What’s This?

If you’re starting a large-scale, inclusive dialogue connected to action and there is not an issue guide on this site that works for the issue you will be addressing, this is the place for you. This site will guide you, step-by-step through the creation of an issue guide that you can use for these dialogues. Along the way, you will work on understanding your issue, researching what people are saying about it, and ways to address it.

If you want to create a whole issue guide, this tool can take some time and energy. But, we believe, it is worth the effort. We will also be suggesting a number of face-to-face meetings with other members of the community. The total time for all those meetings should be about six hours.

Is This Right For You?

While there are many important issues and causes, not all of them lend themselves to large-scale community-wide dialogue and problem solving. Issues that work best for such a program…

• relate to the concerns and daily lives of many different types of people in the community – that is, they are genuinely public issues.
• capture widespread public attention because they are timely.
• are best addressed by many people through multiple forms of social, political, and policy change, including:
  • changes in individual behavior and attitudes
  • new relationships and networks
  • institutional changes
  • changes in public policy

Here are some questions to think about:

• What is happening in the community that concerns us?
• What are we trying to accomplish or change?
• Would public dialogue (study circles) help us make progress on these issues?
• How can we describe the situation so that it will interest all kinds of people?