Join us today in Battle High’s media center for further dialogue on safety and justice. Meet and greet at 4:30, dialogue starts at 5 pm. Hope to see you there!
Tag Archives: Battle
Building Bridges – Continue The Dialogue
The student led Wake-Up! Campaign at Battle High School hosted an energized and productive “Neighbor2Neighbor” dialogue on February 7. Approximately 50 people attended, including a contingent from Hickman High. Several ideas were generated for bridging a number of divides in our community – geographic, racial, economic and generational. The Tribune over this last week also ran a series of articles looking at poverty and its effects here in our Columbia community. You can review those articles in the links below. Next week these conversations continue at our Community Commons, Tuesday February 21 from 7 to 9 pm at the Tribune offices. Come and work with others in the community to turn talk into action as we consider how we can better support one another in our community.
Community Commons
Tuesday, February 21, 7-9 pm
Enter the Tribune Training Room on Walnut Street, between 5th and Providence.
Sponsored by The Columbia Daily Tribune in partnership with the Kettering Foundation.
Tomorrow, Feb. 7! Dialogue At Battle HS
The “Wake-Up” campaign at Battle High School will host a Neighbor2Neighbor dialogue on February 7. Doors open at 4:30, and the program starts right at 5. Those of us attending the community commons have really enjoyed getting to know the Battle High students who have come and participated in other community dialogues. Now they have planned their own dialogue on community. Come out and support the youth who are leading this event!
What: Neighbor2Neighbor Dialogue at Battle High School
When: February 7, 4:30 to 7 pm
Where: Battle High School Performing Arts Center
Host A Conversation – Report Back In
Last week we held a training on how to host a “Conversation Cafe“. This is a simple process for promoting civil dialogue with friends and neighbors. What is dialogue? It’s different than many of the conversations we have. It is deeper than the polite discussion that avoids the hard topics. It is the opposite of debate. Dialogue skills include asking open-ended questions and “listening to understand”.
One participant asked, how do you get started? That can be as simple as setting a time and place and walking an invitation around your neighborhood. Then download and print the following “Conversation Cafe” cards. Once people arrive, welcome them, give them a card. When you are ready to start, first briefly review the values and process for the Conversation Cafe, and invite comments on the topic at hand. This can be as simple as saying “we are talking about community, let us know what matters most to you.” Or you might start with a summary from one of our mini-guides. Make sure you end on time so everyone can plan their day (although you can always invite those who want to to continue the conversation following the fourth round in the process for as long as you are willing to host!)
On nice feature of the Conversation Cafe process is that the host is able to share his or her own thoughts as the conversation unfolds. If you are the host though, try not to be the first to speak to the topic! Instead you might try using your turn to summarize the range of thoughts offered in each round and provide an invitation into the next. Take the lead in avoiding right/wrong debate-oriented statements. From time to time you may need to offer a gentle reminder that in a dialogue everyone is welcome and you are listening to understand. You may also need to remind those who are anxious to talk that in the first two rounds, and in the last round, everyone talks once before anyone talks twice! You can read more about hosting Conversation Cafes in this guide.
Whether you host a Conversation Cafe or host another more informal discussion, remember to report in. We will weave together the conversations you have at our third Tuesday Community Commons. Note that the next Community Commons is scheduled for February 21 from 7 to 9 pm.
You don’t have to wait until the next Community Commons for community dialogue though! The “Wake-Up” campaign at Battle High School will host a Neighbor2Neighbor dialogue on February 7. Doors open at 4:30, and the program starts right at 5. Come out and support the youth who are planning and leading this event!
What: Neighbor2Neighbor Dialogue at Battle High School
When: February 7, 4:30 to 7 pm
Where: Battle High School Performing Arts Center
More Divides
In addition to healing divisions reflecting age, class and race, participants in our February forum further identified a need to build bridges of communication and collaboration between City and County governments, City government and citizens, and citizens and City staff. The Battle students raised the question of how to strengthen connections between schools and community. Several people observed that without proactive dialogue between citizens, planners, and elected leaders, Columbia runs the risk of developing a geographic divide between North and South Columbia, like the geographic divides that exist in the St. Louis area. Holding regular community dialogues within school buildings could begin to address some of these issues.
Other communities, including Carbondale IL, have used sustained community dialogue to help solve difficult issues. Columbia headed in that direction with the Imagine Columbia’s Future visioning process, although that dialogue was not sustained following that process in the ways envisioned by the public. What could a “community commons” for dialogue look like in Columbia? What might we accomplish by working together?
Building Bridges – Healing Divides
Participants in our February 11 forum identified many ways in which Columbia is divided. These included divides between neighbors and neighborhoods that reflect differences in race, age, income, and political affiliation. These divides need more than a bridge to bring people together – underlying distrust, fear and anger need to be addressed as well.
An articulate and thoughtful group of students from Battle High School attended the forum. These students have been working hard at creating programs to help students work through the community divisions that are reflected within their school. We have invited them to tell us more on this blog, both through the comment section and in future posts.
There are other groups working in the community to build bridges or heal divides. These include Race Matters, Friends and Diversity Awareness Partnership. If you are involved in an effort to bring diverse groups together in dialogue let us know in the comment section below.
One Community One Columbia 