The following is from David Mathews, Chair of the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI).

TO:            The NIFI Board Members and the NIF Network

FROM:       David Mathews, Chair of the National Issues Forums Institute

DATE:        February 26, 2020

RE:            Forums in prisons

Below is a link to another Maura Casey interview. It is about forums in an unlikely place, prisons. Bill DiMascio has reported similar results from prisons in Pennsylvania.

I am sending to you because there is a special emphasis this year in including our fellow citizens who have sometimes been unrepresented in the existing forums. The unrepresented include men, rural, conservatives, business, and others. 

If you can think of ways to make your forums more representative, great! Some have done that by allying with other organizations that will sign up as sponsors. Still another way to broaden participation might be to offer to hold forums in organizations that don’t normally convene NIF meetings. And there is always the option of inviting people you think might be reluctant to attend without an invitation.

Whatever you feel comfortable in doing, please help bring everyone you can to reason together in 2020.

Read the interview by Maura Casey.