[Vision2020] Public Conversations Project ALSO Study Circles

[Linda Pall]

Dear Melynda and All,

There is another very good (and FREE) source called Study Circles (website:
www.studycircles.org).

Study Circles has been going for more than a decade and has worked with
community in every part of the US to help grassroots democracy work. They
have tackled important community issues from race relations to growth to
education to medical services and access. Study Circles are small group
community discussions, facilitated by trained community members. When a
community commits to organizing study circles, the national group provides
lots of process-oriented information and assistance: the substance of what
is discussed and the outcomes are all the product of the community.

Take a look at the website. The Portsmouth, New Hampshire, information is
very helpful. Kuna, Idaho, has done a wonderful job with Study Circles... I
think Payette is getting started as I write. It's a powerful vehicle for
community building and problem solving.

I hope we can get several important Moscow sponsors for this sort of
broad-based community dialogue, maybe on the subject of growth. It would be
ideal to have the newspaper, the Univeristy, the City and maybe the hospital
as co-sponsors...

All the best,

Linda




----- Original Message -----
From: "Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey@msn.com>
To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 11:40 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Public Conversations Project


> I've been working in my day job with an organization called The Public
> Conversations Project, and I think they have a perspective which might be
> useful in our current context:
>
> PCP provides training and resources for facilitators who convene
> carefully-planned small group conversations in communities facing
> ideological division--among pro-choice and pro-life activists, for
example.
> It's a model that's worked well in some very volatile situations.
>
> They say about themselves:
>
> "We design and facilitate conversations in which people who have become
> destructively divided by their differences can:
>
> "deliberately avoid repeating their habitual, unproductive ways of
relating
> and, instead
>
> "develop new modes of communicating that lead to mutual understanding,
> respect and trust.
>
> "Why? So that.
>
> "their differences can be stated constructively and truly heard by people
of
> other perspectives, perhaps for the first time;
>
> "their own reflection on the issue can be enriched by other perspectives,
> aspects of which they may find surprisingly resonant with their own
> experiences and values;
>
> "their common concerns can be discovered, appreciated, and-if the
> participants wish-used as a basis for collaboration and problem-solving;
and
>
> "the toll of the conflict-on resources, on individuals, organizations, and
> society-can be decreased."
>
> www.publicconversations.org
>
> I encourage anyone who might be interested to take a look at the
> website--there's all kinds of information there.  If there's some
agreement
> that this approach might be a useful one, I'd be happy to share what I
know
> and my materials, and to collaborate with others in developing some
> dialogues with the goals of moving beyond stereotypes and polarization,
and
> developing more constructive ways of communicating and relating.
>
> Melynda Huskey
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Winterize your home with tips from MSN House & Home.
> http://special.msn.com/home/warmhome.armx
>
> _____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
>