invitation and offer from the National Issues Forums Institute

[Sandy Heierbacher]

Hello!

We wanted subscribers to the Open Space list to know that National Issues
Forums is celebrating 25 years of convening forums to help put people's
voices back into politics.  We would like to invite you to take this
opportunity to become part of the National Issues Forums network, and to
utilize our newest issue book on "Democracy's Challenge: Reclaiming the
Public's Role."

As you know, many Americans are turning away from public life, becoming
spectators rather than participants in our democracy.  People are frustrated
with politics and the seemingly insurmountable partisan divide.  We know
that proponents of Open Space are committed, as we are, to changing this
trend.

This year the National Issues Forums Institute is offering an issue book
that directly addresses the reasons we are all involved in this work.
"Democracy's Challenge: Reclaiming the Public's Role" tackles head-on the
obstacles and issues people face in a democracy that appears to have nudged
its citizens onto the sidelines.

Democracy's Challenge forums encourage citizens to think about what they can
do to strengthen the relationship that a democracy demands between the
government and its people.  The issue book presents three perspectives on
the problem, each of which suggests a somewhat different course of action.

Right now you are invited to take advantage of a limited time offer for free
materials to use for convening a Democracy's Challenge forum.  The free
materials in each set include 1 copy of the full-length Democracy's
Challenge issue discussion guide, 30 copies of the 8-page issue
discussion-guide-in-brief, 1 copy of the moderator's guide, and 1 video.

If you think you want to get involved in NIF or in the Democracy's Challenge
issue, or you'd like to help us get the word out about this opportunity, we
encourage you to:

- Order your free set of Democracy's Challenge materials by calling
1-800-600-4060, or go to www.nifi.org/discussion_guides/index.aspx to
download the moderator's guide or issue brief.

- Connect with the NIF network contacts nearest you.  These network hubs,
listed at www.nifi.org/network/index.aspx, provide trainings and workshops,
organize forums, and connect NIF folks in their region.

- Sign up to receive NIF e-newsletters and stay informed about network
activities.  Email Patty Dineen at dineenp at msn.com with your name, email
address, and mailing address (or just city and state) and ask her to add you
to the NIF News email list.

- Go to www.nifi.org/calendar/index.aspx to look up moderator trainings in
your area.

- Download "For Convenors and Moderators: Organizing for Public Deliberation
and Moderating a Forum" at
www.nifi.org/forums/detail.aspx?catID=4&itemID=230

- Tell others about this issue, and share this invitation to join the NIF
network.

Below is more information about the Democracy's Challenge issue and National
Issues Forums.  We hope to hear from you soon!

- The National Issues Forums Institute Board

William Winter, Chairman
David Mathews, President
Estus Smith, Vice President
Joel Diemond
David Dillon
William DiMascio
Patricia Dineen
Jesus Garcia
Sandy Heierbacher
Sandra Hodge
Les Ihara
Ray Minor
William Muse
Sondra Myers
William Raspberry
Michelle Scott
Sue Tate

--

What are National Issues Forums?

National Issues Forums (NIF) is a nonpartisan, nationwide network of locally
sponsored public forums for the consideration of public policy issues. It is
rooted in the simple notion that people need to come together to reason and
talk - to deliberate about common problems. Indeed, democracy requires an
ongoing deliberative public dialogue.

These forums, organized by a variety of organizations, groups, and
individuals, offer citizens the opportunity to join together to deliberate,
to make choices with others about ways to approach difficult issues and to
work toward creating reasoned public judgment. Forums range from small or
large group gatherings similar to town hall meetings, to study circles held
in public places or in people's homes on an ongoing basis. 

The National Issues Forums Institute works closely with the Kettering
Foundation,  an operating foundation rooted in the American tradition of
inventive research.  Established in 1927, the central question behind the
foundation's current research is this: What does it take to make democracy
work as it should?

Forums focus on an issue such as health care, immigration, Social Security,
or ethnic and racial tensions. The forums provide a way for people of
diverse views and experiences to seek a shared understanding of the problem
and to search for common ground for action. Forums are led by trained,
neutral moderators, and use an issue discussion guide that frames the issue
by presenting the overall problem and then three or four broad approaches to
the problem. Forum participants work through the issue by considering each
approach; examining what appeals to them or concerns them, and also what the
costs, consequences, and trade offs may be that would be incurred in
following that approach.

More information about NIF can be found at www.nifi.org.

--

Democracy's Challenge:  Reclaiming the Public's Role

While most Americans are still proud of living in a country that is governed
by and for the people, many of them are no longer sure that Abraham
Lincoln's vision of a democracy has withstood the test of time. They have
become increasingly disaffected with a process that appears to have nudged
its citizens onto the sidelines and increasingly disillusioned with
politicians who appear disinterested in what they have to say.

Too many Americans today have retreated from the public places, meetings,
and associations at which they traditionally met to say what they thought
and do what needed to be done to improve their communities and their nation.
They have, so to speak, opted out. Politics is no longer working for them,
they say.

We have all read proposals for reforming the ways that government and
politics operate. Most of them depend on government initiatives. This book
is about what citizens can do. It suggests that citizens themselves can and
should provide the motivating power that will rekindle the vibrant
relationship that a democracy demands between the government and its people.

While there is no widespread agreement on how this can be done, Democracy's
Challenge provides a framework for a discussion of the possibilities. It
presents three perspectives on the problem, each of which suggests a
somewhat different course of action:

Democratic Values: Rebuilding democracy's moral foundation
	As a nation, we have become self-indulgent and self absorbed,
inclined to accept neither hard choices nor sacrifice. The emphasis on
individual rights and personal freedom has undermined democracy. In recent
decades, the moral curriculum has been neglected; this is a key element in
our public troubles.

Web of Connections: Reinventing citizenship
	Democracy requires the ability to work together on common concerns-
civic skills that most people learn in clubs, church groups, and local
associations. The public square is emptying because many Americans aren't
making the civic connections that form the habits and sharpen the skills of
citizenship.

By the People: Bringing the public back into politics 
	Government is no longer "of, by and for the people." Governance is
something politicians do, not something that involves us. In a democratic
nation where the people are supposed to be sovereign, citizens have lost
control of the government. The political system has to be fixed so citizens
once again have a central place in it.


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