Recently, the New York Public Library launched a new pilot series in select library branches across three boroughs. Community Conversations encourages open dialogue where everyone’s voice can be heard.Â
When you, as a resident, participate in Community Conversations, you can expect to:
The New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Jefferson Market branch, a historic building located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, enjoys a close, long-standing and reciprocal relationship with the local community.
Conversation Cafés are great for helping community members learn more about themselves, their community or an issue, and the process is easily adaptable and requires minimal resources.
This webinar will emphasize how to organize and facilitate these cafés, shifting from small talk to big talk in conversations that matter. Learn more about the Conversation Café process.
The Future Search process enables large, diverse groups to validate a common mission, take responsibility for action, and develop commitment to implementation through concrete action plans. Libraries will gain an understanding of how Future Search can be used in their internal and community engagement efforts. Learn more about Future Search.
Participants in this session will:
Using NCDD’s Engagement Streams Framework and a variety of dialogue resources, participants will learn about the steps for designing successful dialogues that best fit their circumstances and resources. They will also gain an understanding of approaches to dialogue that can help them achieve their goals.
In this webinar, the program's creators will explore the 18-month development process, delivery and follow-up of the Truth & Reconciliation in Our Community event.
Participants in this session will learn:
The Longest Table, the first of its kind in Maryland, brought together a diverse group of more than 300 guests to share a meal and engage in meaningful conversation about their community. This program was part of Choose Civility, an ongoing community-wide initiative, led by Howard County Library System, to position Howard County as a model of civility. The initiative's mission values diversity and chooses respect, compassion, empathy and inclusiveness as essential to quality of life.
The Meet a Muslim program was founded by Moina Shaiq, a longtime resident of Fremont, our neighbor city to the north. After the San Bernadino shootings, Shaiq was moved to start educating people on what Muslims actually believe.
Session 1: “Beyond Deadlock: A Better Way to Talk about Difficult Issues," explores how to help people work together to talk about public issues and make choices, and how to uncover the deeper concerns of communities.
Also see Session 2, "Tools for Naming and Framing Public Issues."
