|
Deliberation is the “tough love” method of public involvement. It asks people to consider what they’re willing to give up in order to get what they want. It requires that they take others’ views into account. It is designed to move citizens past wishful thinking and denial and towards informed public judgment. And it works. A survey conducted after one deliberation showed that people who participated knew more and had more moderate opinions than those who didn’t, who knew less and had more extreme views. The KC Forums project has brought citizens together to deliberate on both local and global issues. It has worked closely with two national organizations, the Kettering Foundation and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, and regularly co-sponsors forums with the Johnson County Library and Kansas City, Missouri, Public Library. KC Forums was begun by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which moved the project to Consensus in 2003. It is led by a project team representing leading nonprofit organizations.
|
