Public Deliberation: A Manager's Guide to Citizen Engagement

Carolyn Lukensmeyer and Lars Hasselblad Torres, AmericaSpeaks. IBM Center for the Business of Government.

This report documents a spectrum of tools and techniques developed largely in the nonprofit world in recent years to increase citizens' involvement in their communities and government. It also highlights ways in which public managers can develop an active approach to increasing citizens' involvement in government at all levels. This report will be useful and informative to managers across the nation seeking new, innovative ways to engage citizens.

Resource Link: http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/LukensmeyerReport.pdf

Public Dialogue and Participatory Democracy: The Cupertino Community Project

Shawn Spano. Cresskill, N.J.: Hampton Press, 2001.

The Cupertino Community dialogues, the Public Dialogue Consortium's flagship project, began in March of 1996. Over a five-year period, community members became involved in numerous processes to explore a wide spectrum of issues affecting quality of life in the community.

Resource Link: http://www.publicdialogue.org/projects/cupertino.html

Public Engagement Pilot Project on Pandemic Influenza (PEPPPI)

In one of the most exemplary recent US government efforts to engage the public around an urgent issue, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) convened a series of public consultations on pandemic flu in the last quarter of 2005. The purpose of the Public Engagement Pilot Project on Pandemic Influenza (PEPPPI) was to inform decision-makers about the public's priorities for the use of pandemic influenza vaccine during a period of anticipated shortage. This information is intended to lead to a sounder, more supportable decision and to demonstrate that citizens can be productively engaged in informing vaccine related policy decisions thereby leading to more public engagement in the future.

Resource Link: http://www.keystone.org/spp/health-pandemic.html

Public Forum Institute

The Public Forum Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization committed to developing the most advanced and effective means of fostering public discourse. The Forum tailors projects that advance the exchange of information and ideas by combining issue expertise with advanced program development and communications skills. By offering unfiltered access to all sides of an issue, and through partnerships with foundations, print and broadcast media, policymakers, opinion leaders and corporate philanthropy, the Public Forum Institute serves local communities across the nation, contributing to a more informed public.

Resource Link: http://www.publicforuminstitute.org

Putting "Public" Back in Public Health Work

Doug Thompson and Don Greenstein. The Keystone Center, 2007.

Experts say chances of a deadly worldwide outbreak of pandemic flu are increasing. In order to involve the public in developing plans for how the government would react to such an outbreak, the CDC held four public meetings to hear public views about possible community control measures that could limit the outbreak. This report outlines and evaluates this award-winning project, which sought to put the "public" in public health by effectively allowing people to participate in policy development.

Reaching Across Boundaries: Talk to Create Change (2nd Edition)

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Study Circles Resource Center, 2003.

This free guidebook was developed for teens who are interested in discussing the cliques and social boundaries in their schools. It's part of the Mix It Up program, a partnership between the Study Circles Resource Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Helps young people identify, question, and cross social boundaries in their schools and communities with a Mix It Up Dialogue.

Resource Link: http://www.mixitup.org

Reclaiming Public Education By Reclaiming Our Democracy

David Mathews. Kettering Foundation Press.

This book considers what citizens and educators alike want from public education and how they might come closer to getting it. It is also about the obstacles that block them, beginning with significant differences in the ways that citizens see problems in the schools and how professional educators and policymakers talk about them. This book offers ideas about the work citizens can do to reverse this trend and improve education.

Resource Link: http://www.reclaimingeducation.org

Reconciliation, Justice, and Coexistence: Theory and Practice

Mohammed Abu-Nimer. Lexington Books, 2001.

Abu-Nimer provides lessons and insights for post-settlement peacebuilders. Essays focus on the conflict dynamics in regions such as Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestine, South Africa and Rwanda.

Regis University - The Institute on the Common Good

Regis University's Institute on the Common Good sponsors public and private forums for the discussion of significant social issues. Its intent is to promote the long-term good of the greater community of Denver and the Rocky Mountain West through the discovery of common ground for addressing these issues.

Resource Link: http://www.icgregis.org

Report on the 2005 Innovation in Community Engagement Conference

Tom Atlee.

This is Tom Atlee's summary of his 2005 trip to a groundbreaking conference on Innovation in Community Engagement in Perth, Australia. The conference took place on May 30 and 31, 2005 at the Burswood Convention Centre. This text was originally posted in NCDD's old Happenings blog.

Report to the Deliberative Democracy Consortium: Building a Deliberation Measurement Toolbox

Peter Muhlberger.

This project was charged with creating a toolbox of measures for evaluating democratic deliberation, a toolbox of use to practitioners and researchers of deliberation. With a couple exceptions, there are few measures of the consequences or quality of deliberation with a proven record of detecting effects or quality. Indeed, some observers have suggested that it is unlikely researchers will be able to detect most effects of deliberation, in part because the effects may be small and require repeated deliberation experiences. In an encouraging sign, this report introduces a set of measures that does detect strong effects of deliberative experiences, even in one-day deliberations with relatively few participants.

Resource Link: http://geocities.com/pmuhl78/DDCReport.pdf

Resolutionary Method

Resolution creates covenantal relationships that are based on shared commitment to ideas, issues, values and goals. Covenant is the true source of connection meeting of both mind and heart that provides a source of the richness and fulfillment we seek. With covenants in place, results beyond expectation follow. When you start a new relationship or project, the "Resolutionary" model provides the tools to put in place a road map that reminds you of your objectives, and the route to get you there. If you're deep in conflict, it provides a Process to Resolution.

Resolving Identity-Based Conflict In Nations, Organizations, and Communities

Jay Rothman. Jossey-Bass, 1997.

This book presented a approach to conflict resolution that intrigued and informed practitioners and scholars alike. Writing from his remarkable range of academic and real-world experiences--including his historic work in bringing Israel and the PLO to the negotiation table--Rothman shows how identity-based conflict can be managed so that both parties reach a higher ground than either could have found on its own. His vehicle is his ARIA model, and here he traces the ARIA process through Antagonism, Resonance, Invention, and Action, demonstrating step-by-step how it can be applied in a variety of environments.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787909963.html

Reuniting America

Reuniting America is a network of organizations, associations, and individuals engaged in transpartisan dialogue. It is guided by a national steering committee and board of advisors comprised of leaders from across the political spectrum. Our intention is to foster authentic dialogue among leaders and citizens from across the political spectrum; to highlight and build on the citizen engagement work already taking place in communities across America; and to support and strengthen the capacity of leaders and citizens to discuss divisive issues and to engage in collaborative action.

Resource Link: http://www.reunitingamerica.org

Samoan Circle

The Samoan circle is a leaderless meeting intended to help negotiations in controversial issues. While there is no leader, a professional facilitator can welcome participants and explain the seating arrangements, rules, timelines and the process. As with the Fishbowl process, the Samoan circle has people seated in a circle within a circle, however only those in the inner circle are allowed to speak. The inner circle should represent all the different viewpoints present, and all others must remain silent. The process offers others a chance to speak only if they join the inner circle.

Sample Ground Rules for D&D Processes

Facilitators of dialogic and deliberative processes often develop their own standard set of ground rules which they suggest groups adopt or modify to meet their needs. Here are some samples of ground rules from organizations which represent various streams of online and face-to-face D&D practice. Use this list to get new ideas for ground rules or to show a variety of sets of ground rules to facilitators you are training.

School for International Training - CONTACT (Conflict Transformation Across Cultures)

CONTACT is a summer professional development program at the School for International Training designed to strengthen and support the community building, coexistence and conflict intervention efforts of peacebuilders from the U.S. and around the world.

Resource Link: http://www.sit.edu/contact

Search for Common Ground

Founded in 1982, Search for Common Ground works to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving. We work with local partners to find culturally appropriate means to strengthen societies' capacity to deal with conflicts constructively: to understand the differences and act on the commonalities.

Resource Link: http://www.sfcg.org

Shared Vision

Shared Vision is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993. Its mission is to leverage the imaginative power of communities to build cataylsts for social, cultural and economic renewal. It does this by producing monumental public artworks of exceptional quality in urban areas thatengage the public directly in their creation. We harness the combined imaginative power of thousands of people to build a potent force for the revitalization of cities and communities. In this we follow the vision of our artistic director, William Cochran, one of the country's leading muralists. Cochran's amazing "Community Bridge" in Frederick, Maryland was featured at the 2002 NCDD conference.

Resource Link: http://www.sharedvision.org

Simon Fraser University - Diploma in Dialogue and Negotiation

Lasting and durable multi-party agreements require collaborative decision-making processes. Authority-driven methods of decision-making with adversarial procedures for addressing conflict have generated increased demand for decision makers to be more responsive to individual and community interests and needs. The Diploma in Dialogue and Negotiation offers participants the conceptual tools to analyze, understand and plan multi-interest consensus, dialogue and negotiation using case studies and scenarios reflecting a wide range of contexts. The program will also provide participants with the skills to apply what they have learned to their respective sectors.

Resource Link: http://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/diploma.htm