Public Conversations West One-Year Celebration

Location

Degheri Alumni Center

Cost

0

On Thursday, October 13, Public Conversations West, the first branch of the Massachusetts-based Public Conversations Project, will celebrate its anniversary at the University of San Diego’s Degheri Alumni Center starting at 5 p.m.

“For the last year, Public Conversations West has begun working on our mandate of fostering conversations that build San Diego’s and western communities' ability to coexist, collaborate, and address divisive issues. This event will celebrate the strides we’ve made over the last year as well as energize our partners for our work ahead,” said Meenakshi Chakraverti, Director of Public Conversations West.

“We have several initiatives that include additional training, teaching and research on leadership and dialogue, as well as facilitating stakeholder meetings in the San Diego region with groups that have deep differences on issues such as child welfare, environmental sustainability, and education.” she ended.

Janine Mason, Board Member of San Diego Grantmakers and Executive Director of the Fieldstone Foundation is enthusiastic about the addition of PCWest to the nonprofit landscape in San Diego: “As a community member and grantmaker engaged with a wide range of challenging issues in the San Diego region, I have found dialogue an effective, indeed indispensable, tool. I especially value the Public Conversations approach to dialogue and welcome the establishment of Public Conversations West here in San Diego!”

Achievements to date include:

• Building Leadership Conversation Project (LCP) with the Department of Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego and offering three LCP workshops.
• Offering a free workshop to 20 service providers of child welfare in San Diego County, including County staff, local nonprofit staff, and local funders.
• Designing, in partnership with Viewpoint Learning, a closing session for the 2011 San Diego Grantmakers’ Annual Conference.
• Winning an incubation grant from the Parker Foundation to build a program of San Diego Conversations.

The Public Conversations Project has offered services on the West Coast for over eight years. In the fall of 2010, the non-profit, founded and based in Watertown, Massachusetts, responded to increased interest in its services by creating Public Conversations West.  PCWest’s focus is particularly on San Diego County and Imperial County near the border, with a broader interest in the San Diego-Baja region, California as a whole, and the Western States.

The Public Conversations Project prevents and transforms conflict driven by deep differences in identity, beliefs, or values. It works globally to provide dialogue facilitation, training, consultation, meeting design and coaching. The organization has its roots in family therapy, anthropology, sociology, political science, and other disciplines from which it developed its unique approach, Reflective Structured Dialogue^TM - an intentional communication process that reduces stereotyping, demonization, and polarization while deepening trust, improving communication and collaboration, and strengthening communities.  Since its founding in 1989, it has done work on a broad range of topics, including abortion, the environment, race and class, sexual orientation, art and civic dialogue, gender issues, prison inmate labor, agricultural biotechnology, animal rights, organizational issues in municipal government, and international peace-building.

For further information about this organization, please visit www.publicconversations.org.