BREAKOUT REPORT

Session 2: March 2, 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. How can information be shared in a meaningful way? 
2. What are some best practices of how and when we communicate to create action and behavior change? 
3. When do we move from the information stage to the action stage? Is there a tipping point? What platforms do we use? 
4. Who has some information that can help with individual needs? 
5. How do we get started in a smaller community foundation with minimal resources? 
6. What happens after a community foundation steps out in a leadership role? How do you determine what happens next – from “noise” to action plans – and really move the collective will? 
7. How do we ensure that we have good information? When and how does that get out properly and used? 

Seven infrastructure components 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. 

Build public consensus.

As a nation we do not have moments that give us national narrative. Conventional wisdom says that you don’t want to engage the public; they don’t have the information, time or will and would make a “me”-oriented decision, and decision makers will not listen anyway.

If, however, you put your consensus-building project together well:

1. Radical opinions on both sides drop off within 40-45 minutes. This is a core truth about Americans: we move to the center and we want to solve problems. 
2. If there is enough information and time, people want to come to a collective decision that serves the public interest.  
3. People will stay engaged.  
4. Decision makers will listen, but they have to be involved early in the process. Have public meetings and invite the officials in at the front end to have them take ownership. 

It seems like the hardest part is to get everyone in the room.

• Use existing analysis from marketing firms about what media reaches what audience. 
• Use neighborhood newspapers; in Washington, D.C. alone there are 68 local newspapers. 
• Use human interest stories that feature people whom the neighborhood trusts. 
• Use drive-time radio with the same analytics: Who is most trusted? 
• Use proven community organizers; they are the people who know those neighborhoods.  
• Think about churches, NAACP, unions, etc., and low-power community radio stations. 
• Use existing events. 
• Use mobile phones as a way to inform, with an invitation to participate. 

Share things that you have discovered that make the information you are sharing meaningful.

• Produce trends report. This is public information that already exists; you just need to analyze it.  
• Change the way that you write to address why something  matters to the readers and their family. Include information about what the reader do about it. 
• Consider if we would build out the media this way if we had the opportunity to do so. 

Examples:

• Foundation for the Carolinas representative asked how we can leverage stimulus money with private dollars. They were told no by government officials, that there was no role for the community foundation. The foundation then mapped the dollars coming in and looked at low-wealth individuals and what was really required to support an individual. They then mapped the stimulus dollars and how they were being directed to help that individual. 
• Visualize information in new ways. 
• Use mind-mapping software. 
• Watch 1,000 pennies video on youtube.com. 
• Remember that data visualization is quantitative data and you need qualitative words to understand the whole picture. 
• Check out Edward Tufte’s data visualization workshops (EdwardTufte.com). 
• Good graphics help you rise above the noise. 

Is there a place where we know that action and behavior change?

Meetup.com cites that people are anxious about getting together with folks they don’t know – but four times seems to be a tipping point. Return-attendance rates rapidly increase after four.

Resources:

• Tallahassee consulting group that ran successful binge-drinking prevention campaign 
• Spitfire Strategies helps groups identify what their audience needs to hear to move to action 

How do you get started?

• New York Trust project seeks to reduce gun violence in seven neighborhoods, using Knight grant to advance the existing program goal. Think about projects that can advance institutional goals. 
• Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque: Their most successful programs are the ones where they went out and built partnerships first. 
• Park City Foundation leveraged partnerships and brought everyone into a room to develop common goals. 

Leave with this key leadership skill: Listen with your heart and your mind.