BREAKOUT REPORTS

Session One: March 1, 2010

• Facilitator: Carolyn Lukensmeyer, AmericaSpeaks
• Scribe: Nancy Jones, Community Foundation of Broward County

How do you move from information to action?

The group defined for itself what it wanted to accomplish out of the session.  Each of the small groups reported back the following:

1. We need to define the importance of sharing information in our community.  

2. What is the role of a community foundation? Are we neutral? Is what we are doing a reflection of our values? 

3. How do we ensure that all the voices are heard and then build consensus around those voices? 

4. We are looking forward to the sharing of ideas of award-winning projects and stealing other ideas from the group. 

5. While there is lots of information available, how do we move people to public judgment together? 

6. How do we bridge the digital divide between the poor, seniors and use those tools to achieve consensus? 

Seven infrastructure components are necessary to develop public consensus.

1. Legislative: The United States has this framework developed and practiced for years, thanks to our founding fathers. Of note to this group should be the recent Citizens United U.S. Supreme decision, which removes corporate campaign contribution caps. 

2. Physical: Communities need to have places where everyone feels safe. These places need to be accessible and neutral. 

3. Technological: This is affected by the way that we are socially organized. We need to recognize that there is a digital divide and where that divide is. The emerging democracies have done this well – in particular Estonia, where 97 percent of their residents have broadband access at home and 84 percent have been trained in technology literacy. 

4. Human: We need a cadre of trained facilitators in every community. Good moderation and facilitation skills are necessary. It can’t be just one person, but it can be one to train the next person and build the human structure. 

5. Organizational: Community foundations fill this need. 

6. Media: The free flow of information is critical to a democracy. That is why we are here at this conference to help figure out this component. 

7. Educational: Perhaps this is where we fail most as a country. Civics is essentially left out of curricula today. 

How can you best handle/achieve your results?

Key points included that people need to be able to articulate what they think about an issue – and that this is true whether on the Internet or in person. To come to shared public judgment, people need to know that they have a stable government behind them and their decisions. And for it to be “shared,” people need to have a conversation with others who think differently than they do about the issue.

How do you connect education infrastructure with broadband, etc., and the role that government plays?

• The White House is accomplishing this through its open government initiative, including the FCC and a sustainable neighborhoods project that is being led by HUD and includes HHS, DOT and DOE.

• Community foundations need to pay attention to this when they are reaching out to online audiences primarily. 

What are the best ways to do outreach?

• Solicit the help of the bonafide community organizers in your community.

• Remember that the only way people join a community process is because someone they trust (who looks like them) invites them. 

• Sort data and create a theme before you send out the invitation to contribute. What is the structure and what are you going to do with the data once you have it?

  • Trust is broken of institutions. 

  • Get the help that you need with technical expertise and what tools are available, especially digital. 

What are the major challenges faced by groups?

• People have no trust of the process. 

• Conventional wisdom is that citizens will not come without an invitation. 

• People feel that the issues are complex and that they can’t help. 

• People suffer from NIMBY and are most concerned about what is good for them and their family. 

• People fear that decision-makers will not listen. 

Lukensmeyer urged the group to think about this truth that she has learned from her experience – most human beings have the capacity to come from the lowest level motivation (NIMBY, protect my job, family, etc.) to the highest level purpose when they:

• Feel safe 

• Believe that they will be listened to 

• Feel that someone “is home” once we have this discussion 

• Have and understand the information 

• Have confidence that the decisions that are made will be acted on 

One of the most extraordinary pieces of social capital in the U.S. is that the vast majority of people still feel responsible for the common good.  It is proven that in just 45 minutes of a group process that has the above characteristics, the radical solutions on both ends fall off the table.

What are some things that you learned that you know can be replicated in another community?

• Regional Information Initiative, San Diego: They learned that it was important to allow for grantees to have time to plan and work collaboratively. Understand that it takes time and allow for that time. 
• Act for Alexandria: They learned that they had to make the case for why this is important to every constituency; they had buy-in before they went to next step. 
• Columbia, S.C. is using college students to teach seniors how to use technology. An interesting aspect is what seniors are teaching the young people in return. The lesson: Celebrate unintended results.  

What can the role of community foundations play in convening?

• When another entity, like a community foundation, takes the lead on planning public meetings, it changes the dynamic of us v. them or constituents v. officials. 
• Community foundations can provide a critical link between public will and political will. 

Ideas

• Zimbabwe PBX phone system: Dial 1 to get this, dial 2 to get that – this is one award winner in how they are distributing news. 
• Princeton developed a registry for retirees to get involved in the community; the newspaper gives free ads, someone else gives free billboards, etc. 
• NJ Spotlight.com features state news and allows people to discuss what problems exist. It’s moderated so that it is not an us v. them conversation.  
• Use local extension services as a source of information and assistance.