The David Mathews Center for Civic Life, located in Montevallo, Alabama, has announced that it will be holding its annual Civic Institute on August 21, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m (CST), 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (EST). The event will be held online and all are invited to attend. The theme will be Common Bonds: Collective Purpose and Civic Resilience in Uncertain Times.

You can watch this video that features University of Houston - Downtown students talking about their experiences participating in deliberation about difficult public issues. The video is 2 minutes, 10 seconds in length and you can watch it here or click on the image below.

From the description of the YouTube video:

Published in 2020, this 4-page report describes what the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums (NIF) network have learned about "what derails useful communication between leaders and the public and what promotes it."

Perhaps the principal takeaway from the NIF health-care forums over nearly four decades is that when typical Americans deliberate together, they tend to reach judgments that are reasonable, thoughtful, and possibly easier to act on than what emerges from polls and town hall meetings.

The National Issues Forums Institute (https://www.nifi.org/en/hidden-common-ground) will convene a series of Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberative forums during upcoming USATODAY reporting on immigration reform and voting.