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COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS
World Café - organizational change tool
The World Cafe is a natural & effective way to host meaningful conversations that awaken collective wisdom & engage collaborative action.
Launching InclusiveEfforts Through
Community Conversations
Erik Carter Ph.D. Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
The Work of Erik Carter
Inclusion
Peer Mediated Instruction
High School Transition/Post School Outcomes
Increasing the capacity and commitment of communities to meaningfully include
children and adults with significant disabilities, as well as engaging new
partners in these efforts. Here, he has focused his work on interventions that engage new partners (e.g., employers,
parents, community leaders, congregations) in community change
efforts.
= Community Conversations in action
• The LINK Program• Parents Raising Taxpayers• Building Your Future
Crafting a new view• “ Instead of pouring knowledge into
people's heads, we need to help them grind a new set of glasses, so they can see the world in a new way. That involves challenging the implicit assumptions that have shaped the way people have historically looked at things..”
˜ John Seeley Brown
Challenges…
Not an out of the box thinker
It is hard to listen when you don’t have a sense of understanding the issue
Community Conversation:
What’s It All About?…it is a way to bring a diverse set of
community members together to collectively brainstorm strategies and resources that can be used to
address a challenge facing the Community.
Talking Heads
There is no power for change greater than
a community discovering what it
cares about. Margaret Wheatley; writer and management consultant who
studies organizational behavior
1. All communities possess unique opportunities, connections, resources and relationships
2. Members within each community are the experts on the challenges that
are most pressing, the solutions, strategies that will work best, and the most effective ways to enlist others in support of change3. Any group of community members who come together no
matter how well connected an individual is – will learn of new resources, ideas by interacting with others who share different view points and life experiences4. Real change that lasts is most likely to come when ideas are
based on locally-feasible strategies and approaches
Core Principles:4
1. Invite a diverse group of people2. Choose a few questions to guide the conversation 3. Jot down ideas as they emerge
Hosting a Community Conversation? It’s as Easy as …
3-4 months before
Organize your planning team
2 months Find your venue, choose date and time of eventDecide on food, decorating, choose questions
6 weeks Invite participants – personal invitations, e-invites, flyers, news release, poster, phone contacts, social media announcements
2-4 weeks Gather all needed materials, decorations, placemats, markers, pens, nametags, etc.
1 week Visit and the venue for final check. Make sure any technology you plan to use functions and the planned layout will work in the space
The event Give yourself plenty of time to arrive, set up, and problem solve any glitches that may occur
1-7 days after Follow up with participants through e-mail, thanking them for attending, and sharing information gathered during the harvest and from table host notes.
2 weeks Follow up with any participant who offered to assist with specific ideas of initiative
Where do we hold the meeting?• FREE
• Welcoming-Inviting-Functional
• Comfortable• Informal• Community Centers/public
rooms at the library/ coffee shops with a meeting room
Choosing Questions…• Simple and clear• Thought provoking• Generate energy• Surface unconscious assumptions• Focus inquiry• Open new possibilities
Questions function as open-handed invitations
to creativity,calling forth that which
doesn’t yet exist. Marilee
Goldberg
The ConversationEncourage creative communication
• Share thinking and experience• Encourage diverse ideas and perspectives• Listen to understand• Expect disagreement• Connect ideas• Listen together for patterns, insights and deeper questions
Café EtiquetteFocus on what mattersContribute your thinkingSpeak your mind and heartListen to understandLink and Connect ideasListen together for insights and deeper questionsPlay, Doodle, Draw writing on placemats & tablecloths is encouraged!!Have FUN!!
After the ConversationAlthough hosting the initial Community Conversation is significant it is really just a spring board to gain long term community momentum.
Resources
• Launching Inclusive Efforts Through Community Conversations http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/cedd/pdfs/products/community/LaunchingInclusiveEfforts.pdf
• A Memphis Community Conversation http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/tennesseeworks/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/MemphisCCBrief.pdf
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