The role of D&D in large-scale public crisis

[Leah Lamb]

Here is a place where we can discuss ideas about the role of D&D in large scale public crisis.

The following message was made over the NCDD Listserv:

It takes some time and money to organize a good event, where "good" includes involving policy makers and getting their commitment to participate and to incorporate the information in policy. Plus getting a broad spectrum of people involved, having good, balanced information for them and facilitators to help with the process, and a way to sum up a large discussion!

Rosemary Gunn
Information Renaissance

Leah Lamb
NCDD Listserv Moderator
Berkeley, CA

[Leah Lamb]

The following comment was shared on the NCDD listserv.


Dear friends,
Katrina has brought us a tragedy that calls for our compassion. It
also challenges us to get informed, to ask powerful questions, to
reflect and learn -- individually and collectively -- and to take
action that will make such catastrophes less likely in the future.
Whether Katrina is an unmitigated disaster or a gift to our future
depends totally on how well we use her impact to wake up our hearts,
minds and determination. This is especially true since Katrina is a
type of crisis that will likely show up on our doorstep again and
again. Whether such crises teach, heal and transform us -- or push
us down and tear us apart -- is pretty much up to us.
In times like this, our attention is often riveted on the personal
and communal dimensions. I invite you to also attend to the systemic
dimensions: What is it about the way we have things set up, that
makes these crises more likely, or makes them worse than they have to be when they happen? What might we do about that?
Tom Atlee


Leah Lamb
NCDD Listserv Moderator
Berkeley, CA

[Leah Lamb]

A Call to Action: Rebuild the Gulf Coast and Rebuild Our Democracy

By Martha L. McCoy, Executive Director, Study Circles Resource Center
The impact of Hurricane Katrina shines a light on many long-standing problems in our country, and opens new opportunities to address them.

The good news is that we donâ?€?™t have to start from scratch. Well before the current crisis, movements for civic and democratic renewal were gaining strength. Among these efforts, in the past 15 years, hundreds of communities have used study circles to bring tens of thousands of people into dialogue and action on the most critical issues facing our country. At the Study Circles Resource Center, we have been fortunate to work with many of these communities. You will find their stories on www.studycircles.org. These efforts, and others like them, are seldom noted on the national scene. But they have a lot to teach us in this key moment in our history.

These stories show us how we can address the challenges facing us. In our communities and our country, we need to:

fi Address racial divisions and inequities. Racism in our country is often invisible to many people, but in the aftermath of Katrina, the wound has been exposed for all to see. Now, more people recognize that there is work to do; there are renewed calls for a national conversation on race.

fi Work on deep poverty. Like racism, poverty is invisible to many people, but now, as scenes from the Gulf Coast come into our living rooms, we see beyond the statistics. We see that poverty is real and the needs are urgent. Both political parties are calling for a renewed war on poverty.

fi Meet the needs of rapidly changing communities. The great migration from the Gulf Coast region has focused our attention on what is already happening in many cities and towns, as people from different groups are looking for ways to live together in harmony, often for the first time. This raises an essential question: How do we make a multiracial, multicultural democracy work?

fi Build a strong democracy. Katrinaâ?€?™s impact reveals long-standing problems with the way our democracy functions. Few of our communities offer meaningful opportunities for everyoneâ?€?™s voice to be heard. Race and class create additional barriers to participation. We lack opportunities for people of different backgrounds and views to work together, and for our elected leaders to hear from and respond to them. And we lack ways for people to work effectively with government officials, to create and carry out public policy.

In essence, we need to build a â?€?œcivic infrastructureâ?€? in our communities, our regions, and our country, even as we rebuild the physical infrastructure of the Gulf region.

In the aftermath of Katrina, we at the Study Circles Resource Center are renewing our commitment to help communities work on the long-standing issues highlighted by this crisis, and to help build the kind of civic infrastructure our country needs.

Just as with relief and rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast, building a strong democracy will take the energy and commitment of caring people. Each one of us has an important role to play. Our can-do spirit, especially in the face of adversity, is a hallmark of our nation. If we take to heart the larger meaning of this crisis, we have it in us to create a democracy that can work for all of us.


If you are already organizing study circles, we want to support you as you redouble your efforts at this critical time. Itâ?€?™s clearer than ever before that what you are doing in your community has meaning for our country as a whole.

If you would like to organize large-scale dialogue for problem solving, please let us know. We have resources to help communities organize large-scale conversations on issues of race, and then to move from those conversations to community change. We are in the final stages of developing resources to help communities address issues of poverty. We can also put you in touch with other organizations and resources.

[Sandy]

Here's something I found today on the Public Conversations Project's website. It explains eloquently how dialogue and dialogue facilitators can be invaluable at times like these.

You can read the entire piece at http://www.publicconversations.org/pcp/index.asp?page_id=266&catid=68

The responses of our colleagues in the dialogue and deliberation field reflect the need for conversations that nurture and strengthen communities as they wrestle with difficult issues about what happens next. Skilled facilitators may prove invaluable as people begin to discuss questions such as how to share limited resources and how to allocate space as they rebuild neighborhoods and entire towns. There also may be a place for dialogue as people across the country wrestle with strong feelings â?€?“ outrage, empathy, dismay â?€?“ and overarching questions about how and why this happened and how to prevent this scale of suffering in the future.

While dialogue cannot rebuild homes, it can foster the understanding and respect that are essential for strong communities and effective action. While dialogue cannot literally build bridges, it can bridge the divide between local residents, between our two political parties, between the branches and multiple levels of our government, and, critically, between people who plan and respond and the citizens whose lives depend on their efforts. Dialogue practitioners can and should work now to repair trust and community where it is needed most.

Dialogue facilitators help bitterly divided opponents, as well as communities separated by religion, race and class, change how they speak and listen to one another. In the process we -- and they â?€?“ continually rediscover the power of stories carried about others, how speaking shapes our narratives and how our stories, in turn, shape othersâ?€?™ perceptions about their subjects. Dialogue is one way that people become seen, heard, understood, and valued.

And there will be future storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other disasters, both natural and of human design. Until then, we each have an individual, as well as collective responsibility to react intentionally to this disaster, and to create the type of communities and relationships that will sustain us â?€?“ all of us â?€?“ when hard times come again. This is an opportunity to intensify our focus on examining whatever fault lines may exist in our communities, and to reach across the divides of ideology, race, ethnicity, and class.

Many people have begun to reach out to others, often spanning previously prohibitive divides. The outpouring of support, often from those who have very little themselves, is a hopeful testimony to the human heartâ?€?™s staggering capacity to love.

Countless people report being sustained by stories of compassion and love â?€?“ love for family and friends, for cherished companion animals, for home and city, love for strangers. That part of the emerging story of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is vividly portrayed in the stories of the survivors themselves. Manda Adams, PCPâ?€?™s training coordinator, has been following a blog that shares the voices of hurricane Katrina survivors who have been evacuated to her home state of Texas.
http://blogs.chron.com/katrinavoices/

PCP soon will launch its own project to collect and promote post-hurricane Katrina bridge-building tales, helping to ensure that a full range of peopleâ?€?™s stories get told.
_________________
Sandy Heierbacher
Convenor, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD)

[Sandy]

The following comment was shared on the NCDD listserv.


This question about online dialogue about Katrina, points to a need and an opportunity for all of us to take our skills into our own communities, neighborhoods, etc. and inquire into what people are thinking and how they are feeling. It seems to be a subject with enormous potential for growth and understanding and for consciousness to be raised.

Like with the 911 event, there are many opportunities for all of us to move to higher ground and lead our "leaders" there as well. I for one feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the hurricane aftermath and yet want to contribute something worthwhile that my money can't buy. Perhaps a local dialogue with a subsequent letter to the editor or press release to my local paper will serve that need. Maybe yours too.

Be well.
Mary Beth

[Sandy]

Changing the Public Discourse: Resources at Tolerance.org

Sept. 22, 2005

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DECODING KATRINA: A Critical Debriefing
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*** UNDERSTANDING THE AFTERMATH ***
The hurricane that devastated Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama left tragic destruction in its wake. It also reopened this nation's troubling and difficult conversation about race, poverty and the gulfs that divide us. Tolerance.org offers a three-part series:

:: DECODING THE LANGUAGE: A look back at how race and poverty were-- and weren't -- made part of discussion in Katrina's immediate aftermath.

http://newsletter.tolerance.org/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eqh20GzujW0E1S0Dij20EB

:: ASSESSING THE NATIONAL DISCOURSE: A deeper look at why we, as a country, struggle with such conversations.

http://newsletter.tolerance.org/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eqh20GzujW0E1S0Dij30EC

:: CHANGING THE NATIONAL DISCOURSE: What can we do, as individuals or communities, to deepen and improve the conversation?

http://newsletter.tolerance.org/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eqh20GzujW0E1S0Dij40ED

Tolerance.org also offers additional Katrina-related resources:

:: HOW TO HELP: Emergency response agencies, churches and nonprofit organizations have mobilized to help the millions of people affected by Katrina. There are many ways you can help,too.

http://newsletter.tolerance.org/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eqh20GzujW0E1S0Dij50EE

:: TEACHING KATRINA: Several groups have offered classroom lesson plans in Katrina's wake. Curriculum specialist/writer Jeff Sapp offers a critical review.

http://newsletter.tolerance.org/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eqh20GzujW0E1S0Dij60EF

A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center


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