Civic Reflection News Update — July 2008

Upcoming Training

Reminder

The Project on Civic Reflection's next general facilitation training will be held in downtown Chicago from Thursday, September 18—Friday, September 19. Contact us for more information and an application form.

Program Spotlight

Justice Talking with Literacy Volunteers of Illinois



This spring, the Illinois Humanities Council sponsored a four-session Justice Talking series with members of Literacy Volunteers of Illinois (LVI). Founded in 1979, Literacy Volunteers of Illinois was established as a training agency for volunteer literacy programs affiliated with the Literacy Volunteers of America. LVI now provides resources and services to about 100 adult literacy programs throughout Illinois.



The group of 16 AmeriCorps members met in Chicago every three weeks through the spring. Adam Davis and Tim Reed facilitated the sessions, using selections from The Civically Engaged Reader. Beginning in October, executive director Dorothy M. Miaso plans to incorporate civic reflection into LVI's quarterly meetings, which are attended by all members.



In evaluations, 100% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that Justice Talking had challenged them to think more deeply about their impact on others and that it had helped them examine the complexities of service. Eighty-two percent of participants agreed that the program had improved their relationships with other AmeriCorps members, and 88% that it had improved their AmeriCorps experience.

Asked to identify the most important effect the conversation series had on their experience with AmeriCorps, participants emphasized critical thinking, stronger connections with others, and reconnection with their own core values and motivations for service:

• I was challenged to think more critically about not only my AmeriCorps service but my life and career in education and the nonprofit sector. . . These conversations should also be happening at our sites.
• These discussions have reconnected me with . . . values that I have held passionately, but in recent years have pushed to the back burner due to the pressures and constraints of living in a society centered on capitalism and individualism.
• It was very valuable to hear the voices of other people in the program and to feel more like a group. I was disappointed to have missed two of the sessions.
• I really enjoyed engaging with my corps members in a more substantial way. The exchange of ideas and perspectives helped challenge my own outlook. Thanks!

News & Notes

Kentucky Campus Compact Introduces Civic Reflection at CPE Conference

Kentucky Campus Compact staff led a civic reflection session at the Kentucky Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Sponsored by the state's Council on Postsecondary Education, the annual conference was held in Lexington on May 21-22. Gayle Hilleke, executive director of Kentucky Campus Compact, introduced the concept of civic reflection and the work of the Project on Civic Reflection. A colleague, VISTA coordinator Lee Ann Luxemberger, then facilitated a conversation on Bertolt Brecht's "A Bed for the Night".

The session was attended by about 15 faculty members, administrators and staff from colleges and universities across the state. It was received with interest, says Hilleke, with participants considering afterward how they might use civic reflection at their own institutions. An English professor thought that civic reflection would help to spur deeper reflection among her students. Another participant plans to introduce civic reflection to her department's faculty as "a way for them to come together and talk about civic engagement."

National Conference on Volunteering and Service, Atlanta

The 2008 National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the world's largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders, was held in Atlanta from June 1 to June 3. The conference is co-convened by the Corporation for National and Community Service and Points of Light & Hands On Network. This year's theme, The Urgency of Now! , was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., and is described by organizers as "a call to action for a new generation of civic leaders." The conference attracts about 4,000 participants each year. The 2008 gathering was attended by U.S. Representative John Lewis, Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, Peace Corps director Ron Tschetter, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and Senator Sam Nunn.

With Project senior research associate Adam Davis and William Hall, director of programs with the Ohio Community Service Council, Elizabeth Lynn presented a session on "Talking Service: How Civic Reflection is Building Commitment and Community in AmeriCorps." The presentation was attended by approximately 30 conferees representing diverse service organizations around the U.S. Hall introduced civic reflection and discussed its use in Ohio AmeriCorps programs. Davis led a model conversation on Brecht's "A Bed for the Night", and Lynn focused on how the practice of facilitated conversation around short readings can help AmeriCorps members engage in bigger picture thinking, understand self and other more deeply, develop a personal service philosophy—and have fun.

Moving "Beyond the Academy" at George Mason University

Valparaiso University English professor and trained civic reflection facilitator Martin Buinicki was a presenter at Beyond the Academy: Engaging Public Life, a conference held June 10-11 at the Arlington campus of George Mason University. The central question addressed at the conference was how best to negotiate between the expertise of the academy and the national movement among colleges and universities toward greater community engagement. Buinicki presented his paper, "Literary Studies and the Challenges and Opportunities in Text-Based Public Dialogue: The Project on Civic Reflection," as part of a panel on deliberation as a mode of public discourse. The paper, which draws on his experiences as a facilitator for a local AmeriCorps civic reflection program and for Valparaiso's "Conversations at City Hall" series, explores the unique opportunities and challenges that civic reflection offers for literary study beyond the academy. The panel was attended by approximately 25 participants from colleges and universities around the country.

Commenting on the reception of his presentation, Buinicki notes that there was particular interest in the ways in which civic reflection can open up a space for discussion that does not immediately lead to dispute, discussion that transcends partisan differences. A running theme of the conference was the need to create venues where people can talk about social and political issues in ways that are not ideologically fraught, and civic reflection was regarded as such a venue.

For Buinicki, another key value of civic reflection is that it offers a means for teachers and scholars of literature "to engage the wider communities that they are part of and to expand the reach of literary studies."

Facilitation Training for Maryland Librarians

At the request of the Maryland Humanities Council, the Project on Civic Reflection led a facilitation training workshop in Baltimore on June 10-11 for facilitators in the One Maryland One Book program, the first statewide community reading program of its kind. Through presentations and hands-on practice, 24 librarians in the state library system learned about the special opportunities and challenges of facilitating civic reflection.

Deva Woodly, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Chicago, co-led the workshop with the Project on Civic Reflection's executive director, Elizabeth Lynn. Says Woodly, "The librarians seemed to be in a moment of transition in their own work, with libraries (re)emerging as a center of civic engagement. So, the librarians were looking for an approach to book discussions that would help them accomplish their goals. They were very engaged and enthusiastic." Below is a sampling of participant comments.

• This was a whole new concept that is very exciting. In the age of the sound bite, it is good for libraries to offer an antidote of sorts. I look forward to leading some discussions. Who knows where the positive ripples will lead!?
• It was very helpful that everyone had the chance to practice what they learned by co-leading a discussion. I loved the conversation planning sheet!
• The [session on] conflict resolution was extremely helpful. The presenters were fabulous!
• I learned more in this workshop than in any other previous workshop in my professional career! Thank you!

North Carolina Campus Compact Conference

The 2008 North Carolina Campus Compact Civic Engagement Administrator Conference, held in Concord, North Carolina on May 28, used civic reflection in its closing session on deepening civic dialogue. This year's theme was "Closer to the Goal: Going Deeper in Our Civic Engagement Efforts."

Project associate Deva Woodly facilitated a model discussion of Henri Barbusse's "The Eleventh" with about 40 North Carolina Campus Compact administrators and members. Says Woodly, "The group was particularly interested in issues of social justice and talking across difference, so they appreciated the ways that civic reflection can aid civil conversation on civic issues that are sometimes tough to talk about, such as race, class and gender. Several participants said they would be interested in being trained or having someone on their staff trained to be a civic reflection facilitator." She adds, "I really enjoyed learning about all the important work that the North Carolina Campus Compact member organizations are responsible for."

Click here for a gallery of photos from the civic reflection session.

Civic Reflection at Wisconsin Humanities

Wisconsin Humanities is sponsoring a series of quarterly lunch meetings with its own staff and staff members from two other local organizations, Midwest Environmental Advocates and Centro Hispano. Jessica Becker, Wisconsin Humanities' director of public programs, has facilitated the first two conversations, using texts by Rousseau and Tolstoy. The organizations have found common ground through the discussions, Becker says, in spite of their different constituents and areas of work.

Alison Jones Chaim, who came to the Project's January 2008 facilitation training in Chicago, plans to facilitate the next session in the series. Chaim, the director of the Wisconsin Book Festival, is interested in civic reflection as a way to make the festival more interactive and conversational. The 2008 Wisconsin Book Festival, whose theme is "Changing Places," will be held in Madison from October 15 through October 19. The festival attracts about 10,000 visitors annually.

Wisconsin Humanities began doing civic reflection through a start-up grant from the Illinois Humanities Council. A civic reflection program with AmeriCorps members in Oshkosh ran for a year; another with Public Allies members is ongoing, and has just completed its third year.

Civic Reflection with Humanities Washington Board and Staff

At the request of Humanities Washington, on June 6 Adam Davis facilitated a model discussion in Yakima, Washington with about 30 of the council's board and staff members. Conversation was spurred by two readings, an excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" and Ana Swir's poem "The Same Inside". Davis explains that the discussion was intended to introduce the Humanities Washington board to civic reflection for possible use in the council's Community Conversations initiative, and to help board and staff members talk together about giving and connecting.

Humanities Washington's executive director, Ted Lord, describes the board discussion as "very lively, with lots of energy." The Emerson reading proved controversial, with some participants passionately resisting Emerson's views about charity.

Humanities Washington did a pilot civic reflection program in 2007 with AmeriCorps members in Seattle. Last year Lord also led a civic reflection discussion with educators in the council's Motheread/Fatheread program. Participants received free books to add to their home libraries. They "loved the program," Lord says, and were excited about the books, which included Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree.



Lord regards civic reflection as part of a larger movement around collective, involved, engaged civic dialogue. He notes that civic reflection is having an impact on Humanities Washington's work, regardless of whether it takes the form of a freestanding series: "Civic reflection methods are incorporated into all our programs."

Civic Reflection at Illinois LeaderCorps Retreat

The Illinois LeaderCorps Retreat, held in Starved Rock State Park on June 17, included an introduction to civic reflection by Beth Marco, the Project on Civic Reflection's coordinator of programs in service and volunteerism. AmeriCorps program director Pat Bader then led a model civic reflection conversation, using Pablo Neruda's "The Lamb and the Pinecone" and Bertolt Brecht's "A Bed for the Night" to spur discussion.

The session was attended by two AmeriCorps program directors, fourteen AmeriCorps members representing eleven different programs, and Scott Niermann, volunteer program coordinator for the Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service. The AmeriCorps members were selected by their programs to serve a one-year term in LeaderCorps, a leadership council representing all AmeriCorps members in Illinois.

New on Our Website

…in the Facilitators' Forum

The Facilitators' Forum provides an opportunity for leaders of civic reflection conversations to share their experiences and insights. Recent submissions include:

"Self-Reliance" (excerpt) by Ralph Waldo Emerson. AmeriCorps members connect Emerson's reflections with their own struggles to balance impulses of the heart with considerations of the mind in the midst of service.

"Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy. Nonprofit staff use Tolstoy's fable to delve into their varying experiences and ideas of leadership.

"A Bed for the Night" by Bertolt Brecht. Brecht's poem spurs members of an immigrant rights group to consider how they can serve as agents of social change.

Have you facilitated a civic reflection discussion lately? Please share your experience with us!

… in the Resource Library

The Resource Library is an extensive collection of questions and readings that can be used to spark reflection on civic activity. Here is a sampling of recently added readings, along with a few questions they raise.

"Nikki-Rosa" by Nikki Giovanni

• Does having money automatically give us power? If so, what is the proper use of that power?
• In relating to others, how do we deal with race?
• What is poverty? What should we do about it?

"An Irish Airman foresees his Death" by William Butler Yeats

• What do I owe my country?
• What are our motives for giving to or serving others? Does it matter what our motives are?
• When we give or serve, what do we get in return?

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

• How do we make choices as leaders?
• How or when does leadership begin?
• What is success?

Have you come across a short, thought-provoking reading that you think would work well in civic reflection? Please tell us about it!