’t voted yet for the two $10,000 Catalyst Awards winners, today’s your last opportunity!  Voting will close tonight at midnight Pacific. The ten-day voting window is coming to a close, and we plan to announce the two winners (one each in the Civic Infrastructure and Political Bridge Building categories) tomorrow. If you didn’t receive your invitation to vote via email (from member@surveymonkey.com), send a message to our office manager, Joy Garman, at joy@ncdd.org asap. She’ll confirm that you’re a […] (continue)

This extraordinary post was submitted by NCDD supporting member Janice Thomson. Janice has been working in collaboration with UIC’s Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement to map the D&D terrain in Chicago, an effort which has led to the development of a new Community of Practice for dialogue and deliberation practitioners in the city. NCDD supports the effort and we hope to see other members launching similar efforts!  – Sandy From Janice… I honestly didn’t realize just how ambitious trying to understand the use of dialogue […] (continue)

Voting opens today for the NCDD Catalyst Awards — two $10,000 prizes for team projects run by NCDD members in the areas of Civic Infrastructure and Political Bridge Building. A special project run in conjunction with NCDD’s 10-year anniversary and 5th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, the Catalyst Awards were designed to tap into NCDD’s most valuable resource — our membership of 1,700 leaders and innovators in public engagement, conflict transformation, group process, and community problem solving. Using a combination of activities (our Seattle […] (continue)

Happy Thanksgiving to all our U.S. members! I wanted to let you know about an event I’m going to be speaking at in Chicago in a couple of weeks, and to invite those of you in the region to attend. Convened by the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the 3-hour meeting will focus on the university’s role in broadening and deepening dialogue and deliberation on public issues in the Chicago area, and in nurturing an informal community of […] (continue)