Community dialogues are “places for community members to come together, create new social ties (or reinvigorate old ones), discuss difficult topics and to better understand each other and their changing worlds” (Knology, 2023). For my Innovation Roadmap project, I’ve examined how a local library like my own might implement a community conversation program.
Here is a PDF of the slideshow with clickable links to resources. Enjoy!
@lauraskor, I really enjoyed reading through your Community Dialogues slide presentation. I truly think every library can use this program and that they should. Having healthy dialogues, especially between strangers, is not an easy topic! The listed inspirations covered a wide range of highly relatable issues that affect communities and their members at some point in time, especially with changing demographics. I also appreciated the thoughtful questions you added to the evaluation and reflection page; these prompts can make people stop and think about their own words and their impact. Too often, people tend to come to community meetings ready for an argument rather than a respectful dialogue; this is a great service to support healthy connections and mutual respect between everyone. Great presentation, thank you for sharing!
Thank you, @yoli! You’re so right about some people coming into community meetings ready for an argument. Especially in smaller towns where people might be used to debating and making their points in potentially contentious town meetings, I feel like this kind of program could offer an alternate approach to connecting with one’s neighbors!
@lauraskor this was a really cool presentation. I appreciate the focus on community building, especially targeting those who do not already actively participate in their library and those who are more isolated due to their age. My library has a program that connects young kids who are learning to read with service animals and I’ve always thought that bringing in retired folks, those who are looking for more connection, would be a great addition to that program.
Thanks, @vbrownsmith! I’m super interested in intergenerational programming, too! I’m sure there are so many people, younger and older alike, who could benefit from these programs. Bringing people together around animals sounds like a great start! (At our library, we had a program with a local chocolatier—it was all ages, but only for adults who were attending with their young people. We definitely had older folks asking if they could register alone, so I think this would be another great intergenerational program to start with!)
Hi @lauraskor
I really enjoyed viewing your presentation and reading through your innovative idea. I love the community connection through conversations concept; this idea also made me think of a support groups and how they focus on different topics and allows participants to share there thoughts and feelings, especially to people who might can relate but in individual ways. This is so important and contributes to a person mental well-being and sense of belonging in an informal way. Again, great idea and information, thank you!
Thanks, @raeharvey! That’s a good point about support groups! Maybe studying support groups would be another way to support these community dialogue programs (or even bring in a social worker or therapist to help facilitate some of the more sensitive ones?!).