I received an email on April 23 from Rob Fersh, Director of the vital National Consensus Initiative. As Rob says, “there is no natural constituency for the USCC or any special interests who can put muscle behind it. Our main constituency is people, many from the field of conflict resolution, who understand the promise of the USCC to serve the nation in developing potentially wiser, more broadly supportable policy options to address important national problems. The goal of the USCC is to synthesize the insight and experience of people with differing points of view into policy proposals that reflect ‘highest common denominator’ solutions.

Rob needs all of us to fax the Congressmembers who have the power to move forward. Click below for contact info and instructions for doing this.
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If he were alive today, how might Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest apostle of non-violence, challenge Osama bin Laden’s worldview? A piece by Bhikhu Parekh, a professor of political philosophy and author of three books on Gandhi, featured in this month’s issue of Prospect Magazine answers this question through a bold fictional dialogue between these two figures. This unique and fascinating effort at “translating” and giving Gandhi a contemporary relevance is based on a lecture first delivered at Boston University. A longer version will appear later this year in “The Stranger’s Religion: Fascination and Fear” edited by Anna Lannstrom (University of Notre Dame Press). Click here for the piece, called “Why Terror?”, or click below to read the author’s preface.
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I received an e-letter from David Wick a few days ago about the upcoming Democracy in America Convention. The Convention is happening in conjunction with Let’s Talk America, the project NCDD is involved in with the Utne Institute, Conversation Cafes and the World Cafe.

The Convention will take place this August 19-22 in Springfield, Illinois, and it will bring together people from all 50 states to “ignite the unified voice of ‘We the People’” through dialogue and deliberation. Click below to read the full message.
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I receive �Friday Letters� each week from the Kettering Foundation. The April 16th Friday Letter started off with an inspirational report from KF Associate Phil Stewart about his recent trip to Russia. Phil and his colleagues observed several deliberative forums, and noticed a clear commitment to learning and practicing the norms of democratic deliberation. One elderly teacher is quoted as saying �Only if my grandchildren learn to think critically, think for themselves and to deliberate in public, only then will they have the opportunity to grow up in a democratic Russia.� Click below for the full report.
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A new book called “Smart Communities: How Citizens and Local Leaders Can Use Strategic Thinking to Build a Brighter Future,” offers community leaders teh information they need to build a civic infrastructure and to create community readiness that will help avert problems before they begin. Written by Susan W. Morse, executive director of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and member of the Board of Trustees of the Kettering Foundation, the $34 book is based on the results of over a decade of research by the Pew Partnership, and includes a chapter on “Doing Democracy” which features the Kettering Foundation’s work in Owensboro, Kentucky, as well as National Issues Forums in general.

A new project called Solis, directed by Liza Chambers, is a unique cross-cultural education program that enables college students in the United States and the Middle East to collaboratively explore the relationship between the two countries through dialogue. Solis’ pilot Connect Program, which ran this winter, was a great success. Participating students from 5 colleges were divided into units, with each unit consisting of three students from universities in the U.S. and three students from universities in the Middle East. The units �met� twice a week for an hour and a half for six weeks for live sessions via Solis’ customized online collaboration application. The online application used is very intimate, allowing participants to see one another’s facial expressions, hear tone of voice, and even share jokes. Students were also able to communicate asynchronously via websites that were created for each unit. There they could post messages and exchange ideas, via both video and text. Click below to read more.
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Someone forwarded an email to me today from Barbara Gottlieb, in which she announced a just-released research report called �Youth as E-Citizens: Engaging the Digital Generation.� This study, by Kathryn Montgomery, Gary Larson and Barbara, is the first to �map� and analyze the rich but little-known terrain of websites that promote youth civic engagement. According to Barbara, the study “brings to light an online youth civic culture, largely unnoticed by the general public, that has taken hold on the Internet and is fostering Generation Y�s participation in U.S. politics and community affairs.” Click below for Barbara’s entire announcement.
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With the help of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), Tom Caruso has created a resource that includes files of interest to anyone wanting to do research with NVC. Click here to see this resource of files. Within this file you will find links to the actual files described. Tom welcomes folks to send him anything they would like included in this resource for Nonviolent Communication researchers. This includes the reference for any relevant journal, book, or other media that could be referred to in a research paper. Tom is the Director of Research Initiatives at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech. His phone number is 540-231-6771 and his email is .

On Friday, Katie Howard of the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center announced that the much-anticipated (by me) First Annual Northern California Dialogue and Deliberation Conference will take place on Friday, June 11 at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. This one-day gathering will bring together Northern California’s leaders, facilitators, practitioners and participants in the growing dialogue and deliberation community. Click below for Katie’s full announcement, or email Katie at . NCDD hopes to see many more such regional networking events popping up like this one!
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Meaning Map is a new, web-based form of discussion designed to make collective decision-making more democratic and efficient by democratizing framing and agenda setting, emphasizing reasons and principles, and removing the need for any stable group of elites to act as gatekeepers. Meaning Map creator Ray Pingree encourages you to experiment with Meaning Map at www.meaningmap.com (click on “Try Meaning Map now!”). Ray also says that groups of 50 to 500 who want their own Meaning Map should contact him at . He may be able to host it on his server for you for free. Also email Ray if you have constructive feedback on the tool.

You know that amazing picture that’s posted on NCDD’s main page right now? The one with the people holding up a banner that says “We the People”? Well, that’s the Rogue Valley Wisdom Coucil, an important democratic experiment that’s been going on in Oregon. I just received an email letting me know that the video footage of the first Rogue Valley Wisdom Council, which took place in November, has been incorporated into a 22-minute video. If you’re curious about Wisdom Councils or Dynamic Facilitation, this video allows you to watch the process unfold, as the panelists grapple with issues and find common ground. Click below for more info.
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