About Our Projects
Alternative
Communication Skills for Conflict Resolution
This live and interactive national video conference on April 24, 1996,
was sponsored and developed by the PDC and produced at De Anza College.
On the program, colleagues from KCC International in London and PDC
consultants explored the ways in which conflict is often managed,
presenting ideas for better forms of communication in conflict situations.
Special PDC methods were featured.
Anne
Frank Dialogue Project
Working in conjunction with the traveling exhibit Anne Frank in the
World: 1929-1945 in Albuquerque from January to June, 2000, the PDC
designed a dialogue process for citizens interested in discussing
historical and contemporary implications of the Holocaust and the
Anne Frank experience. We developed a dialogue guide, which was mailed
to about 50 community members interested in hosting dialogue groups
in their homes, schools, churches, and workplaces. A culminating event
entitled the Promise Dialogues was hosted by the PDC on May 21 for
community members interested in organizing action groups in the community.
Community
Connections: A Forum for Community Leaders
Partnering with the Community Relations Office of Columbia Basin College
in Pasco, Washington, the PDC designed and facilitated a conference
for 40 leaders in the Tri-Cities area. In a three-day event, participants
worked to develop visions for a better community and establish networks
for action. We also held a concurrent public-issues facilitation training.
This event took place in June, 1998 One outcome of the event is a
group that is developing 1999 as "The Year of the Child."
A follow-up conference was held the following year. As part of this
project, local facilitators were trained in PDC methods and assisted
in facilitating the two annual events.
Cupertino
Community Project: Voices and Visions
The Cupertino Community dialogues, our flagship project, began in
March of 1996. Over a five-year period, community members became involved
in numerous processes to explore a wide spectrum of issues affecting
quality of life in the community. Phase I consisted of a series of
discussion groups to elicit concerns, visions, and ideas and to learn
what issues are important to community members. Phase II addressed
two city issues identified in Phase I-community safety and cultural
richness. This stage consisted of inter-generational interviews and
dialogue group meetings. It culminated with a creative Town Hall Meeting
designed to expand the dialogue, explore issues constructively, and
engage citizens and city officials in deliberations about future action.
In Phase III the City Council spent time discussing citizen concerns
and ideas and responded by hosting a 2-day citywide leadership event.
Phase IV was designed to institutionalize many of the processes established
in the earlier stages of the project. A volunteer group of community
members called the Citizens of Cupertino Cross Cultural Consortium
(5Cs) now leads the dialogue process in the city. <more>
Conferences
on Affirmative Action and Multi-Culturalism
The PDC sponsored two events, one at De Anza College in California
in the Fall of 1995 and one at the University of New Mexico in the
spring of 1996, on affirmative action and multi-culturalism in higher
education. These conferences offered participants opportunities to
take part in various dialogue formats, including small dialogue groups,
Kaleidoscope sessions, and an issue forum.
Estancia
Action Plan Meeting
Under the auspices of the Planning Commission in Estancia, New Mexico,
the PDC facilitated an action planning meeting to formulate visions
and conduct action planning in the areas of land use and development,
infrastructure, and public services. The event took place in Estancia
on December 7, 1996.
Gear
Up Waco
As part of a five-year program, the PDC is partnering with Baylor
University and other educational institutions in McClennon County,
Texas, to identify middle school students at risk and begin to track
them toward higher education. Using Department of Education's Gear
Up money, the PDC is collaborating with other agencies in video projects;
parent, student, and teacher dialogues; a parental leadership program;
and community resource mobilization. We most recently provided a pilot
training program in conflict management for teachers at Brazos Middle
School, and we are aiming to have the program adopted district wide.
We also designed and facilitated a day-long conference for agencies
entitled "Creating Parent-Student Communities of Hope and Imagination."
Improving
the Quality of Public Discourse: Sharing Hopes, Histories, and Ways
of Working
In April, 1996, the PDC organized this conference, which drew about
40 practitioners from around the world, to explore ways in which conflicts
can be managed creatively, systemically, and justly. Meeting for four
days at the Center for Creative Peace Making in the Santa Cruz Mountains,
participants taught one another ways of working and discussed their
common and unique visions.
KUNM
Focus on Teen Pregnancy and Prenatal Care
In the summer of 1998, KUNM-Radio in Albuquerque planned a series
of programs on Prenatal Care for Teens. To help prepare for this work,
the PDC conducted youth focus groups on the topic, eliciting information
and insights from young people on perceptions of pregnancy and prenatal
care, the role of teen mothers and fathers, special prenatal concerns
of teens, radio programming preferences, and ideas for programming
on this subject.
Los
Alamos National Laboratory Public Meetings on Health and Safety
This project
was conducted in conjunction with the Division of Environmental Safety
and Health at LANL, where we helped to develop new forms of employee
and citizen participation in health and safety issues. Using an adapted
model of Citizen Conferences, participants deliberated at length about
policy scenario options.
Los
Gatos Town Council, Planning Commission, and Staff Retreats
The project consisted of three activities: one-on-one interviews with
retreat participants, a half-day retreat with the town council, and
a day-long joint retreat with the council, planning commission, and
planning staff. The purpose was to create a dialogue among the participants
with the town's planning process as the object of inquiry. The town
manager, mayor, and acting director of the planning staff participated
with the PDC in designing events. Following the retreats, the PDC
was invited to help design a public meeting with council members and
representatives from the town commissions and boards. Future collaboration
might involve a training with town staff.
Mountain
View/Los Altos High School District
Under the title "Keepin' It Real," a group of students and
teachers from three high schools participated in a public dialogue
process that was integrated into their own training to lead public
dialogue processes in their schools. Students from Cupertino High
School served as peer trainers. This was intended to be a "pilot
project" leading into full-scale projects in three High Schools
in the district. Although there was great enthusiasm among the participating
teachers and students, the District office did not fund the full project.
Public
Utilities Polling Project
On July 28, 1998, the Public Utilities Commission of the State of
New Mexico collaborated on a one-day conference on sustainable energy.
The PDC had the role of pre- and post-event polling, in which, among
other things, we solicited information from participants about their
perspectives on deregulation issues and their interest in participating
in other dialogue events in the future.
San
Carlos Quality of Life
The PDC designed a facilitated a series of meetings to involve the
public in thinking about ways in which the quality of life in the
city could be improved and to make recommendations to the Council.
We began work in Spring, 1999, using an innovative design featuring
two public meetings and hundreds of resident-conducted interviews.
This part of the project culminated in the Mayor's press conference
in October, 1999. Our work continued until June, 2000.
Spirit
and Land
We are currently working with the New Mexico Conference of Churches
to design dialogue processes for churches in the state to explore
issues of land as a matter of faith. We are currently conducting statewide
focus groups to help build a curriculum of study materials and dialogue
guidelines to be presented in August to church coordinators who will
implement programs in their respective churches. Currently, we are
targeting 100 churches.
San
Jose Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services
The PDC assisted in the design and facilitation of three staff meetings
with members of the project steering committee; and assisted partially
in a fourth meeting held shortly after the third. The purpose was
to engage participants in a dialogue on issues related to organizational
review. The design consisted of the CVA model built around the concept
of delivering successful parks and recreation services to the public.
San
Jose Retreat for Senior Staff
PDC was invited to design and facilitate two half-day sessions at
a retreat for Senior Staff. One session was on the Strong Neighborhoods
Initiative, the other on expansion of San Jose International Airport.
The issue in both was to help members of the various departments to
work together as a staff for the city rather than work in vertical
"silos" in their own departments.
Valley
High School Staff Planning
This one-day event in May, 1997, with faculty and staff of Valley
High School in Albuquerque, allowed school personnel to plan for the
upcoming academic year. Fifteen PDC consultants worked with 150 faculty,
staff, and administrators to grapple with school issues, imagine positive
outcomes, and develop strategies for a successful school year.
Uniting
Futures in Hispanic Services
On December 2, 1999, the PDC facilitated a day-long conference for
Columbia Basin College and WSU to establish a grass-root dialogue
to explore life-long learning and community service to Hispanic communities
in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. The conference engaged about
100 community members from diverse groups in a variety of creative
dialogue formats to explore future relationships between institutions
of higher education and the community.
Water
Summit
Working with the New Mexico Consensus Council, the Interstate Stream
Commission, and the State Department of Environment, the PDC helped
to design and facilitate a three-day summit of leaders on water-resource
management in New Mexico. Over 250 people attended. During the summit
meeting, participants received training in Enlibra principles of collaborative
problem solving and then conferred about how approaches to the management
of this vital and diminishing natural resource.
Youth
Summit for America's Future & The Community Youth Summit for Waco's
Future
These youth summits involved three events in Waco, Texas, designed
to build on the President's Summit on America's Future. The first
event, held on the campus of Baylor University on September, 1997,
attracted some 1200 young people from Central Texas to learn about
how they might serve their communities. The second event in 1998 combined
about 600 youth and adults in dialogues about how to make the dreams
of youth come true. The third event involved a celebration of service
and additional facilitator training. The PDC trained facilitators
and coordinated the group sessions for each of these events.
