In Clay County, Florida, a powerful story of collaboration is unfolding. One that demonstrates how public, private, and nonprofit leaders can come together to talk, decide, and act for the public good. This story begins with civic educator and longtime NIFI partner, Gregg Kaufman, along with local community leaders Connie Thomas and Don Fann. Using deliberative dialogue methods, they’re working to strengthen civic infrastructure and foster meaningful partnerships that address complex community challenges in their county.

Gregg, Connie, and Don recently sat down with NIFI Executive Director Cristin Brawner to discuss their passion for connecting people, building capacity for collaboration, and addressing complex issues together using deliberation.

Laying the Foundation for Deliberation & Community Collaboration

After a 30-year career in ministry as a Lutheran minister, much of it focused on community outreach, Kaufman pivoted to civic education. At Georgia College and State University, he helped develop a public deliberation curriculum rooted in the work of the Kettering Foundation and National Issues Forums Institute. “Students loved it,” he said. “We ended up using deliberation as a core curriculum course on critical thinking.”

“When I retired, I felt like I had reached a point where I really was doing what I wanted to with my life, and I didn’t want to stop,” Kaufman reflected on his passion for deliberative democracy. When he then relocated to Northeast Florida, Kaufman brought that experience and passion with him. He quickly found opportunities to facilitate community deliberation on issues ranging from Confederate monuments to downtown redevelopment in Jacksonville. Eventually, a mutual friend introduced him to Connie Thomas, a former mayor of Orange Park, FL, and President and CEO of Impact Clay.

Impact Clay was created to connect nonprofits, churches, businesses, schools, and government agencies to identify and address community needs. The organization provides a vehicle for collaboration for the county. Thomas views deliberative dialogue as a “crucial” piece of the collaboration puzzle, a means to ensure that residents’ voices are heard, leadership gaps are identified and filled, and solutions are community-driven.

Don Fann, recently retired executive director of The Way Free Medical Clinic, echoed the crucial role deliberation can play in collaboration. As a clinic providing free medical care to low-income and uninsured residents, The Way Free Medical Clinic has a front row seat to the many systemic issues impacting families and the community. Systemic issues that require input and collaboration from community leaders, service providers, and citizens.

That’s where Kaufman came in. “Gregg [as a deliberative moderator] narrows the focus,” said Fann. “[He] makes it really easy to digest the process that you have to go through to get to the place of making a decision and beginning to implement something.”

Clay County Deliberates & Moves to Action

Many local leaders and residents in Clay County were first introduced to deliberative dialogue during the College Drive Initiative, launched in late 2020. This community-driven planning effort focused on shaping the future of the College Drive corridor — a three-mile “helping highway” home to St. Johns River State College, the Thrasher-Horne Center, and key healthcare and social services.

Kaufman worked closely with community members to frame a deliberative discussion guide on the issue for public forums. The guide offered three approaches for residents to consider, with accompanying action items and tradeoffs to consider. Forum moderators posed key questions for the community to consider, like: Should the corridor prioritize economic growth, transportation infrastructure, or community and cultural services? What are the trade-offs? Knowing we have limited time and resources, what are our priorities for the future of the corridor?

Using deliberation, 150 community members weighed options and worked toward a shared vision for “what’s next” for College Drive— a place where education, health, transportation, and culture are easily accessible. These early forums provided participants with a direct experience of what it means to engage across sectors, listen deeply, and collaboratively determine next steps.

“The county commissioners,” relayed Kaufman, “saw the value in this grassroots citizen involvement…and invested serious dollars” to help realize the priorities set during the community forums. Community and county decision-makers actively support the work of those on College Drive and continue to assist in driving forward the priorities and action ideas identified during the deliberations.

The success of the College Drive Initiative strengthened the “culture of collaboration” in Clay County, according to Fann, Kaufman, and Thomas. It also laid a foundation for additional efforts across Clay County, demonstrating that public deliberation can be a valuable tool for shaping not only conversations but also real change.

Building on that foundation, Kaufman worked with Thomas, Fann, and other community leaders to continue incorporating deliberative conversations into the community’s decision-making and collaboration across sectors. For example, monthly meetings for the county’s health and human services sector, organized by the Clay Safety Net Alliance, provide a regular opportunity for residents and community leaders to engage in deliberation. Fann emphasized that the conversations don’t have to be “fancy in order to draw out the content you need to make change,” it just needs to have the focus that a deliberative approach brings.

One recent example came from a forum on food access using NIFI’s Land of Plenty issue guide. That conversation planted the seed for a new approach to the Impact Clay Train, a collaboration that brings essential services, including healthy food, directly to where they’re needed most. “That forum made us realize we needed to go to the people, not just ask them to come to us,” Thomas explained. Now, the Impact Clay Train serves as a rolling hub of support, connecting families with healthcare providers, food resources, educational support, and more. The Impact Clay Train shows how deliberative dialogue can spark new community partnerships and effective collective action. Watch a video about the Impact Clay Train to learn more.

Talk. Decide. Act.

The work being done in Clay County, Florida, shows that deliberation isn’t just about having better conversations. It’s about making decisions and taking action together, and in the process, building stronger, more collaborative communities. When leaders like Gregg Kaufman, Connie Thomas, and Don Fann bring people together to talk, decide, and act, they demonstrate what democracy can look like at its best: accessible, participatory, collaborative, and, yes, deliberative.

Are you interested in incorporating deliberation on your campus or in your community, but unsure where to start? “Look for the official leaders,” recommends Thomas, “But then look for the unofficial leaders.” It’s easy to get stuck on titles and leadership roles. However, deliberation encourages us to recognize that each person involved in or affected by the issue plays a crucial role in finding solutions.

 “Don’t take no for an answer,” highlights Fann. He also recommends searching for existing groups with committed members dedicated to doing good in the community, such as churches and faith-based institutions, as a starting point for finding fellow collaborators.

If you would like to learn more about how you can utilize deliberation in your community to help community members and leaders talk, decide, and act for the public good, email us today. The National Issues Forums Institute would be delighted to help you identify a nonpartisan deliberative discussion guide, provide tools for framing an issue locally, or provide training opportunities to develop talk-to-action deliberative initiatives.