Tag Archives: dialogue

03.26.16
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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?

02.20.16
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Dialogue Builds Bridges

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“Groups of people getting together and talking is never a waste of time!  That is the only way to build communities.”

“Need more open democratic system for discussion.”

“People can’t seem to disagree without it getting personal.”

These were all comments made by citizens who attended the recent Trib Talks forum “Are We An Us?”

It was an energizing exchange that resulted in much productive dialogue and several ideas for action. We will be posting more of the comments and ideas shared on the three themes – Building Bridges, Citizen-Centered Planning, and Addressing Inequities – over the next few weeks.   In the meantime, view more pictures and resources in this summary from reporter Alicia Stice.

Keep the conversation going and join us!

02.12.16
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“Loving All Our Neighbors”

Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation, Mid-Missouri Peaceworks and the Islamic Center of Central Missouri have announced they will be holding a community conversation on inclusion, titled “Loving All Our Neighbors”, on Tuesday Feb. 16 at Rock Bridge Christian Church, 301 W. Green Meadows Rd., Columbia. This free gathering will include an optional potluck dinner at 6 p.m. and a panel discussion and community conversation starting at 7 p.m.

Come and discuss a range of related topics –inclusion, the embrace of diversity, addressing racism, Islamophobia, and the plight of refugees and undocumented people.

The panel of speakers for this event includes:

  • Rasha Abousalem, Director of Humanitarian Operations with Global First Responders, who led a mission last month to Calais, France camp where thousands of war refugees are temporarily living;
  • Alejo Gonzalez, MU English/Psychology student who works with at-risk youth;
  • Marquise Griffin, MU graduate student in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis program with an emphasis on Higher Education; and
  • Faisan Syad, Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) St. Louis.
02.11.16
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Join Us Thursday Feb 11 at 7 pm

Join us tomorrow evening for the Trib Talks forum “Are We An Us?’  The world-cafe style forum will be held at the ARC, 1701W. Ash St., at 7 pm. We will dig deeper into themes that emerged during our last session and our on-line forums.

These were citizen centered planning, addressing inequities, and building bridges.

What is citizen-centered planning?  One thing it involves is leadership that accurately informs citizens.  During our last forum citizens expressed a desire for the Trib to make it easier for them to track coverage on complex issues, like the current transmission line controversy.  The Trib has responded with a new archive on infrastructure issues.  Come and share additional thoughts on how our planning for growth might be improved.

There are many groups in Columbia working to address needs for food and shelter.  Affordable housing, and outreach through efforts like Project Homeless Connect have been in the news. Bring your ideas on what more might be done.

And over the last month uniting the diverse elements of our community has been a theme of many events – from the the city-sponsored diversity breakfast, to a unity concert, to a multicultural cooking class sponsored by the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. Come and share your thoughts on how we might bridge our gaps.

Join us at the ARC and here on-line!

 

 

02.03.16
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Poverty and Our Community

The Tribune’s City Editor Matt Sanders presented the facts on the number of children receiving free and reduced price lunch in our schools in an op-ed Sunday.  He also outlined what the schools are doing to help children in poverty.  Several of those who commented on the article were less than sympathetic.

What kind of community do we want to be?  “Are We An Us?” was a question raised in our past forums and will be the topic of our next forum scheduled for next Thursday evening, February 11, at the ARC, from 7 to 9 pm.  Join us as we explore questions related to community here in Columbia, MO.

Another opportunity for information and dialogue directly related to the questions Matt raised occurs Monday night, February 8, 6 pm, also at the ARC, as the Cradle to Career Alliance screens the film “Wounded Places“.  This film explores the effects that chronic poverty has on children.  Members of the Minority Men’s Network and the Worley Street Roundtable will facilitate the post movie discussion.

And if you want to take Matt’s challenge to explore your assumptions about poverty, here is a place to begin: Poverty USA.

01.26.16
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Addressing Inequities

Unequal opportunities and access to resources is another factor that strains community.  More than 40% of our school age children qualify for free and reduced price lunch.  Our school district is experimenting with different approaches to ensure that all children have the food they need to learn.  Many of our children also lack access to regular health care, including needed mental health resources.  In 2012 our county passed a tax to create a Children’s Services Fund, and recently launched a new Family Access Center to connect families to needed resources.  But a recent study also showed Boone County to be one of the least likely counties to provide a path out of poverty.  Much more can be done to reduce inequities in our community.  What would you propose?

01.20.16
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New Dialogue On Community Violence

A fourth community dialogue has been scheduled, following up on the work done by the  Mayor’s Community Violence Task Force, appointed in 2013, and its recommendations, published at the end of 2014.

The dialogue will be held on Monday, Jan. 25 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, 701 E. Broadway.

The dialogue will be an open forum for discussion of the Community Violence Task Force recommendations and the progress of facilitating those recommendations.

01.20.16
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Building Bridges

Another strategy identified in past forums for restoring a sense of community was for different groups to get together with those they don’t regularly talk or work with in order to get to know each other.  And participants emphasized the importance of listening.

These last two weeks provided several opportunities for people to come together, whether to talk about common interests, such as the dialogue held by the Cradle to Career Alliance on January 11 as part of their “Raising of America” video series; to celebrate our diverse community as many did at the 2016 Columbia Values Diversity celebration; or simply to come together in fellowship and support as others did at the breakfast buffet held at St. Luke United Methodist Church.

Here are some quotes from the week, all aligned with the strategy of building bridges:

“We are one. There’s no color -we’re all just one.  And when we can decide that we’re one, then Columbia can unite together.”  – Rev. James Gray, Second Missionary Baptist Church, quoted in the Columbia Missourian Jan. 19, 2016

“There are people that need a meal, and we have a meal for them.” – Annabelle Simmons, St. Luke United Methodist Church, quoted in the Columbia Daily Tribune Jan. 18, 2016

“We stop exploring, we stop challenging ourselves to learn.” – Brenda Jackson, Stephens College Student Government Association President, quoted in the Columbia Daily Tribune, Jan. 19, 2016

“I’m pleased we honor diversity, and eventually we will get to a more accepting community – we just have to keep moving forward in recognizing and accepting each other’s differences.”  Barbra Horrell,  Columbia Values Diversity 2016 Individual Honoree, quoted in the Columbia Daily Tribune, Jan. 14, 2016

 

01.04.16
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Upcoming Event: January 11, 2016

The Cradle to Career Alliance is hosting its second dialogue event featuring films in The Raising of America film series at the ARC, 1701 w. Ash St., on January 11, 2016.  The featured film will be “Once Upon A Time When Childcare for All Wasn’t Just A Fairy Tale”. The film screening begins at 6 pm. The film is about 30 minutes and dialogue will follow. Dialogue will be facilitated by Columbia Parents for Public Schools.  Over 90 people attended the first event.  If you are concerned about our kids and our working families, this would be a great event to attend.

Join others in the community who care about our kids: January 11, 6 pm, at the ARC!

01.04.16
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Trib Talks: What’s Happened So Far

The Columbia Tribune launched its “Trib Talks Forums” as part of a joint learning exchange with the Kettering Foundation in May 2015, starting with an issue guide on politics and democracy.  One purpose of this exchange is to look at ways in which the media can help strengthen the citizen voice in our evolving political system.As part of the learning exchange we are experimenting with different kinds of dialogue platforms and hosting dialogues on those topics that those who participate want to discuss.

The first forums were on-line and used the “Cover It Live” platform that was designed for sports.  You can view transcripts of these forums on the Trib Talks Forums archive page.  An in-person forum, co-hosted by the League of Women Voters and the Minority Men’s Network was held at the ARC in September 2015. We also asked for and received feedback through surveys and polls.

Although citizens raised many specific issues, including those relating to jobs, safety, and development, the overall focus was on the question of who we are and where we are going as a community.

In 2008 a report from a citizen-led visioning process sponsored by the city included this stated goal: “Columbia will be an inclusive community where people from all walks of life hear, appreciate, understand, respect, and trust each other, and where positive relationships are fostered and human rights are advanced.” In our 2015 dialogues citizens indicated continuing interest in this type of goal, and expressed concern with a “lack of community”.

Lack of a common vision for our future was another theme across the forums, reinforced by comments like “we seem to be drifting” or “In Columbia folks seem to be saying, ‘If it’s not on my side of town, I don’t care.'”

Forum participants also asked questions like “are we an us?” and “what would it be like if we could come together as one WHOLE community?”  These are questions worth pursuing and we are interested in your thoughts.

You can participate in further dialogue on this blog, or join us at our scheduled forum, February 11, 2016 at the ARC, 1701 W. Ash St, 7 to 9 pm.