Promise USA - National Network of Citizen Conversation

Christine Whitney Sanchez cwhitneysanchez at gmail.com
Fri May 22 12:21:36 PDT 2009


Dear Open Space Friends,

I invite you to read and consider voting for the Promise USA proposal  
for the Open Government Initiative - http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2632-4049 
  (see the text version below my signature)

Promise USA proposes a series of national conversations, initiated by  
the Obamas, which invite citizens to explore questions of importance  
to all.

The Promise USA Team  responded to the question:  How can we  
strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by  
making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative?

On January 21st, the President issued the Memorandum on Transparency  
and Open Government, calling for an unprecedented level of openness in  
government. In the memorandum, the President outlined three principles  
for promoting a transparent and open government: transparency,  
participation, and collaboration. Now, the President is calling on you  
to help shape how that commitment is fulfilled.

This online brainstorming session is only open from May 21st to 28th,  
2009.  Please vote at http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2632-4049.

Please pass this along to your own networks.  Imagine the possibilities!

With appreciation,

Christine

Christine Whitney Sanchez
Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
480.759.0262
www.christinewhitneysanchez.com
Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
P Please consider the environment before printing this email

PROMISE USA - NATIONAL NETWORK OF CITIZEN CONVERSATION

What if Americans of all ages, races, backgrounds and beliefs could  
come together in a series of national conversations on topics of  
significant importance to the nation?

What if we could create a listening and learning environment through  
structured conversations to lead us to better understand one another,  
establish common ground and transform ideas into action?

What if all of us had a role in making this a reality?

Promise USA proposes a series of national conversations, initiated by  
the Obamas, which invite citizens to explore questions of importance  
to all.

Until now, it was impossible to have a two-way Fireside Chat.  Today,  
we have well-researched and documented dialogic methodologies that  
make it possible to engage citizens in a networked, real-time, face-to- 
face, national conversation.  Our Promise USA Team is comprised of  
respected experts in large-scale conversation who will partner with  
many other dialogue and deliberation facilitators throughout the nation.

What if we brought our collective expertise in conversational  
leadership forward to confront the challenges that the nation faces?

Promise USA Conversations would begin with the President or First Lady  
posing the questions for national intergenerational conversations.  
These questions would enable citizens to focus on strengths and  
opportunities that inspire personal commitment and action.

In venues as small as living rooms and as large as auditoriums or  
convention centers, people would be seated together at tables of four  
or five. These Promise USA Conversations would start with a question  
on a national issue. People would explore ideas for 30 minutes and  
then move to a new table to discuss a related question on a local  
level, concluding with a final round that brings the conversation to  
an individual level and encourages commitment to action. Ideas  
generated at tables and commitments to action would be shared and  
recorded across the nation.

To generate momentum and urgency, President and First Lady would  
attend one of these conversations. After brief introductory remarks,  
broadcast nationwide to all locations, the President would pose a  
single question that engages groups in every venue in compelling  
conversation on topics such as education, health care, energy and the  
environment.

Several “Citizen Conversations” would be scheduled throughout the  
year, with the President and First Lady beginning each subsequent  
event with a quick update on their learning and highlights of actions  
taken as a result of a previous Promise USA event.

Having youth organizations such as the Girl Scouts facilitate the  
pilot conversations would enrich Promise USA.  Other promising young  
people would be engaged to co-host subsequent conversations.  Creating  
an intergenerational environment whenever possible will enliven the  
learning and allow community understanding to emerge. When people of  
all ages are invited into conversations that matter, people listen  
better, work harder to understand and consider the future with their  
heads and hearts.

We have many thoughts about variations on this process and welcome  
your ideas and input.

We promise to build on our experience as pioneers in large-scale  
change and community dialogue.

We promise to quickly and efficiently engage as many Americans as  
possible in the work of changing this country.

We promise to ignite social networks to spark a new way for  
communities and our nation to work together.

We will activate grass roots youth movements such as the Girl Scouts,  
as we have in the past, to pilot the conversations across the  
country.  We will invite other young people to co-host subsequent  
conversations.

We will engage those working in the fields of dialogue and  
deliberation, large-scale change and Asset Based Community Development  
and use the power of self-organization to stimulate strength-based  
citizen action.

We will scale the intergenerational conversations to exponentially  
increase the number of facilitators, conversations and citizens  
involved.  By November 2012, a connected web of thousands of cities  
and towns across the land will be providing citizen perspectives and  
innovative solutions to our local and national challenges.

We invite you, President and First Lady Obama, to join us with your  
sponsorship, leadership and presence.

We invite you to attend at least the first Promise USA National  
Conversation.

We invite you to provide a live or recorded update on your learning  
and highlights of actions taken as a result of the previous Promise  
USA event.

Together, we will invite the American people to fulfill the promise of  
the USA: of the people, by the people, for the people.

PROMISE USA TEAM

CHRISTINE WHITNEY SANCHEZ has coordinated and facilitated some of the  
largest intergenerational conversations in the world.  At the 2005 and  
2008 Girl Scout National Conventions, she facilitated over thirteen  
thousand girls and adults in face-to-face dialogue.  Christine is a  
social entrepreneur, consultant, coach, teacher and pioneer in  
blending collaborative methods, reflective practices and conscious  
leadership.  Christine has collaborated with leaders from over eighty  
organizations and communities across four continents to transform  
culture and collaborative practices, to research and nurture self- 
organization and distributed leadership, to tap collective wisdom and  
to foster dynamic and sustainable collaboration.  She has led and  
virtually coordinated dozens of corporate, government and nonprofit  
groups in delivering large-scale change events and has trained  
hundreds of facilitators around the world in strength-based approaches  
for self-organizing in their own communities. Christine holds a Master  
of Counseling degree from Arizona State University.

JUANITA BROWN, PH.D with her partner, David Isaacs, is the co-founder  
of the World Café, a unique approach to large group dialogue, which is  
rapidly spreading throughout North America, Europe, Latin America,  
Africa, and Asia. The World Café is being used in a growing number of  
corporate, community, government, health, education, NGO and multi- 
stakeholder settings to engage “conversations that matter” across  
traditional boundaries. Juanita served as a Senior Affiliate at the  
MIT Sloan School's Organizational Learning Center, an Associate with  
the Norwegian Center for Leadership Development, a Research Affiliate  
with the Institute for the Future, and program faculty at the John F.  
Kennedy University School of Management, the California Institute of  
Integral Studies, Columbia University, and the University of  
Monterrey, Mexico. She is a Fellow of the World Business Academy and  
has been honored in the World's Who's Who of Business and Professional  
Women. She is the co-author of the “award winning book The World Café:  
Shaping our Futures Through Conversations that Matter, now being  
widely used to support civic engagement efforts both in the United  
States and abroad.

DIANE OETTINGER brings over thirty years of experience assisting  
teams, groups and organizations to develop the leadership, culture and  
aligned systems that enable innovation and sustainable change.   She  
has held senior leadership positions in the corporate arena, served as  
a change and leadership advisor to organizations across the private  
and non-profit sector, and is presently the Chief Learning Officer for  
the Girl Scouts of the USA.  She has served as an executive coach to  
many organizational leaders, and has experience as executive education  
adjunct faculty.  Diane combines these diverse perspectives and  
experiences to design and facilitate engagement-based programs that  
deliver results.  She is a proud alumnus of Cornell University.

NANCY MARGULIES began developing her visual recording technique in  
1984 and is a pioneer in graphic facilitation. She has worked with  
corporations and educational groups worldwide and facilitated  
workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey,  
South Africa and India.  Her books on visual recording have been  
translated into five languages. She is on the online faculty of the  
Bainbridge Graduate Institute, a Green MNA program in sustainability  
and social justice and is a visual facilitator for the online  
dialogues at The Global Dialogue Center.  Nancy is currently  
collaborating on a book about building healthy communities with Meg  
Wheatley.  She worked with President Clinton and the Cabinet visually  
recording strategic planning meetings in which the President, Vice  
President and each Cabinet Secretary presented their top strategies  
for the coming year. She did the same for other senior policy meetings  
including the USDA.

REUBEN SANCHEZ brings twenty-seven years providing consultation,  
training, facilitation, organizational development, and coaching with  
clients in manufacturing, mental health, medicine, and educational  
settings. He developed start-up Employee Assistance operations in  
Latin America for a multinational manufacturing corporation.  He has  
built his success on his ability to establish relationships of trust  
and collaboration to achieve personal goals and objectives that  
benefit the community or organization he serves.  Reuben’s first  
language was Spanish and he was the first child in his family to be  
born in the United States.  As founder of ShapeShifter Productions, he  
applies his artistic abilities in creative ways that keep him thinking  
outside the box.  Reuben holds a Master of Counseling degree from  
Arizona State University.

DAVID ISAACS is a co-founder of the World Café is President of  
Clearing Communications, an organizational and communications strategy  
company working with senior executives in the United States and  
abroad. David has collaborated with a wide range of corporate clients  
and has served as adjunct faculty at the California Institute for  
Integral Studies and the University of San Antonio Business School's  
executive MBA Program. His not-for-profit work has included hosting  
World Cafe dialogues with the Shambhala Institute, Society for  
Organizational Learning, and the Alliance for Transforming the Lives  
of Children. David co-authored The World Café: Shaping our Futures  
Through Conversations that Matter.

JIM MYRACLE focuses on partnering with organizations to build the  
leadership, processes and cultures necessary to support adaptive  
strategies and innovation. He has extensive experience in new product  
development, strategic planning, and change initiatives, and has  
evolved an inclusive, inquiry-based approach to planning that  
energizes organizational understanding and commitment. Prior to co- 
founding TMT Associates, he spent 22 years in the corporate sector,  
holding senior leadership positions in New Product Development, New  
Technology, Quality Systems, and Strategic Planning.  Jim holds a  
degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Catholic University of  
America, and has been awarded seven U.S. patents.

EMMETT MILLER, M.D. is best known for his seminal work in the field of  
holistic health and Mind-Body Medicine, especially his invention of  
the relaxation/guided imagery cassette in 1970, soon after receiving  
his M.D. from The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is also an  
accomplished musician, scientist, mathematician and living systems  
specialist.  His chief contributions have been his discoveries of how  
thoughts, emotions, and mental images can be guided to have a profound  
impact on illnesses, wellness, and performance. Dr. Miller is a  
trainer, coach, speaker, and tireless worker in the service of  
planetary transformation. His most recent books include: Deep Healing;  
The Essence of Mind-Body Medicine, presenting tools for self-healing  
and optimal performance, and Our Culture on the Couch; Seven Steps to  
Global Healing, presenting perspectives on the use of Self-awareness  
and social networking to awaken the leader within and transform our  
lives and our world.



For more information, please contact:

Christine Whitney Sanchez

480.759.0262

cwhitneysanchez at gmail.com

You can download a PDF of the proposal at www.christinewhitneysanchez.com



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