I am writing this from the University of Houston Downtown’s Center for Public Deliberation training for new moderators. For the past two months, I have been working with Windy Lawrence and Tom Workman, the co-directors of this new endeavor. We are finally doing our first training session for moderators in Houston. We have 25 participants with a significant representation from the Houston Public Library. We are also joined by a representative from the Clinton and Bush Presidential Libraries.
We just introduced the participants to the cast of characters involved in public deliberation and the work we will be doing with Texas Forums and UHD Center for Public Deliberation. We also introduced them to the key areas that the partners will work on independently and in collaboration.
Texas Forums and the University of Houston Downtown will collaborate and work on the following key areas:
- Research and Development
- Training and Professional Development
- Support Local Initiatives by Building Capacity
- Develop and Support Statewide Issues
- Communication and Public Information
We invited the participants asked questions about the partners, but they immediately jumped into offering ideas about who else should be involved. Very exciting energy!!!!
Can’t wait to post more, but it’s time for me to lead my session on Everyday Deliberation.
