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