Making Ends Meet: How Should We Spread Prosperity and Opportunity To All While Conserving the Environment?
The students in professor Kara Dillard’s COM 417 (cross listed as POLS 455) Political Deliberation class are partnering with theCenter for Communication and Civic Engagement (CCCE) to host a deliberative public forum on the topic of economic inequality on the evening of March 7. The event is open to the campus and community at the Ethnic Cultural Center (ECC) beginning at 7 p.m.
The discussion will be moderated entirely by the students, who have been learning civic discourse skills this quarter and are using this opportunity to bring their skills and the concept of a more civil form of political talk to the UW campus and the greater Seattle community. Attendees should plan on participating in a robust, engaging 90-minute discussion about how we make ends meet while staying within the limits of our environment.
A downloadable copy of the issue guide can be found here: https://www.nifi.org/en/catalog/product/free-making-ends-meet-issue-guide-downloadable-pdf
The topic and issue guide are a part of the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI)’s annual nationwide discussion and deliberation series. The guide and it’s framework were developed by a non-partisan research organization for the purpose of helping citizens get beyond initial position to discussing our deeper motivations and values that can bring disparate citizens to common ground. The guide has been modified to add an environmental focus to the discussion of growth and prosperity.
The partnership with the CCCE will add a growth and environment component to the discussion. This forum will be used by their research and engagement group to discuss how Seattle residents (and college students) are thinking about inequality within an environmental framework.
Public Agenda, a national nonprofit that coordinates with the Kettering Foundation and the Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment, will be sending one of their senior public engagement associates to observe the forum. Public Agenda is interested in using the forum as a data point in their annual national report series titled “A Public Voice” on how the public is talking about economic inequality. The Department of Communication and the class will get specific mentions in this report.
Questions? Please contact Kara Dillard at kdillard@uw.edu.