w. 2006 04 (apr)
Compassionate Listening Workshop Coming Up in Toronto
Susan Partnow will be in Toronto to present ?“The Fundamentals of Compassion Listening?” on April 27. In Compassionate Listening, the emphasis is on strengthening the influence of the heart through cultivating compassion for ourselves and others, and learning to listen and speak from the heart ?— even in the heat of conflict. Susan is a consultant in Seattle Washington. She serves on the Steering Committee of National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation, Advisory Board to The Radical Middle Newsletter (a project of the Center for Visionary Law, Business, and Public Policy ), co-founded Conversation Cafe and Let's Talk America, and founded Global Citizen Journey. Metro-Toronto Central YMCA; 20 Grosvenor St (near Yonge and College); 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. The fee for this workshop is $155 including GST and materials. To learn more (or register on-line) see www.leadingedgeseminars.org. For information or instant registration phone 416-964-1133 (outside of Toronto 1-888-291-1133).
Added by Amy Lang on April 25, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Perspectives Group Announces IAP2 Certificate Training Dates for 2006
The Perspectives Group (www.theperspectivesgroup.com) will be offering four more opportunities to take the IAP2 5-day Public Participation Certificate training this year. This training is designed for professionals working in the fields of community development, nonprofit and government public services, and public understanding and outreach. It is also designed for industry communications and public affairs or public relations, advocacy and lobbying organizations, private and government groups, and any individual/organization required to deal with the public about complex or potentially contentious issues. Upon completion of the full week of training, participants will receive a certificate from IAP2. Upcoming dates and locations are: Alexandria, VA on April 3 ?– 7; July 10 ?– 14; September 18 ?– 22 and December 4 ?– 8. The full week of training is $1,475, or $295 per day. The Course is broken up into 3 sections: Planning for Effective Public Participation (two days), Effective Communication for Public Participation (one day), and Techniques for Public Participation (two days). Please note that the Planning course is a prerequisite to the Communications and Techniques courses. For additional information go to www.theperspectivesgroup.com/resource/trainingpro.html to download the brochure, or contact Crystal Sarno or Kristie Bergeron-Hale at The Perspectives Group at 703-837-1197 or email .
Added by Amy Lang on March 27, 2006??-??Link to this entry
AmericaSpeaks Hosts Health Care Meetings in Los Angeles and Albuquerque
AmericaSpeaks convened two meetings on national health care policy in March on behalf of the Citizens?’ Health Care Working Group. On Saturday, March 4, we brought together more than 500 participants in Los Angeles for the day-long meeting. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa welcomed participants and shared his perspective on health care in America. Throughout the day participants identified the values they associate with health care and weighed in on suggested improvements to our health care system. Topics included preferred models of health care coverage and components of a benefits plan, difficulties in accessing care, methods of financing coverage, and the tradeoffs participants are willing to make. USA Today covered and wrote about the LA meeting. For a limited time you can view the article at www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2006-03-14-health-debate-usat_x.htm. On Monday, March 20, more than 150 residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico met for a very successful three hour meeting on the same topic. The diverse participants included several local decision makers, including State Senator Dede Feldman, four New Mexico State Cabinet Secretaries, representatives from the Governor and Lieutenant Governor?’s offices as well as staff from the offices of Senator Dominici, Senator Bingaman, and Congresswoman Wilson. Once again participants identified shared values and participated in small group discussions on benefits, access, financing, and tradeoffs in health care. The suggestions gathered during these meetings will be used to create recommendations to improve our health care system that will be sent to Congress and President Bush.
AmericaSpeaks is still seeking facilitators for all of the health care meetings (Hartford, CT on April 6; Las Vegas, NV on April 11; San Antonio, TX on April 19; Fargo, ND on April 22; Lexington, KY on April 25; Cincinnati, OH on April 29; Little Rock, AR on April 29; Sioux Falls, SD on May 6). If you?’re interested in serving as a volunteer table facilitator for the Cincinnati meeting on April 29, please sign up online by selecting the Cincinnati registration link at the Working Group?’s community meeting site www.citizenshealthcare.gov/register. Any questions should be directed to Diane Altman Dautoff at or by phone at (206) 320-1169. If you are interested in serving as a facilitator for any of AmericaSpeaks?’ other health care meetings, please contact Mike Ravvin at , or (202) 775-3939 x1007.
Added by Amy Lang on March 26, 2006??-??Link to this entry
National Online Discussion about Health Care from March 22-April 5
Go national with your opinions about health care in America by visiting www.AmericansDiscussHealth.org from March 22 to April 5. Join citizens from around the country and post your opinions in a personal blog, explore your ideas in the discussion forums and get vocal about health care. This web-based public forum is a part of more than thirty meetings of varying sizes being convened across the United States by the Citizens?’ Health Care Working Group (www.citizenshealthcare.gov). The purpose of the meetings and the online dialogue is to discuss health care benefits and services, getting health care, financing, and tradeoffs and options. This feedback from these meetings will help develop recommendations which, bylaw, the President is required to respond to and upon which Congress will hold hearings. The two-week national online discussion about health care will begin with a March 22 webcast meeting: "What?’s Your Health Worth?" held from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at http://mc.umich.edu/clients/vpcomm/healthmeeting/. Visit this site after the meeting to view an archived version of the event.
The Citizens Health Care Working Group has also lined up a series of small and large-scale public meetings aimed at engaging the American public in establishing the values and priorities that must drive health care reform in 2008 and beyond. The first large-scale forum, designed and facilitated by AmericaSpeaks, was held March 4 in Los Angeles and engaged more than 500 residents from the across the city. Between January and May of 2006, more than 30 public have been scheduled across the country. To learn more about this initiative, please visit www.citizenshealthcare.gov.
Added by Amy Lang on March 22, 2006??-??Link to this entry
CPC Organizing Appreciative Inquiry Summit in Chicago
The Corporation for Positive Change (CPC) is organizing an Appreciative Inquiry Summit from Apr 3, 2006 - Apr 6, 2006 in Chicago, IL. The AI Summit is a powerful approach to whole-system organizational change based on the principles and practices of Appreciative Inquiry as applied to large groups (30-3000 people). This workshop is led by AI pioneers Jim Ludema and Mike Mantel and is based on Jim's definitive book The Appreciative Inquiry Summit: A Practitioner's Guide for Leading Large Group Change. During the workshop, Jim and Mike will introduce the AI Summit methodology, share case stories of their work designing and facilitating large group AI Summits, and discuss applications of the AI Summit to strategic planning, corporate culture change, delivering exceptional customer service, vision and values clarification, global organizing and reinventing complex social systems such as health care. They will share stories and videos from their work in corporate, government, non-profit, and international settings. As a participant, you will be invited to bring a case study to work on during the workshop (i.e., a project in which you would like to use the AI Summit methodology). You will leave the workshop with a detailed plan and design for your Summit process. The cost of workshop is Standard: $1650; Groups of five or more: $1400 each; Non-Profit: $1350 and
Student: $1150. To register or for more information, contact the Corporation for Positive Change. Email: ; Phone: 505.751.1232; Fax : 505.751.1233;
Website: www.positivechange.org.
Added by Amy Lang on March 16, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Taos Institute Announces Workshop Line Up
This Spring the Taos Institute is offering a full array of Appreciative Inquiry workshops. The workshop offerings are sponsored by our board members, the advisory board members and our associates and reflect their interests, practices and gifts. All workshop content is in alignment with social construction ideas and is grounded in its theory and practices. Register through the workshop presenters. To see a full listing, descriptions and registration information visit: www.taosinstitute.net. To see a list of the workshops, click on the link below.
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Added by Amy Lang on March 16, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Three Dialogue Mapping Workshops Coming Up
Three Dialogue Mapping Workshops, lead by Dr. Jeff Conklin, will be held this April 18-19 in Redwood City, California (SF Bay Area); May 23-24 in Birmingham, England; and July 18-19 in Washington, DC. This 2-day workshop is highly engaging and interactive and teaches the core skills of a new facilitation technique. As with any art form, dialogue mapping is challenging to describe but easy to comprehend experientially. This technique gets away from herding the group through a series of steps, focusing the participants instead on listening carefully, speaking clearly, and learning together about the issues and concerns they bring to the table. The facilitator/dialogue mapper engages the group with a map of their comments that he or she builds on the fly. The map is a shared display ... paper taped to the wall or software projected on a screen. The "secret sauce" of dialogue mapping is the use of the Issue Based Information System (IBIS) notation: Questions, Ideas, and Pros/Cons. The IBIS framework frees the group from tyranny of agreement. Conflicting information and points of view reside next to each other in the map, reflecting the diversity of the stakeholders and the complexity of a wicked problem. Although this is not a software workshop, reference will be made to Compendium, graphical hypertext software available free at http://www.compendiuminstitute.org . Dialogue Mapping is a powerful new tool for collaboration and sense making, and this workshop is fun, stimulating, and rewarding. For more information on the workshops, or to register, visit http://cognexus.org/id18.htm.
Added by Amy Lang on March 16, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Nonviolence and Social Change Training Coming Up in California
The African Diaspora Foundation, PeaceWeb Southwest & The Center for Prosperous Living?’s Academy for World Peace & World Prosperity are sponsoring a two-day training event on Nonviolence and Social Change. This event will be led by Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. Dr. LaFayette has been a Civil Rights Movement activist, minister, educator, lecturer, and is an authority on the strategy of nonviolent social change. Martin Luther King, Jr. appointed him to be the National Program Administrator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and National Coordinator of the 1968 Poor Peoples?’ Campaign. He co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. The training will take place April 24 & 25, 2006 from 9 am ?– 4 pm at the Aliso Creek Inn ?– 31106 South Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, California. The registration fee for the 2-day training is $230 (postmarked by April 5). After April 5, the registration rate increases to $260. For ministers, church & spiritual center board members, members of AGNT, ANTN, UCRS, RSI, EINEPS, Dept. of Peace, PeaceWeb, and other peace-focused organizations, they are offering discounts of $30. Group discounts are also available. To register, go to www.theadf.com. For more information, contact PeaceWeb Southwest: 520-991-6781 or or The Center for Prosperous Living: 949-715-0294
Added by Amy Lang on March 15, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Pioneers of Change Organizing Upcoming Conferences in South Africa and Canada
Pioneers of Change, a global learning network of young people in their 20's and 30's, will be organizing several events and trainings this spring and summer. These include:
- A three-day course on leadership "Presencing Collective Leadership for Profound Innovation and Change" in Johannesburg, South Africa from March 30-April 1, 2006;
- A training in "The Art of Hosting and Convening Conversations" in Johannesburg South Africa from May 15-17, 2006 and a special youth version of the training in Castle Borl, Slovenia from 6 - 9 July 2006.
- The Pioneers of Change Summer School in The Shire - Nova Scotia, Canada from August 19- 25, 2006.
To find out more about each event, including contact information, click on the link below, or visit the Pioneers of Change website: http://pioneersofchange.net/
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Added by Amy Lang on March 14, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Conference on Collective Wisdom Coming Up in Germany
Collective Wisdom:New Perspectives for Resolution in Small and Large Group Conflicts, Families, Social Groups and Politics is a conference taking place from Friday, 28 April 2006, 9:00 a.m. to Sunday 30 April 2006, 4:00 p.m. in Würzburg, Germany. The conference gathers together people from diverse fields to share their wisdom and build collective intelligence. The effects of collective intelligence are appearing as a topic world wide, in the natural sciences as well as the social sciences, under such names as: group-wisdom, cointelligence, transpersonal-creative knowledge or the zeropoint field. In various areas of enquiry, information from a shared field offers solutions that extend far beyond the best efforts of an individual and, at the same time, exercise a strong developmental influence on the individual. Among the presenters will be Robert Kenny, Rupert Sheldrake, Marshall Rosenberg, Eckhart Tolle, Tsultrim Allione, and individuals who have worked on resolving apparentlyintractable conflicts, including the Middle East, Rwanda and South Africa. Conference fees are 400 Euro for registration until 15 March 2006; 450 Euro for registration from 16 March 2006 to 28 April 2006 and a 50% reduction for students is available. The downloadable conference program can be found at www.congress06.collective-wisdom.org. The registration form is at www.congress06.collective-wisdom.org/kontakt_e.html. For more information or to register, contact: Dr. med. Albrecht Mahr ISAIL, FPA e. V.; Brigitta Mahr FAB e. V.; Mittlerer Dallenbergweg 37 a; 97082 Würzburg / GERMANY. Tel.: +49-(0)9 31-78 40 100
Fax: +49-(0)9 31-78 40 101 or Mobile: +49-(0)172-6 61 29 55. Email:
or
Internet information can be found at www.mahrsysteme.de.
Added by Amy Lang on March 14, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Sustained Dialogue Conference Coming Up April 7-9
This year's Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN) National Conference will be held at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ. The conference title this year is "Returning to our Roots". The SDCN National Conference is open to current SD practitioners and interested parties alike. It will feature workshops on Saturday and Sunday designed to introduce Sustained Dialogue as a process, help student leaders build programs on their campuses, help moderators lead their groups and more. It's also a great chance to meet, share, and network with students engaged in dialogue from all over the country! If you are a member of an SD organization at your school, make sure you've talked to your Student Leaders about attending the conference, and have them sign you up. If you're not currently involved with SD, but would like to learn more about our efforts, there's no better place than the conference to do just that?—feel free to contact us () for more information. All SD Alums are invited to join the conference. For conference, lodging, hotel, and transportation information, visit www.sdcampusnetwork.org/conference_information.htm.
Added by Amy Lang on March 13, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Open Space Practice Retreat Coming Up on Bowen Island, British Columbia
Chris Corrigan and Michael Herman will be offiring a three-day Open Space Practice Retreat at Rivendell, a beautiful retreat centre on Bowen Island, BC from April 18-20. The retreat will be an opportunity for deep and intensive learning about leadership and change. It is an opportunity for new and current practitioners, leaders, managers, consultants, facilitators, community activists and anyone else who wants to open more space for renewal, visioning, learning and productivity -- in business and community organizations. If you would like to know more, you can find more information at Chris Corrigan's Practice Retreat page: www.chriscorrigan.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.OSTPracticeRetreats. Contact Caitlin Frost for registration details at 604 947 9236 or email . Questions for Chris can be sent to : .
Added by Amy Lang on March 07, 2006??-??Link to this entry
White Privilege Conference Coming Up in Missouri
The Conference on White Privilege serves as a yearly opportunity to examine and explore issues of white privilege, diversity, multicultural education, multicultural leadership, social justice, race/racism, sexual orientation, gender relations, and other systems of privilege/oppression. It provides participants the opportunity to get honest about the type of society in which we live, and the advantages that accrue to some but not others. The conference offers a means to develop and sustain ongoing work to dismantle this system of white privilege, white supremacy, and oppression. The title of this year's conference is Understanding, Respecting and Connecting. The dates are April 26-29, 2006, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO. Check out the conference website (www.whiteprivilegeconference.com) for updated information about the keynote speakers, agenda and events for this conference.
Added by Amy Lang on March 01, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Perspectives Group to Offer IAP2 Certified Training
The Perspectives Group will offer a five-day IAP2 Certificate Program in Public Participation six times in 2006. This training is designed for professionals working in the fields of community development, nonprofit and government public services, and public understanding and outreach. It is also designed for industry communications and public affairs or public relations, advocacy and lobbying organizations, private and government groups, and any individual/organization required to deal with the public about complex or potentially contentious issues. Upon completion of the full week of training, participants will receive a certificate from IAP2, the world?’s leading association for public participation. Dates and locations are: Alexandria, VA April 3 ?– 7; July 10 ?– 14; September 18 ?– 22; December 4 ?– 8 and East Lansing, MI March 20-21 (Planning only). The full week of training is $1,475, or $295 per day. The Course is broken up into 3 sections: Planning for Effective Public Participation (two days), Effective Communication for Public Participation (one day), and Techniques for Public Participation (two days). Please note that the Planning course is a prerequisite to the Communications and Techniques courses. For additional information go to www.theperspectivesgroup.com/resource/trainingpro.html or feel free to contact Crystal Sarno or Kristie Bergeron-Hale at The Perspectives Group 703-837-1197 or .
Added by Amy Lang on February 25, 2006??-??Link to this entry
Peacebuilding and Mediation Training Coming Up in Ottawa
The Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation (CIIAN) in Ottawa will be offering several courses on Peacebuilding and Mediation this spring. Courses include "The Power Clinic for Mediators," "Negotiating Agreements In Conflict Settings" and "Violence Prevention: Theory-Informed Practice." Dr. Ben Hoffman, President of CIIAN, will lead all three courses. For more info or to register please visit the ?“Special Programs?” page on the CIIAN website at www.ciian.org/special1.shtml
Added by Amy Lang on January 20, 2006??-??Link to this entry
IAP2 Spring Training Schedule Released
IAP2 has realeased its Spring Training calendar with plenty of opportunities to learn public participation skills in trainings across North America and Australia. Courses include "Communications for Effective Public Participation," "Techniques for Effective Public Participation," and "Planning for Effective Public Participation. To see a full list of courses, dates and locations, click on the link below. Or visit IAP2's website: www. iap2.org.
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Added by Amy Lang on January 17, 2006??-??Link to this entry
National Teach-In Mini-Grants Available for Peer Teaching About American Issues
Youth for Justice (www.youthforjustice.org), a national law-related education consortium funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Department of Justice (ojjdp.ncjrs.org), is inviting one hundred middle and high school classes across the United States to teach others about the fundamental ideas of American democracy through the Third Annual National Teach-In celebration of National & Global Youth Service Day (www.ysa.org/nysd) and National Law Day. The first one hundred classes to register will receive a mini-grant of $200, which may be used to buy materials to conduct their teach-in, provide law-related education resources for their class or school library, host a teach-in conference with another school, or donate to a school club or charity. Participating classes must agree to select a lesson from the National Teach-In Web site they want to conduct for a teach-in between April 17 and May 7, 2006; report their activity to Youth for Justice; and write to their representative in Congress about their work. For complete program information, visit the National Teach-In Web site at www.crfc.org/ti_faq06.html. Applications for mini-grants are due by January 31, 2006.
Added by Amy Lang on December 17, 2005??-??Link to this entry
Perspectives Group Announces 2006 IAP2 Certificate Training Schedule
The Perspectives Group has just announced its International Association for Public Participation Certificate training in 2006. This course provides beginner through advanced practitioners with a broad-based learning experience covering all of the foundations of public participation. The Perspectives Group is one of the nation?’s foremost experts in public participation and works throughout the world to establish and run advisory boards, communicate risk and technical information, develop cooperative decision-making programs, and enhance organizational effectiveness through team-building, visioning, and effective communications. Douglas Sarno, an IAP2 Master Trainer, was part of the team of developers that designed the IAP2 Certificate Training Program. He has over 20 years of experience in planning and implementing public participation programs and has written and spoken widely on public participation issues. Doug has delivered the IAP2 training dozens of times, to over 1,000 students worldwide. The courses will be held on the following dates: Alexandria, Virginia - Douglas J. Sarno, trainer: January 30 - February 3; April 3 - 7; July 10 - 14; September 18 - 22; December 4 - 8. In East Lansing, Michigan - David Bidwell, trainer: February 23 ?– 24 (Planning) & March 20-22 (Communications & Techniques). For additional information, or to register for the training, please visit www.theperspectivesgroup.com/resource/trainingpro.html
Added by Amy Lang on December 02, 2005??-??Link to this entry
Corporation for Positive Change Announces 2006 Training Schedule
The Corporation for Positive Change (www.positivechange.org) is a premier consulting firm using Appreciative Inquiry for transformation and innovation in business, government, and nonprofit organizations around the world, with proven results in change management, leadership development, team building and culture transformation For detailed brochures on each workshop, please e-mail , or phone 505.751.1232 (x2). To see a list of the upcoming workshop dates and locations, click on the link below.
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Added by Amy Lang on December 02, 2005??-??Link to this entry
Box Tops for Education Launches Kids' Caucus on Education
Box Tops for Education (boxtops4education.com) has just announced the Box Tops for Education Kids' Caucus, an assembly of children, parents, education officials, and members of Congress who will meet to discuss solutions to improving parental involvement in education in the United States. The Kids' Caucus, to be held on Capitol Hill in April 2006, will provide an opportunity for those who deal with parental involvement in education every day -- parents, teachers and children -- to offer practical insight to education officials into how parental involvement in education can be improved. As part of the program, fifth- through eighth-grade students are invited to enter the Kids' Caucus Essay Contest. Box Tops for Education is asking students to tell them in 250-500 words, "If you and your parent or guardian were made principals for the day, how would you improve parental involvement at your school?" Box Tops for Education will select 52 finalists -- one from each state, one from the District of Columbia, and one from either a U.S. territory or U.S. military-based school located outside the U.S. -- to receive a $1,000 Parental Involvement in Education Grant to be used by their school to enhance and/or improve parental involvement in education efforts. Ten Grand Prize winners to go to Washington, D.C., where each student and his/her parent or guardian will have the opportunity to share their creative ideas for new parental involvement in education programs with members of Congress on Capitol Hill. Entries are due December 1, 2005. Visit the Box Tops for Education Web site for complete program information and essay contest entry procedures.
