Last summer, NCDD had the pleasure of working with Arsalyn (arsalyn.org) to help with their national youth conference in DC. Its already time for 2008 participants to apply for this summers event! So if you know or are a student between the ages of 16-20, you might want to consider this all expenses paid event. From their press release…

Looking at our past two Presidential elections we seem to be witnessing what could be described as a “deepening” of the “partisan divide.” Public discourse seems to consist less and less of communication between political camps or deliberation, i.e., reasoning together about political issues. Instead we find the various camps busy constructing their own communication networks, increasingly isolated from the pressures of a common “marketplace of ideas.” It seems that the camps are more interested in “mobilizing existing constituencies” than in responding to the “cool and deliberate sense of the community.”

Each year the Arsalyn Program sponsors a national conference devoted to “Bridging the Partisan Divide.” The conference is designed to serve as a respectful, neutral forum where diverse individuals promoting youth civic and political engagement can meet as colleagues. The goal of the conference is to bring young people together so they can discuss how people with differing opinions can deliberate to solve common problems through the political process. The conference also provides great opportunities for networking.

Arsalyn’s national conferences are open to individuals that identify with Arsalyn’s mission and are working to promote youth civic and political engagement. Arsalyn provides funding for participants’ travel, lodging, food, and conference materials. To optimize interaction between participants attendance is usually limited to 150 people.

This year’s national conference will take place in Washington, DC at the 4-H National Conference Center the 24th through 28th of July. The application period for this year’s conference begins on March 15th and continues until April 30th. For more information visit our website.