National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation

The NCDD is at http://www.thataway.org/

"Dialogue and deliberation are dynamic processes which can be empathy-enhancing, relationship-changing, problem-solving, action-planning, organization-developing, community-building, conflict-resolving, skill developing, prejudice reducing, consciousness-raising, and more! The various models and methods that are used in our field often emphasize, strive for and obtain different outcomes."

"The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) brings together people and groups who actively practice, promote and study inclusive, high quality conversations. Collectively, we seek to nurture justice, innovation and democracy throughout society through the widespread use of transformational communication methods such as dialogue and deliberation. We believe that elevating the quality of thinking and communication in organizations and among citizens is key to solving humanity's most pressing problems.

Dialogue and deliberation are powerful group processes that help people bridge gaps, make better decisions, take collective action, resolve conflict and become more active citizens. NCDD provides resources, networking opportunities and programs for a growing community of practice dedicated to solving group and societal problems through honest talk, quality thinking and collaborative action. Why Did the Coalition Form?

Although they are by no means new processes, dialogue and deliberation have enjoyed a tremendous growth in popularity in recent years. This growth has been so grassroots that numerous streams of practice (deliberative democracy, conflict transformation, intergroup dialogue, etc.) developed without much awareness of one other. The result of this was the emergence of an important but disjointed field whose practitioners are versed in completely different terminology, techniques and resources, and emphasize different outcomes – despite the similarity of their basic values and principles.

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) emerged from the Hewlett-funded 2002 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, which sought to address this disconnect. The planning process for the 2002 conference exemplifies NCDD’s collaborative, inclusive way of working. A group of 60 people – from graduate students in conflict resolution to directors of leading dialogue organizations – came together to plan a highly participatory, high-energy conference which would bring together 240 scholars and practitioners of dialogue and deliberation across all streams of practice for the very first time." http://www.thataway.org/main/about/about.html