Strategy Workshop
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| Proposal for Community Dialogues with Elected Officials |
Purpose:
- 1) to strengthen communication between elected officials and their constituents.
- 2) to enable elected officials to learn more about their constituents' concerns.
- 3) to enable constituents to learn more about their elected officials' activities and related issues.
- 4) to provide individuals and community-based organizations with a public space to discuss pressing issues.
- 5) to help hold elected officials accountable to their promises and the desires of their constituents.
Methods:
A two-hour Community Dialogue is held at the same time each month, such as the second Saturday at 1 PM (to make it easier for constituents to calendar the event in advance).
The location may always be the same or it may rotate to diversify participation (depending on the nature of the electoral district).
The Dialogues begin with a ten-minute report from the elected official or a high-level representative from the official.
Speakers from the audience are selected randomly (those who want to speak put a card with their name on it in a container).
Each speaker has three minutes to address any concern. They can use some of their time to ask a question and receive an answer from the official.
If everyone who wants to speak or ask a question once has done so and time still remains, people will have the opportunity to speak again.
The Dialogue concludes with a ten-minute closing comment from the official.
Community organizations are allowed to distribute literature at tables before and after the Dialogue.
The elected official is responsible for logistics, publicity (including press releases and mailings as feasible), staffing (including volunteers), and selecting the facilitator (who may or may not be the official).
Only people who live in the official's electoral district are allowed to speak.
NOTE: In between these events, community groups could organize a Conversation Circle to reflect on what happened at these Community Dialogues with Elected Officials.