Journal of Public Deliberation published an article written by CPD director Martin Carcasson, along with Laura Black and Elizabeth Sink, on the connections between deliberative democracy and communication studies. That article is available online: Communication Studies and Deliberative Democracy: Current Contributions and Future Possibilities Carcasson also served as co-editor of that issue of the journal, and co-authored the introductory essay .
Public Sector Digest published an article by CPD director Carcasson and associate director Leah Sprain on the Key Aspects of Deliberative Democracy
Martin Carcasson and Elinor Christopher completed a research report entitled The Goals & Consequences of Deliberation: Key Findings and Challenges for Deliberative Practitioners for the Kettering Foundation on the role of deliverative forums in community politics.
Past Events and Reports
National Food Day was Monday, October 24. Working with CSU Extension, the CPD hosted student-focused forums to broadly discuss issues related to food at the Lory Student Center Grey Rock room. On November 14th, we held a community forum at the Larimer County Courthouse. Data from those events are being used to develop more focused forums in the future.
Working with the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, the CPD assisted with three employer rountables on child care issues.. An initial meeting was held Oct. 12 in Estes Park, and additional meetings were held in Loveland on Oct. 26 and Fort Collins on Oct. 28.
CPD facilitated leadership task force meetings for Embrace Northern Colorado in April, May, September, and October, along with process planning meetings over the summer.
CPD designed and facilitated an all day leadership retreat for the St. Vrain School District on June 18th.
The CPD ran a process for the Werner Elementary School PTA on Tuesday, February 8th.
On Monday, February 21st, the CPD trained a group of PSD high school students involved in the PSD Think Tank.
Over spring break, CPD director and several CPD students attended the The Citizens’ Toolbox conference at Miami University in Ohio.
On March 26th, CPD students ran a process at the CSU Women's Conference in Fort Collins.
On April 11 and April 16, the CPD rau public forums on water issues related to the Poudre River. A preliminary report has been completed on those forums and will be released soon.
2010
CPD students facilitated discussions on Islamic issues, improving higher ed, immigration, and diversity during the capstone class for graduating communication majors on November 1.
CPD students facilitated three public forums for the Poudre School District concerning budget concerns and small schools from 7-9pm on January 26 (Poudre High School), February 1 (Rocky Mountain High School), and February 23 (Fort Collins High School). For more information, see : the PSD website
Several CPD student associates and Assistant Director Leah Sprain attemded the Connect the Dotes National Student Conference on Embedding the Democratic Practices of Deliberation, Public Dialogue, and Community Problem-Solving and Action from March 3-6 in Point Clear, Alabama. For more information, see the conference website
Each fall, we release report from our activities for the previous academic year:
2009-2010
CPD Annual Report,
2008-2009 CPD Annual Report,
2007-2008 CPD Annual Report
2006-2007 CPD Annual Report
Spring 2010 Summary
During the spring of 2010, CPD Director Martín Carcasson was on sabbatical, so the CPD ran on only partial capacity. Normally, a new group of students are trained every semester, joining a group of students that were trained the prior semester. This semester, there was no new class of students. Nonetheless, Assistant Director Spain and Graduate Assistant Mallorie Bruns directed a smaller group of CPD students who completed several important projects. CPD students facilitated three large public meetings for the Poudre School District to gather input on budget and school closing issues, ran the Arts Engagement Summit for Beet Street and the UCC Arts and Culture subcommittee, and ran forums at local high schools on wellness issues. Dr. Sprain and six CPD students also traveled to Alabama to attend Connect the Dots: A National Student Conference on Embedding the Democratic Practices of Deliberation, Public Dialogue, and Community Problem Solving and Action.
During the summer of 2010, Dr. Carcasson and several CPD students worked with Bryce Hach, director of Homeward 2020, an effort to end homelessness in Fort Collins by 2020, to design and assist with two meetings.
Throughout the year, the CPD also continued to work with the PSD Think Tank, United Way’s Pathways Past Poverty Project, and Concerned Larimer.
Fall 2009 Summary
During the Fall of 2009, the CPD welcomed our new assistant director, Dr. Leah Sprain, and moved into our new physical location at Eddy 210. We were also involved in a variety of events. In September, we hosted the Diversity Dialogues during the 2009 CSU Diversity Conference. In October, we facilitated the UniverCity Connections Stakeholder Meeting entitled "Getting There Should Be As Fun As Being There." UniverCity connections is a collaborative effort between the downtown Fort Collins, CSU, and advocates for the Poudre River to develop innovative projects for the area that joins the three entities. The CPD was asked to design, facilitate, and report on the annual UniverCity Connections stakeholder meeting, a large meeting that typically attracted 150 participants. A report was completed and provided to the UniverCity Connections Transit committee. In November we developed and ran a process at the In-Sync event in Longmont, CO. The all-day event brought together representations from Northern Colorado and Denver Metro in the areas of K-12 education, community colleges, higher education, workforce centers, and numerous industries to discuss how they collaborative more effectively. Over 150 participants attended overall. The CPD ran a two-part process during the event to have the participants identify key barriers to collaborations and key action steps to overcoming those barriers. Later in November, CPD staff and student associates ran a “student department meeting” for SPCM majors at CSU. The event was held during the capstone class, but all majors were invited. 70 students attended and provided feedback concerning strengths and weaknesses of the department, what courses they would like to see developed, and what changes they would like to see in the department. In addition to these major projects, the CPD continued to work with the Pathways Past Poverty project and Concerned Larimer , both of which focus on improving the community response to growing poverty in Larimer County. The CPD also continues to work with the Poudre School District Student Think Tank.
Spring 2009 Summary
During the spring 2009 semester, the CPD focused on a variety of projects. On February 12th, we hosted the Fort Collins Bicycle Safety Summit, co-sponsored by the City of Fort Collins FC Bikes, the Fort Collins Bicycle Co-op, and Bike Fort Collins. In February we also hosted an all-day workshop with high school students from the PSD Student Think Tank, and thus launched the CPD High School Student Associate Program. Those students later participated in a series of forums in local schools focused on childhood wellness issues. We ran forums at Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, Fort Collins High School, and Werner Elementary. For the first time, we ran forums with students in 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, and 11th grade. We also ran a number of forums in IU175 classes in March and April on topics such as Race and Ethnic Tensions, Environmental Protection, the Achievement Gap, and the News Media. We also bee working with the Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation, CSU's student media group that runs the Collegian, KSCU, CTV, and College Avenue, to help them run forums to gain broad input into the development of their new organizational mission and goals. On April 4th, we hosted the "How Can We Improve Higher Education" forum at the Drake Centre, which brought together about 50 students to discuss how we can improve classes and instruction at CSU. That project will continue in the fall, as we will work to get faculty and students together to discuss their mutual responsibilities to improve the quality of education students receive. Reports are currently being completed on these projects, including the Bike Summit, the Higher Ed forum, and the Childhood Wellness forums.
Fall 2008
On Monday, November 17th, we hosted the Fall 2008 Community Issues Forum. The event brought together CSU students with the Fort Collins community to discuss several key issues. We focused on four issues:
- How can we encourage healthy weights among Fort Collins youth?
- How can we better prepare for the responsibilities of citizenship?
- How can we secure a sustainable community and create a future for Fort Collins?
- How can the discussion of politics be improved in college classrooms? (student only forum)
Each of these topics had separate breakout groups facilitated by CPD student associates,and gave community members a chance to discuss the issue and consider ways of moving forward.
On Friday, November 14th from 11am-1pm—we co-sponsored the Pathways Past Poverty Community & Research Update at the Foothills Unitarian Church at 1815 Yorktown Avenue in Fort Collins. The event is open to the public, and will focus on providing an update on the pathways committees that have been working over the summer and fall, as well as communicating the results of the study on poverty in Northern Colorado that has been completed by economist Dr. Martin Shields and sociologist Matt Aronson. Visit www.pathwayspastpoverty.org for more information. Light refreshments will be served. Note: this event will be a series of presentations, not a deliberative forum.
Spring 2008
The CPD designed and hosted the Spring 2008 Community Issues Forum in April, with 150 participants discussing five different local issues. Participants included students from SPCM capstone course as well as community members. This event has now become an every semester event that brings together campus and community members in a unique manner. The Spring 2008 forum included discussions on alcohol and responsibility, domestic violence, the responsibilities of citizenship, Fort Collins external maintenance standards, and the energy crisis. A report on the external maintenance standards forum was completed and provided to city council, which was in the process of deciding on a new ordinance.
For the official CPD report on the proposed External Maintenance standards and the Rental Housing Codes, click here. Other student-authored reports include:
Violence in Intimate Relationships How Do We Respond?
Alcohol and Responsibility: Which Way Forward? (Group 1)
Alcohol and Responsibility: Which Way Forward? (Group 2)
The Energy Problem: Choices for an Uncertain Future
The 21st Century Responsibilities of Citizenship
The CPD, in partnership with the United Way of Larimer County, launched the Pathways Past Poverty community mobilization effort (P3) in October 2007, a long term project that will continue through the fall of 2008, and include many public events. The project currently involves roughly 200 residents serving in 9 different committees. I serve as the lead facilitator and primary advisor of the overall project, and CPD students participated in eight “approach committees” that met several times during the spring. The CPD then designed and facilitated two community open houses in April and May 2008 to gather public feedback on preliminary goals developed by the approach committees, which received significant media coverage. A total of 250 community members participated over the two forums. CPD students also helped facilitate a “poverty simulation” event connected to the P3 project that drew 50 participants. A report on the forums was developed and provided to the P3 steering committee.
The CPD facilitated a series of 7 public forums in six cities across northern Colorado (including Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Greeley, Estes Park, and Sterling) in spring 2008 concerning the role of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in the K-12 curriculum. The forums were part of a grant connected to the governor’s office. A total of 250 participated over the seven forums. A report was developed and provided to the organizers of the grant.
The CPD developed and hosted the Kickoff Event at the Western States Communication Association Conference in Broomfield, CO, on February 16, 2008. The event brought together communication scholars with local non-profit organizations to improve their agency’s communication strategies.
The CPD hosted a Community Peace Circle on campus in February 2008, 35 participated in the all day event.
The CPD hosted a forum on the “21st Century Mission of Schools” on February 12, 2008, for high school students involved in the Poudre Student Think Tank. 10 students participated.
The CPD hosted a discussion zone at the “Focus the Nation” teach-in on climate change on January 20th and 21st, 2008, at the request of organizers.
Reports from Spring 2008 events:
Pathways Past Poverty (P3) open house was held Wednesday, April 30th, 4:30-8pm at the Aztlan Community Center, with 200 participants (press release). A follow up meeting was held in Loveland on May 7th. The P3 steering committee then met over the summer to prioritize the goal and plan next steps. For the report on the community meetings, click here. For the agenda provided at the initial meeting, click here. For a two page list of the preliminary goals that were discussed, click here. For a document that includes one full page description for each of the goals, click here. For the survey given, click here.
For the CPD report on the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) convening meetings held throughout the spring, click click here
For a preliminary report on the results of the Denver By the People deliberation held on October 20, 2007, click here. For a statistical report on the before/after surveys, click here. For the national background information given to participants across the country, click here. For the local background information provided to participants in Denver, click here. Currently, follow up activities are being planned in conjunction with Regis University's Institute on the Common Good.
Fall 2007 Community Issues Forum
On Monday, November 12, from 6-8:30pm, the CPD hosted the FALL 2007 COMMUNITY ISSUES FORUM, a night of deliberative forums on a number of issues at the Lory Student Center. .This was the first of what will hopefully become an every semester tradition for the Fort Collins community. One hundred and twenty participants joined us in breakout groups examining seven different topics, including:
- The abuse of alcohol;
- The role of the campus newspaper;
- Pathways to peace;
- Health care reform in Colorado;
- Rising poverty in Larimer County;
- The energy problem;
- Improving the student/neighborhood relationship.
Reports on these various forums are currently being completed.
Fall 2007 Colorado Health Care Reform Forum
The CPD, along with the Larimer County League of Women Voters, hosted a community forum on hehealth care reform on Saturday, 9am-12pm, in the Lory Student Center's North Ballroom. 45 participants, including Colorado State Senator Bob Bacon and Colorado State Representative Don Marostica. Report being prepared, should be posted October 10th. Download the report from the CPD/League of Women Voters Public Forum held on 9/29 here (54 page PDF) An 11 page summary report is available here (PDF)
2007 Poudre School District Grade Configuration Forums
Our major project for the spring of 2007. CPD student associates facilitated 6 meetings for the Poudre School District concerning the grade configuration of PSD schools. See the PSD website for more details. The report concerning the PSD Grade Configuration Forums has been posted on the PSD website, as well as below.
Full Report on Grade Configuration (66 pages)(PDF)
Summary of Report on Grade Configuration (11 pages)(PDF)
CPD Kickoff Event and Community Issues Forum
On Wednesday, January 24th, 2007, we held our Kickoff Event and First Annual Community Issues Forum at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins. 135 citizens gathered to hear about the Center and discuss what issues were important to them. A report on that forum will be posted on this website in a couple weeks, and will be presented to local, county, and state government officials. Student associates working here at the Center will use the information gathered to pick semester projects, but the Center also hopes that the information will encourage other individuals and organizations to get involved in a variety of ways. In addition to facilitated table discussions, participants completed surveys that asked questions about what issues they would like to have the community engage more deliberatively. Documents provided to the participants at the Kickoff are posted below. Any interested citizens are encouraged to complete the survey and email it to cpd@colostate.edu, or mail it to the CPD at 217 Eddy Building, CSU Campus, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1783.
Participant Survey from Kickoff Event (Word)
Participant Survey from Kickoff Event (PDF)
Agenda for CPD Kickoff Event (PDF)
CPD Issue Cluster list (PDF)
List of Available NIF issue books (PDF)
Link to NIF website information on issue books
Link to IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum (PDF)
the NIF network of Public Policy Institutes (PDF)
Examples of deliberative techniques (PDF)
Link to IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum (PDF)
What is Deliberation?