The Power of Spoken Word

By Steve Brigham

We have facilitated hundreds of public meetings over the past 18 years. All are memorable in their own right, but some have special moments that are unforgettable.

At our Creating Community Solutions DC meeting on Saturday, October 12th, we facilitated a day-long meeting for 400 participants on mental health in the District. We had a fantastic turnout, literally standing room only, and particularly of youth aged 15-24, with more than 120 participating.

Can a big investment in news media help bring back the center?

By Daniel Clark

Wow.  What a week.  The federal government shutdown is over and the trains this morning into D.C. were pretty crowded again.  This latest round of dysfunctional governing and threatened global financial crisis might end up being just another act in this unfortunate drama surrounding the federal budget and economic health of the world’s largest economy.

Preparing to Connect

By Bob Stains, Public Conversations Project

When I think about things I’ve said in my life that I regret, I notice some common threads. First, these regrettable utterances almost always arise from some kind of conflict over something I care about. The more intensely I care, the higher the conversational stakes, the more likely it is I’ll say something I regret.

Report Back on Mental Health in Kansas City

By Daniel Clark

On Saturday, September 21, the Creating Community Solutions effort of the National Dialogue on Mental Health hosted a successful all-day town meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. The meeting was part of the collaborative effort lead by the National Institute for Civil Discourse. It was organized and managed by a veteran of dialogue and deliberation, Jen Wilding, with the support of a small but dedicated team and a large and diverse planning committee.

Collaborating on Deliberation

By Steve Brigham

For the last eight months, it has been my privilege to participate with a gracious, talented, and veteran team on Creating Community Solutions, a part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health that was initiated by President Obama, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Exploring E-Petitions

By Elana Goldstein

Over the past two years, AmericaSpeaks has been working with funds from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to explore issues related to open government. The grant culminated at the beginning of the summer with the release of “Government Sponsored E-Petitions: A Guide for Implementation and Development,” a paper focused on electronic petitioning and local government.

Sacramento Breaks Down Mental Health Barriers

By Steve Brigham

The most challenging conversations are often the most rewarding. On July 20th, a highly diverse audience with a large contingent of youth came together in Sacramento, California to talk about a difficult topic: mental health and mental illness. The event was organized by Creating Community Solutions and facilitated by AmericaSpeaks.

Community Outreach at the Ward 7 Economic Development Summit

By Alex Minore

I firmly believe that grassroots community outreach is vital to a well-functioning democratic system. Public participation at a local level is a powerful force that when tapped into, can generate change like no other. Grassroots outreach is the difficult but necessary process that is key to unlocking the potential power of a community to affect change on its own terms.

Reflections on my first AmericaSpeaks Town Meeting

By Alex Minore

I participated in my first ever AmericaSpeaks event, the Prince George’s County 2035 Town Meeting, on Saturday, June 15th, at the Riggs Alumni Center at the University of Maryland in College Park. The sun was shining, the temperature not too hot – overall a wonderful day for an AmericaSpeaks event. My job was area facilitator, which means I was partnered with 12 table facilitators to ensure everything went smoothly. If any of the table facilitators in my area had questions or problems, I was there to help and keep the event going.

Creating Community Solutions

By Steve Brigham

AmericaSpeaks is excited to announce our involvement in Creating Community Solutions, which is part of the National Dialogue on Mental Health announced by President Obama on Monday, June 3, 2013. We are working with other national deliberative democracy partners: the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, Everyday Democracy, National Issues Forums Institute, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation and National Institute for Civil Discourse, to increase understanding and awareness of mental health by holding community conversations in cities all across the country.