Last week NCDD held our first virtual Conversation Cafe session, and we were blown away by the turnout – thank you to the 125+ of you who joined us to learn about how to host Cafes online and participated in one on the call! The level of interest and enthusiasm was overwhelming, and so we wanted to make sure that anyone who is interested in this simple, open-source model for dialogue has the information and resources to do so! The following is a list of […] (continue)

NCDD member organization National Issues Forums Institute shared on their blog an exciting new documentary, The Democracy Rebellion, produced by Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith. The documentary highlights several examples of grassroots democratic reform movements that have been happening across the US. You can read the article below and find the original version of it on the NIFI site here. While we are on NIFI updates, we’d like to wish a huge congratulations to NCDD Board Member Betty Knighton who has become NIFI’s President! We […] (continue)

Our friends at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) sent out a reminder yesterday via their newsletter that SPI 2020 scholarship deadlines are quickly approaching on January 31st! This phenomenal program offered by NCDD member org, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, is an opportunity to learn from leaders in the D&D field about conflict transformation, restorative justice, and more. Courses can be taken to improve your skills or for academic credit (and they now offer an M.A. in Restorative Justice program).  Read […] (continue)

In case you missed it, NCDD member organization The Davenport Institute, in partnership with the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, is offering their next professional Certificate in Advanced Public Engagement for Local Government [non-academic] from February 7-9 in Malibu, CA. Excellent for anyone involved or working with local government, or in graduate school for local government/public policy. NCDD members receive a 20% discount off the tuition if you sign by tomorrow, January 15th, so make sure you register ASAP to receive this great benefit. They […] (continue)

Frontiers of Democracy is now accepting applications for its upcoming 2020 conference happening from June 18th until June 20th! The conference will be held at Tufts University in downtown Boston, following the American Political Science Association’s Institute for Civically Engaged Research, and preceding the Summer Institute of Civic Studies. Frontiers will be an opportunity to connect with members from these programs, as well as, practitioners and professionals working in democratic social movements, political reform, civic engagement, dialogue and deliberation, and more! Applications for sessions will […] (continue)

Exciting news! There’s a wonderful new resource that was recently published that we encourage those in our network to utilize, especially those working in higher education, called Creating Space for Democracy: A Primer on Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education. The book is edited by Nicholas V. Longo and Timothy Shaffer, with many chapter authors from the NCDD network. From the book’s brief: “This primer offers a blueprint for achieving the civic mission of higher education by incorporating dialogue and deliberation into learning at colleges […] (continue)

We recently hosted another installment of our NCDD Confab call series featuring the Purple Project for Democracy! On the call, we were joined by one of the key organizers for the movement, Bob Garfield, who shared more about Purple Project and how the dialogue and deliberation field can tap into the upcoming November launch. We encourage you to listen to the recording and contribute to the movement! Purple is a non-partisan coalition, campaign and movement to rediscover and recommit to democratic values and institutions. It […] (continue)

NCDD member Rich Harwood of The Harwood Institute has an upcoming book coming out that you won’t want to miss the launch of on Tuesday, October 1st! From The Harwood Institute announcement… In Stepping Forward, Rich Harwood provides a new and inspiring blueprint for how we can rediscover what we share in common and build upon it in a way that engenders authentic hope. Register below to join Rich on October 1 at 1 PM ET to celebrate the official launch of Stepping Forward! In a special online […] (continue)

Have you listened to someone today? How about someone that you disagree with? If not, why not? Sometimes we focus more on speaking than on listening, though both are crucial to dialogue and deliberation. That is why NCDD is restarting their podcast series with a feature on the fourth annual International Listening Day taking place on Thursday, September 19th. The International Day of Listening (https://internationaldayoflistening.com/)  evolved in response to our modern-day “listening crisis” as one of many ways to remind us all of how to engage […] (continue)

In this piece published on The Fulcrum, “The poverty of partisan identity” by Daniel Pritchard of NCDD sponsor organization Essential Partners, he challenges the belief that our identities, particularly the partisan facets, are leading to the decline of our democracy. He responds that it is actually the immense complexity of our identities that make our democracy, and society, richer and more vibrant. He states, “To sustain this democracy, we must work to make space for the complex and contradictory identities within us and within each […] (continue)