1. Report to the CAN Board of Directors
Deliberative Dialogues on Safety & Justice
Report to the CAN Board of Directors
February 9, 2018

2. Kettering Foundation What does it take to make a democracy work
as it should? 
Dialogue
Respect
Listening
Understanding
You may recall that CAN was invited by the Kettering Foundation to participate in a Learning Exchange on Naming and Framing Local Issues. Through this exchange, CAN became involved with the Deliberative Dialogue process for community engagement. The Kettering Foundation is a nonprofit foundation rooted in the American tradition of cooperative research. Kettering’s primary research question is, what does it take to make democracy work as it should? Kettering’s research is distinctive because it is conducted from the perspective of citizens and focuses on what people can do collectively to address problems affecting their lives, their communities, and their nation. The basic idea is that we can improve the quality of our democracy by improving the quality of the conversations we have with each other.

3. National Issues Forum
The NIF Network – Anyone interested in the practice of group deliberation.
The NIF Institute – Publishes and distributes an ongoing series of Issue Guides and Videos that Network members can use.
The Kettering Foundation – A vital research partner whose research is used by the NIF Institute to develop issues guides and shared with the NIF Network.

4. Deliberative Dialogues
CAN’s History with
Deliberative Dialogues
Building a Community of Equity & Opportunity – 2015 & 2016
NIF Issue Guide: Safety & Justice – 2017
NIF Issue Guide: Addressing the Opioids Epidemic
Note that for the first dialogue topic, we had to draft our own issue guide which included six to nine months of listening sessions to get diverse perspectives on the topic before developing the three options that will drive the dialogue process.

5. Deliberative Dialogues – The Process
Forums are neutrally moderated. (25 people trained as moderators)
The issue to be discussed is introduced using the National Issues Guide, our local issues insert and a 3 to 5 minute video on selected topic.
Participants are asked to share how the issue affects them.
Participants consider 3 options for addressing this challenge.
Participants deliberate and identify common ground.

6. Safety & Justice Dialogues Play Video for Safety & Justice Dialogues
Note that for the first dialogue topic, we had to draft our own issue guide which included six to nine months of listening sessions to get diverse perspectives on the topic before developing the three options that will drive the dialogue process.

7. Safety & Justice Dialogues
September –October 2017
St. Edwards University
University Presbyterian Church
Huston-Tillotson University
We hosted the dialogues in different parts of the City. Advertisement was through the CAN news list and also via social media. Organizations hosting the dialogues also advertised opportunity to their members and networks.

8. Who participated? Ninety people from 45 different zip codes.
Fifty-eight percent were women.
Almost one-half were White, 16% were Hispanic, 18% were African American and 11% were Asian or Other Race/Ethnicity.
37% were between the
ages of 18 and 30
27% were between the ages of 46 and 64
17% were aged 31 – 45
17% were 65+
Over 100 people participated in the 3 sessions. 90 of them completed evaluations, which gave us this data.

9. 3 Options
Enforce the Law Together: Expand policing while strengthening community-police partnerships.
Apply the Law Fairly: Remove injustices, reform inequities and improve accountability.
De-escalate and Prevent Violence: Reduce the culture of violence and take direct actions to disrupt conflict.
We considered three approaches to promoting safety and justice. People were encouraged to consider the trade-offs and negative consequences of the solutions they liked the most. Neutral moderators made sure every voice was heard.

10. 5 Overarching Themes
Strengthening ties between the police and the community.
Increasing education and training.
Encouraging engaged and responsible community members.
Accountability and transparency in the justice system.
Addressing broader systemic and societal issues.
Pages 3 to 6 of report provide greater details for the top themes that emerged.

11. Specific Actions Advocated By Dialogue Participants
Engagement & Communication
Addressing Mental Health Issues
Training and Education
Other Actions
Pages 3 to 6 of report provide greater details for the top themes that emerged.

12. Impact on Participants
About 2/3 of participants reported talking about aspects of the issue they hadn’t considered before attending the forum.
About 1/3 of participants reported that the dialogue changed how they felt about ideas or proposals they found favorable coming into the forum.

13. Next Steps
Share Safety & Justice Report with local elected officials and law enforcement agencies.
Discuss our local experience with Kettering Foundation later this month.
Develop a planning team for 2018 dialogues on Addressing the Opioids Epidemic.
Hold dialogues in September 2018.