As always, a special thanks to everyone who submitted items for this month's eBulletin. Please note there are new items at the Deliberative Democracy Blog (http://www.deliberative-democracy.net/blog/), including an update on Stanford University's deliberative demcracy efforts by Michael Weiksner and some thoughts on citizen participation in the Unified New Orleans Plan by Peter Levine. Would you like to contribute to the DDC blog? email editor@deliberative-democracy.net.

Also, please help us expand our circulation and the visibility of public deliberation throughout the world: encourage your colleagues and friends in you network to subscribe: http://www.deliberative-democracy.net/ebulletin/

Best regards,

lars
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lars hasselblad torres
editor, ddc ebulletin

1 | [Resource] Three New Guides from the Policy Consensus Institute
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[By way of the EPA's Collaboration Network News] Policy Consensus Institute has issued three new, practical guides which are:

- Getting The Most Out of Public Hearings: Ideas To Improve Public Involvement: This pamphlet explores these questions and offers practical ideas to maximize the effectiveness of public hearings. It is not a sequential “how-to" list of steps for planning and holding public hearings. It is an inventory of ideas for improving public involvement, each of which may be useful for some public hearings.

- Planning Public Forums: Questions to Guide Local Officials: This pamphlet provides practical steps to help local leaders build their capacity to use public forums effectively.

- Civic Engagement: A Guide for Communities: This guide, published by Arlington Forum, makes the case that civic engagement is a healthy way to solve problems by using the metaphor of civic engagement as a practice that a community does to improve its health. The authors, Palma J. Strand and Melinda D. Patrician, co-founded the Arlington Forum, a local initiative of the Civic Organizing Foundation, in 1999.

The three guides can be found at http://www.policyconsensus.org in the February 2007 Newsletter.

2 | GSA's USA Services Seeks Articles on Ways eGov Is Strengthening Democracy
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[By way of Democracies Online News Wire (DoWire)] The next edition of the USA Services Intergovernmental Solutions newsletter will look at how e-government is changing society and strengthening democracy. E-government depends on communications technologies and the Internet to encourage citizen participation in government by making government seamless, transparent and accessible. They are seeking articles that share e-democracy lessons, projects and tools, particularly between government and its citizens and between citizens themselves in the following (among other) areas:

- Designing technology to constructively encourage deliberation by citizens on public issues

- Balancing citizen expectations and government requirements

- Electronic citizen juries Implementing a citizen based deliberative process

- Participatory Budgeting

Articles should be 1,000 words or less and must be received by Friday, June 1, 2007. Please include the author's name, title, organization, telephone number, and e-mail address with your submission. If you would like to highlight your experience strengthening democracy through e-government in the upcoming Intergovernmental Newsletter, contact Lisa Nelson at lisa.nelson@gsa.gov or (202) 208-2530.

3 | New Coalition Seeks Stories Around Power of DIalogue and Deliberation
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[By way of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation] NCDD is working with the Deliberative Democracy Consortium to collect stories for an exciting new project called the November 5th Coalition. The November 5th Coalition (www.novemberfifth.org) is dedicated to using the 2008 presidential election as an opportunity to mobilize the energies and talents of ordinary citizens to address our challenges through national dialogue and deliberation. The campaign can be a watershed, where citizens reclaim their standing as partners of a government that is truly "of, by, and for the people." They'd like to share your "citizen-centered" stories on the November 5th website. If you're not sure whether your stories or case studies are right for the initiative (perhaps they're about a private conflict being resolved rather than a public problem) - send them anyway so they can share them on the NCDD website. You can look over the case studies and stories they've already collected (yours may be there already!) at http://www.thataway.org/exchange/meta_categories.php?mcid=19&last_selection=meta_category and http://www.thataway.org/exchange/resources.php?action=view&rid=2370.

Please limit your description to 150 words, and include:

- how many people were involved

- how the project fostered dialogue, decision-making, and action by citizens

- how the effort welcomed a range of views and opinions

- what kinds of outcomes resulted from the process

- any other features you think were critical or unique

4 | William Schambra on Nonprofits, Foundations, and the Future of American Democracy
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"No matter how otherwise busy Americans are, no matter how wrapped up in business or family or home projects, they still have a fundamental yearning to run their own public lives according to their own values" says William Schambra, director of Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. "It may mean putting aside their most urgent private affairs, sitting on committees with people they may not care for all that much, and suffering through meetings that often seem to go on forever with nothing much to show for it at the end. But in the final analysis, Americans still evidence a compelling urge to be democratic citizens -- to govern themselves not just by voting every now and then for some distant officeholder, but by taking into their own hands the management of their own public affairs."

Read the full text of the speech on the DDC blog: http://www.deliberative-democracy.net/blog/?p=207

5 | Public Agenda Launches New Center to Advance Public Engagement
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With the creation of its new Center for Advances in Public Engagement the public interest research firm Public Agenda seeks to position itself at the forefront of efforts to research, develop and disseminate new insights and best practices that help build the field's expertise and effectiveness. In its announcement, the Center stated that it "aims to take a leading role in a field dedicated to creating new and better ways for citizens to confront pressing public problems." CAPE will work to advance three strands of work: public engagement research to conduct and disseminate studies that clarify the dynamics and impacts of specific public engagement practices; theory-building to promote greater interplay between researchers and practitioners to improve understanding of how public deliberation works and how it can work better; and digital engagement to explore internet-based tools and their application to engaging citizens in public deliberation and problem-solving. Start-up support for CAPE is being provided by W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund research support from the Kettering Foundation.

For more information please contact Alison Kadlec on 212-686-6610 or email akadlec@publicagenda.org.

6 | Fielding Graduate University's Certificate Program in Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement
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The Fielding Graduate University is offering its fourth innovative certificate course and our second year of offering the program in partnership with the University of Sydney, Australia. This distinctive program focuses on recent innovations in dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement featuring faculty who have played key roles in developing these approaches. It strives for the development of "virtuosity" in our skills in the practice of dialogue and deliberation. Designed and delivered in collaboration with The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, the Kettering Foundation, and the Public Dialogue Consortium, it features an outstanding core faculty of scholar-practitioners, (Hal Saunders, Barnett Pearce, Phil Stewart, Keith Melville, Jan Elliott, Lyn Carson), it also features guests in Phone Dialogues who are widely recognized scholars and innovative practitioners. Prior programs have featured guests such as Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Juanita Brown, Martha McCoy, Bob Stains, Shawn Spano, Joe Peters, Janette Hartz-Karp and Frank Barrett.

Learn with others who share your energy and enthusiasm for this work. Learn with others from different cultural backgrounds and different countries. Participants from several countries will learn together online, on the phone and will participate in face to face workshops in either the US or Australia. Please visit http://www.fielding.edu/hod/ce/dialog/index.html for more information. Join an information teleconference and conversation with core faculty May 16 @ 5 pm Eastern/New York time. To register for the call contact Nathan Lewin Nlewin@fielding.edu.

7 | [Resource] Kettering Foundation Publishes History of the Jane Addams School
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"Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School for Democracy" is a new book from the Kettering Foundation that captures the school's far-reaching mission of educating new citizens and strengthening ties among cultural groups in St. Paul, MInnesota. Edited by Nan Kari and Nan Skelton, "Voices of Hope" features more than 20 essays covering a variety of topics, including the founding of the school and its important role in providing a space for democratic work. The Jane Addams School for Democracy is not a public school in the commonly understood sense of the word, nor is it a stand-alone "bricks-and-mortar" institution. It shares space with Humboldt High School in the West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. There are no formal classes at the Jane Addams School. Instead, students and staff organize in learning circles and work together in pairs, usually mixing English speakers with Hmong-, Spanish- or Somali-speaking people. There is no charge to attend, and there are no fixed courses. Individuals participate as long as they wish.

More information, including excerpts and ordering instructions, is available at http://www.kettering.org/readingroom/pub_detail.aspx?pubID=&catID=2&itemID=2611

8 | Report Outlines "Recipes" for New Governance Mechanisms
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In July, 2006 the non-profit organization AmericaSpeaks convened, “Designing 21st Century Governance Mechanisms," an interdisciplinary gathering of practitioners and scholars representing a wide range of institutions and perspectives, from seasoned institutional leaders to scholars at the forefront of their respective fields. The conference was conceived around three purposes: Design a new national governance mechanism(s) in the U.S.; identify the practical path(s) to institutionalization; and explore the transformation of our democratic culture

An international group of leaders participated in a series of conversations over three days that focused on the design of participatory governance mechanisms in the United States that would serve at the national level to increase the influence of diverse groups of citizens in democratic affairs. The intent of the gathering was to develop at least one blueprint for an institution or mechanism that would ensure that citizens have a more direct voice in the decisions they care most about at the national level. By the end of our three days together fi ve unique and concrete proposals were generated, each describing what such a mechanism could look like and how it would function within American democratic life. Each mechanism was grounded in the practical experiences of participatory governance that were shared during discussion, as well as theories of some of the leading thinkers in deliberative theory.

Learn more about the mechanisms and download a copy of the report here: http://www.americaspeaks.org/lab/field/ngm/

9 | Updates on the The Dialogue Project Public Art: Book and Documentary
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The Dialogue Project book features over 2,000 inspirational & motivational quotations found on the Dialogue Project public art screens. The book also provides and overview of the creation of Dialogue, full color photo pages of each outdoor public installation of this remarkable effort - including San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Moab and 11 other cities. Inside can also be found essays on freedom of expression and dialogue, national tour journals and reprints of each of the 18 original quotation screens.

A documentary film on the Dialogue Project is in the final stages of editing and music scoring and should reach completion date of September 1st, 2007. A film release is being scheduled 2008. For more information about the Dialogue project, visit http://www.dialogueproject.net/

10 | Cooptools Reviews Three Valued Dialogue and Deliberation Resources
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"The Community Planning Handbook," "The Deliberative Democracy Handbook" and "The Change Handbook" have all been recently reviewed by Jason Diceman, founder of Coop Tools. Jason has been consulting on systems for participatory democracy since 1999. His research originated in the academic study of media and public discourse technology and has evolved to focus on practical decision-making methods for large co-operative organizations and effective collaborative governance. Jason is best known for inventing the Advanced Dotmocracy process and providing easy to use and affordable web solutions for large co-operatives and non-government organizations.

Access the book reviews at: http://cooptools.blogspot.com/search/label/bookreview

11 | Stanford University Advances Deliberative Democracy in 2007
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Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy (cdd.stanford.edu) has recently released results from several interesting Deliberative Polls from around the world. Three recent highlights are:

* Deliberating about cultural divisions in Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, a representative sample of parents came together to deliberate on the future of education in a country where a population decline threatens to force integration of Protestants and Catholic schools.

http://cdd.stanford.edu/polls/nireland/2007/omagh-report.pdf

* Deliberating about electoral politics In Greece. A Deliberative Polling sponsored by a major political party empowered citizens to select their candidate for mayor of Marousi.

http://cdd.stanford.edu/polls/greece/index.html

* Deliberative Polling endorsed by Bulgarian Prime Minister In Bulgaria. The Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev endorsed the results of a Deliberative Poll and called for more deliberative events to resolve divisive issues: "The National Deliberative Poll is something brand new for Bulgarian society and in Bulgarian politics. It is very important to implement this method to get public support for other crucial or divisive issues in Bulgarian society."

http://cdd.stanford.edu/polls/bulgaria/2007/bulgaria-results.pdf

The CDP has also carried out Deliberative Polls in Australia, Italy and the United States. Complete update available online: http://cdd.stanford.edu/news/index.html

12 | [Resource] New Book: Democratic Dilemmas: Joint Work, Education Politics, and Community
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Julie A. Marsh, a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, has just written "Democratic Dilemmas," available from SUNY Press. Drawing on three years of fi eld research and extensive theoretical and empirical literature, Democratic Dilemmas chronicles the day-to-day efforts of educators and lay-persons working together to advance student learning in two California school districts. Julie A. Marsh reveals how power, values, organizational climates, and trust played key roles in these two districts achieving vastly different results. In one district, parents, citizens, teachers, and administrators effectively developed and implemented districtwide improvement strategies; in the other, community and district leaders unsuccessfully attempted to improve systemwide accountability through dialogue. The book highlights the inherent tensions of deliberative democracy, competing notions of representation, limitations of current conceptions of educational accountability, and the foundational importance of trust to democracy and education reform. It further provides a framework for improving community-educator collaboration and lessons for policy and practice.

13 | Third Annual Youth and Democracy Forum
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On Saturday, April 28, DemocracyWorks will host a public forum for high school students, parents, educators and community activtists interested in learning more about opportunities to engage young people in our communities. Participants will have the opportunity to speak with representatives of youth based agencies and collect information at the “Civic Mall" informational tables. Featured Guests are Carlos Saavedra, community leader in East Boston, MA and coordinator of the Student Immigrant Movement (SIM); and Spank B.U.D.A., host of a top-ranked show on Power 104.1.

For more information visit: http://www.democracyworksct.org/

14 | New Book: A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy
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In recent years there has been a renewed interest in American pragmatism. In political philosophy, the revival of pragmatism has led to a new appreciation for the democratic theory of John Dewey. In this book, Robert B. Talisse advances a series of pragmatic arguments against Deweyan democracy. Particularly, Talisse argues that Deweyan democracy cannot adequately recognize pluralism, the fact that intelligent, sincere, and well-intentioned persons can disagree sharply and reasonably over moral ideals. Drawing upon the epistemology of the founder of pragmatism, Charles S. Peirce, Talisse develops a conception of democracy that is anti-Deweyan but nonetheless pragmatist. Talisse then brings the Peircean view into critical conversation with contemporary developments in democratic theory, including deliberative democracy, Rawlsian political liberalism, and Richard Posner's democratic realism. The result is a new pragmatist option in democratic theory.

For more information and to order the book visit http://www.routledge.com

15 | The Recommendation Is In: Update on Ontario's Citizen Assembly
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[From citizenassembly.gov.on.ca] After months of learning, consulting and deliberating, the province of Ontario, Canada's first Citizens' Assembly decided to recommend a new electoral system for Ontario: Mixed Member Proportional. The Assembly worked to identify the principles we value most in an electoral system and weighed the options accordingly. This process gave citizens a direct voice in determining the options we have when we vote and how our votes are translated into seats for Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). This recommendation carries real weight.

Referendum legislation was introduced to enable Ontarians to have their say and the work of the Assembly is nearly done: a final report is due to the government on May 15, 2007. The government will hold a referendum in conjunction with the next provincial election in October 2007 so that all voters can decide whether to accept the Assembly's recommendation for a Mixed Member Proportional voting system. To learn more about this extraordinary process visit: http://www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca/en-CA/home%20page.aspx

16 | Port Phillip Speaks
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[From portphillip.vic.gov.au] On Saturday 28 April, the City of Port Phillip in Western Australia hosted Port Phillip Speaks Community Summit at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC). Using the "21st Century Town Meeting" process developed by the organization AmericaSpeaks, participants at the large-scale forum used a combination of carefully designed discussion materials and technology their conversations. The aim of the meeting - which attracted 750 residents of Port Phillip and the surrounding area - was to develop a community-owned vision for the next ten years and produce the 2007-2017 Community Plan. Issues for discussion were: the impact of development; transport and parking; community services; open spaces, parks and beaches; climate change; community spirit.

As follow-up, the City Council is initiating a program of Neighbourhood Forums for 2007, scheduled to start two weeks after the summit, from Tuesday, 15 May to Wednesday, 23 May 2007, to ensure that timely neighbourhood discussions about the next steps in implementing the Community Plan can take place.

Learn more about the process at: http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/port_phillip_speaks.html

17 | CVD Promotes Intergenerational Approach to Community Deliberation
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One hundred twenty-five Falls Church City residents braved an icy parking lot and frigid temperatures in mid-March 2007 to deliberate together on the future of this small independent city ten miles outside of Washington, D.C. Three Falls Church community organizations sponsored Deliberation Day, during which attendees divided into eleven roundtable discussions led by local high school juniors and adult volunteers on the topic “Falls Church City: What Are We Becoming?" A team of high school sophomores served as recorders for the morning's deliberations. In response to more than 80 proposals for actions that individuals, groups and government need to take that were gleaned at the event, its organizers recently conducted an online survey to help prioritize those proposals, the findings of which will be announced during April 2007.

The Center for Voter Deliberation (www.voterdeliberation.org), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, provided technical support to Deliberation Day free of charge--including training for student discussion leaders. The involvement of both students and adults in community deliberations is a key component of the center's intergenerational approach. CVD is a member of the National Issues Forum network (www.nifi.org) and a grantee of the Kettering Foundation (www.Kettering.org), a leader for over twenty-five years in deliberative democracy research. CVD also conducts research on various subjects related to community deliberation; in this vein it is presently conducting research on the attributes of effective youth facilitation and on the relationship between deliberative forums and community politics. For more information about CVD, contact Bill Corbett at bill@voterdeliberation.org or Beth Offenbacker at beth@voterdeliberation.org.

18 | International Journal of Public Participation Available Online
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The inaugural edition of the 'IJP2' - available online - contains an interesting selection of articles, among them 'Democracy at the Core: Recalling Participation's Raison d'Etre' by Michael Briand; 'Pro-social Reasoning in Deliberative Policy Choices' by Peter Muhlberger; 'Status and Participation: A Focus on Process Design in Cambodian Committees by Beth Rushton; and 'Public Participation as Mediated Negotiation: Entangled Promises and Practices' by John Forester.

The IJP2 is an on-line, multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of information among researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, and citizens about public participation and its impact around the world. It has been created with the specific intention of bridging the arenas of research and practise within the field of public participation. The express purpose of the IJP2 is '... to meet the needs of IAP2 members and others having an interest in improving the theory and practise of public participation', which the IAP2 defines as 'citizen participation in decision-making processes that affect the public in whole or in part'.

Access the first edition of the IJP2 at: http://www.iap2.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=180