Links to Dialogue Resources
3M Meeting Pros Resource www.mmm.com/meetingnetwork/meetthepros
The 3M website hosts a free Facilitator Clearinghouse referral network. This network lists facilitators from all over the globe and is part of the 3M Meetings Network website. Sign up for free to be listed as an available facilitator.
Americans Discuss Social Security www.network-democracy.org/social-security
In 1999, Information Renaissance collaborated with Americans Discuss Social Security to host a non-partisan electronic discussion and debate on Social Security reform. Thousands of Americans participated in a national discussion with policy makers, experts and each other via the internet. You can browse the archives of this event to learn more about large-scale online discussions.
The Animating Democracy Initiative www.artsusa.org/animatingdemocracy Launched in fall 1999, ADI is a four-year programmatic initiative of Americans for the Arts which fosters artistic activity that encourages civic dialogue on important contemporary issues.
Civic Practices Network (CPN) www.cpn.org
CPN's website, although compiled several years ago, features an array of excellent resources for the new citizenship movement. The Network shares a commitment to bringing practical methods for public problem solving into every community and institutional setting in the U.S.
Common Ground www.tulane.edu:80/~so-inst/commong.html
The Common Ground program is an interracial discussion program designed to help communities confront racial and ethnic problems and find solutions. Common Ground also trains current and future leaders in dialogue skills that foster prejudice reduction and interracial conflict resolution.
David Bohm Resources www.muc.de/~heuvel/bohm
This site provides a plethora of links to articles, books, and information about and by David Bohm, a well-respected contemporary physicist whose contributions to science and philosophy include a kind of free-form dialogue. Also, click here for another website dedicated to the work of Bohm which is maintained by Will Keepin, Ph.D.
The DuVersity www.duversity.org
The DuVersity is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 which draws primarily on the 'Fourth Way' teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff and John Bennett's Systematics, but also uses emergent methods such as the Dialogue Process of David Bohm. The DuVersity sponsors seminars, workshops and dialogues, publishes and sells books and tapes, and networks with allied or complementary people and organizations.
The Electronic Forum Handbook: Study Circles in Cyberspace click here
This handbook results from the experience of moderators trained in face-to-face dialogue who experimented with an electronic version on the internet. Two classes-one at Ithaca College in New York and one at the University of Georgia-were paired for an electronic dialogue experience in 1994. The Handbook is based in part on Study Circles Resource Center materials.
Evaluation of Dialogue Groups www.westernjustice.org/stephan_survey.htm
Walter G. Stephan, Ph.D., of New Mexico State University designed this pre- and post-dialogue survey to help dialogue organizers and facilitators assess the effectiveness of the dialogues in transforming people's attitudes and actions.
Global Dialogue Institute http://global-dialogue.com
GDI promotes a process called "Deep-Dialogue" within and among the cultures, religions and other direction-shaping forces of the world. GDI fosters the Three Dimensions of Deep-Dialogue (ethics, globality and spirituality) by organizing and promoting research, publications, and face-to-face Inter-World Encounters in its Twelve-Step Program to Deep-Dialogue.
Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training www.grassrootsinstitute.org
GIFT runs trainings which help strengthen the grassroots fundraising skills of people working for social justice. Created primarily for groups and people of color, the goal of GIFT is to build the capacity of progressive organizations to raise money and to increase the number of people of color in fundraising. GIFT seeks to decrease organizations' dependence on foundation funding by helping them develop a broad base of individual donors to support their work.
Information Renaissance www.info-ren.org
Founded in 1996, this nonprofit corporation promotes the use of the internet to support the public interest through online dialogue and other processes. Information Renaissance enables citizens to participate more fully in the democratic process by improving access and fostering meaningful, high-level, interactive exchanges between informed members of the public and their government.
International Association of Facilitators www.iaf-world.org
The IAF promotes, supports and advances the art and practice of professional facilitation through methods exchange, professional growth, practical research, collegial networking and support services.
International Association for Public Participation www.iap2.org
IAP2 is an association of members who seek to promote and improve the practice of public participation in relation to individuals, governments, institutions, and other entities that effect the public interest in nations throughout the world. IAP2 carries out its mission by organizing and conducting activities to: serve the learning needs of members through events, publications, and communication technology; advocate for public participation throughout the world; promote a results-oriented research agenda and use research to support educational and advocacy goals; provide technical assistance to improve public participation.
Kettering Foundation www.kettering.org
The central question behind the foundation's research is currently this: What does it take to make democracy work as it should? The Kettering Foundation produces low-cost publications of interest to dialogue leaders. A few examples are: Making Choices Together: The Power of Public Deliberation; Community Leadership: Community Change through Public Action; and How the Community Works: Officeholder Perspectives on Democratic Self-Government and the Community.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights www.civilrights.org
LCCR is a coalition of over 180 organizations which are committed to the protection of civil and human rights in the U.S. LCCR's extensive website includes a civil rights events calendar and a U.S. map of promising practices for improving intergroup relations (click here for the map).
NABRE www.jointcenter.org/nabre
A network of community-based organizations working across the country to bridge racial and ethnic divisions, NABRE was designed to cultivate and nurture local leaders as they build and sustain alliances that break down and transcend artificial barriers of race and ethnicity in all sectors of civil society and in communities across our country.
National Issues Forum www.nifi.org
NIF is a nationwide network of educational and community organizations that deliberate about nationwide issues. NIF publishes deliberation guides on such topics as Racial and Ethnic Tensions: What Should We Do?, Money and Politics: Who Owns Democracy?, and Violent Kids: Can We Change The Trend?
National MultiCultural Institute www.nmci.org
NMCI is a national training and development organization which holds diversity conferences, conducts trainings, develops educational resource materials and initiates special projects of interest to the field. Organizations and communities which contact NMCI can request many types of diversity trainings, including interracial dialogue.
Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community www.upenn.edu/pnc
From 1996 to 1999, the Penn National Commission sought to understand the problems of contemporary public discussion and behavior and to foster more engaged and thoughtful conversations about contemporary social issues. With the 'study' phase of the Commission's work completed, the Penn Public Talk Project is now engaged in the 'programmatic' phase, working to improve the practice of robust public discourse in ways that lead to stronger, more inclusive communities.
President Clinton's Initiative on Race http://clinton2.nara.gov/Initiatives/OneAmerica/america.html
Although the One America resources (the dialogue guide, the Advisory Board's report to President Clinton, the promising practices, etc.) are no longer accessible on the White House website, they are all archived at this location. The web address has changed, but not much else.
Project Change www.projectchange.org
Project Change seeks to empower communities to reduce racial prejudice and improve race relations, to serve as a national clearinghouse for anti-racism information resources and training, and to further the development of an infrastructure for social justice work. Project Change models and promotes much-needed common ground and multicultural partnerships in communities where it is active. Project Change helps run the Anti-Racism Net.
Public Conversations Project www.publicconversations.org
In addition to their groundbreaking grassroots dialogue work, PCP provides trainings, presentations, and workshops on such things as the power of dialogue, inquiry as intervention, and the architecture of dialogue. PCP's website offers a variety of great tools to help you organize and facilitate a dialogue.
Roundtable, Inc. www.roundtablemedia.com
Roundtable, Inc. is a production company that focuses on building "social capital." Roundtable produces public engagement projects in several media (television, radio, web, print, books) and partners with other production companies to help increase the impact of their work. They form regional coalitions for each project and provide training for facilitators.
The San Mateo Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group www.igc.org/traubman/faq.htm
Len and Libby Traubman have been organizing Jewish-Palestinian dialogue in the San Francisco area for over a decade. Their website features a 'how to' page on initiating Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups, as well as many great articles and links. The Traubmans have spawned a number of similar, yet diverse groups in the Bay area, and their ideas are spreading into new cities and campuses.
Simulation Training Systems www.stsintl.com
Distributors of BaFá BaFá and other simulations/games that help people learn and develop in the areas of cross-cultural relations, diversity, empowerment, ethics, etc.
Study Circles Resource Center www.studycircles.org
SCRC promotes and supports study circles (small-group, democratic, peer-led discussions, or dialogues, on important social and political issues). Their website provides downloadable copies of many of their top-notch dialogue guides and other resources.
Teaching Tolerance www.splcenter.org/teachingtolerance
Teaching Tolerance is a national education project dedicated to helping teachers foster equity, respect and understanding in the classroom and beyond. In response to an alarming increase in hate crime among youth, the Southern Poverty Law Center began the Teaching Tolerance project in 1991 as an extension of the Center's legal and educational efforts. Through the generous support of Center donors, Teaching Tolerance offers free or low-cost resources to educators at all levels.
Television Race Initiative www.pbs.org/pov/tvraceinitiative
The Television Race Initiative produces high-profile television broadcasts which help stimulate community dialogue and problem solving around the issue of race relations. Schedules and descriptions of upcoming programs and info about obtaining copies of past shows - on such topics as interracial relationships, the digital divide, and the history of slavery in America - are available on the site.
Tolerance.org www.tolerance.org
A web project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Tolerance.org aims to create a national community committed to human rights. Along with fabulous sections on instances of intolerance (and what others are doing about it), practical, proven action steps to take, online space for discussing events and issues about tolerance and hate, and an online activity for examining your own level of tolerance, Tolerance.org provides a clickable map of U.S. human rights groups.
The United Nations Year for Dialogue Among Civilizations
www.un.org/Dialogue and www.unesco.org/dialogue2001/en/natcom.htm
In November 1998, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the year 2001 as the "United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations." The resolution GA/RES/53/22, proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and supported by a large number of countries, invited governments and the UN system to plan and implement cultural, educational and social programs to promote the concept of dialogue among civilizations. Also check out the Iran-based International Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations' site: www.dialoguecentre.org.
We Interrupt This Message www.interrupt.org/witm
This non-profit organization provides media training, technical assistance, materials, and consulting to groups with a progressive agenda. For example, they work with community-based groups on re-framing issues they care about, and on campaigns to correct media stereotypes and distortions.
Western Justice Center www.westernjustice.org
The Western Justice Center seeks new ways to resolve conflicts and improve the quality of justice. Their website provides an online database to help people connect with organizations working to prevent violence, to resolve conflicts and to promote intergroup dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration.
