Smart Talk for Growing Communities is...
An effective way to address your community’s “growing pains”
Rapid growth changes communities. It creates new choices, new problems, new opportunities, and new dilemmas. These “growing pains” aren’t likely to go away if they’re simply left alone. That’s why more and more communities are coming together in study circles to find ways of making growth work for them.
Study circles connect dialogue with action
Smart Talk for Growing Communities is for use in study circles—small-group, democratic, participatory conversations that offer everyday people the chance to get to know one another, consider different points of view, explore disagreements, and find common ground. Study circles connect dialogue with action by creating opportunities for people to work together to solve common problems: as individuals, in small groups, as members of organizations, as voters.
A flexible approach for communities of all sizes
Smart Talk for Growing Communities helps people address the effects of
growth in diverse places, such as rural towns where large numbers of newcomers are affecting the traditional way of life;
metropolitan areas where inner cities and older suburbs are in decline while new “edge cities” prosper around them; communities where new housing developments and
industrial sites are pushing into surrounding farmlands and wilderness.
This guide includes:
- Five compelling discussion sessions
- Tips on organizing and facilitating study circles
- Strategies for moving from talk to action
- Examples of action steps taken by communities around the country
- Pointers on involving public officials in study circles
- Glossary of key terms
- Resources for further learning, discussion, and action
The Discussion Session Topics:
- Session 1 How is growth changing our community?
- Session 2 Why is our community experiencing these changes?
- Session 3 What are our options for addressing growth issues?
- Session 4 Meeting with public officials
- Session 5 Shaping the future: What can we do in our community?
The cost of this guide is $6.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling. For more information or to place an order, please see below.
FOR MORE INFORMATION...
Congressional Exchange (CX) is a project of the Topsfield Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation dedicated to advancing deliberative democracy and improving the quality of public life in the United States. CX carries out this mission by bringing citizens and public officials together in study circles—small-group, democratic, highly participatory discussions—about the nation’s most important challenges. CX often works in partnership with its sister project, the Study Circles Resource Center (SCRC). Much of SCRC’s work centers on promoting the development of community-wide study circle programs organized by broad-based sponsoring coalitions and involving large numbers of participants.
SCRC staff members offer their services to community leaders, free of charge, at every stage of creating a community-wide study circle program: giving advice on all the steps in the organizing process; helping to develop strong coalitions within communities; advising on material development; and writing letters of support for funding proposals. Often, SCRC can also provide free study circle guides. Occasionally, an SCRC staff member can visit a community to participate in organizing meetings and conduct facilitator trainings.
To place an order or for information about how to make large-scale study circles happen in your community, contact us at:
Study Circles Resource Center
P.O. Box 203
Pomfret, CT 06258
Phone: 860.928.2616
Fax: 860.928.3713
E-mail:scrc@neca.com
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