Deliberation Falls Church City is working to revive and update the 18th century New England town meeting. Why? So that more people can have a chance to be heard, and a reason to listen. Efforts like ours are popping up across the nation, as part of a movement to foster deliberative democracy.
The first Deliberation Day is Saturday March 17, 2007 at Mary Ellen Henderson M.S., from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 pm. Participation is free to all city residents of high school age and above, but seating is limited. To attend, please register by completing this form. Upon registering you will receive a discussion guide on the topic, “Falls Church City: What Are We Becoming?” Or just click here to download a PDF copy of the guide now .
DFCCVA is led by a steering committee of Falls Church City community and civic organizations, which includes Citizens for A Better City, the Falls Church League of Women Voters and the Village Society. All other community organizations are invited to join a table at the event to distribute hand-outs, sign up members and advertise activities. Click here to send an e-mail reserving a space for your organization now. We want to help you increase civic engagement.
How will Deliberation Day work, and what can it do? Click below to see the continuation of this post.
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On Deliberation Day, participants will move through segments of small and large group discussions, to give people of varying interests and backgrounds an equal chance to have their questions answered and their opinions registered. George Mason High School students will be trained to serve as discussion leaders of the small groups. The large, plenary discussions will feature a panel of experts and officials, answering the small groups’ questions and addressing their concerns.
That’s how we deliberate. But what can Deliberation Day do?
In a deliberation individuals share their views, learn from one another and identify the values and goals around which community action can be forged. There are disagreements, to be sure. But deliberation gives individuals a chance to be heard, and a reason to listen, using well-tested techniques.
We start by introducing three approaches that represent the most common ways people express their concerns about What Are We Becoming? Those approaches are
Approach 1 - How Can Falls Church Be A More Welcoming City?
Approach 2 - Shouldn't We Prioritize?
Approach 3 - Nothing is Broken, So Why Fix It?
Each approach is put forward in the discussion guide, in the most favorable terms. Trade-offs and criticisms of each approach are listed as well.
On Deliberation Day, student discussion leaders from George Mason High School and adult volunteers will describe these approaches and then help deliberators pose questions and compare their views in small groups. Experts and officials will be on hand to respond to the whole gathering with facts and their own opinions. At the end, community organizations will offer the opportunity to learn and do more. Another deliberation will convene in six months.
This format has two key features. First, it starts the discussion at the three places where most people find themselves. Second, it alternates between small and large group discussions, providing everyone a chance to participate and to learn from each other.
This two-part method is the product of twenty-five years of research by the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forum Institute. Based on past Kettering and NIFI deliberations, you can expect that you and your fellow deliberators will learn what common ground -- which is the basis for community action -- might exist among people of otherwise divergent views. Deliberators will leave the event with a better appreciation of what lies behind points of view other than their own. A few people will even change their minds based on what they hear.
Most important, new approaches, perhaps better-informed and more widely shared, will emerge from the initial three. That is not to suggest the deliberation will deliver a consensus. Rather, it is a means to discover, through civic engagement, the possibilities for consensus and to make progress, often slowly, towards that end.
Looks like a great initiative! I wish you much success.
Have you visited the AmericaSpeaks' website? We'd be pleased to be included in your list of Resources on Deliberative Democracy. To get a sense of AmericaSpeaks' contribution to the revitalization of American democracy, see a video introduction to our work. http://www.americaspeaks.org/resources/video/toughissues_full.htm
Posted by: Susanna Haas Lyons | February 13, 2007 at 09:35 AM