Westmoreland County Community College Library: Civic Engagement: Civil Discourse

From: The Civil Outlook of Young Adults in America: Executive Summary

Five Principles of Constructive Dialogue

Let Go of Winning: Enter conversations with the goal of understanding.
Get Curious: Seek out the nuances of someone’s perspective.
Share Stories: Tell a story about why an issue matters to you and invite others to do the same.
Navigate Conflict with Purpose: Be aware when tensions rise in a conversation and take the time to move the conversation forward productively.
Find What’s Shared: Purposefully seek similarities during conflict.

From The Constructive Dialogue Institute

ACTA: American Council of Trustees & Alumni
One of the goals of ACTA is to promote academic freedom. They believe "that the free exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of a vibrant democracy."
Better Arguments Project
A national civic initiative created to help bridge divides – not by papering over those divides but by helping people have Better Arguments.
Braver Angels
The mission of Braver Angels is to bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.
Essential Partners: Reflective Structured Dialogue
"Founded in 1989, Essential Partners helps people build relationships across differences to address their communities’ most pressing challenges.... Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD) is a research-based, flexible, scalable framework for systemic change. RSD equips people to interrupt dysfunctional dynamics and build relationships across differences in order to address challenges where they live, work, worship, and learn."
Kialo
A tool to engage in thoughtful discussion, understand different points of view, and help with collaborative decision-making.
National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) - Resources
National Institute for Civil Discourse
From the University of Arizona
Open to Debate
Nonpartisan, debate-driven media organization dedicated to bringing multiple viewpoints together for a constructive, balanced, respectful exchange of ideas.
Respectful Conversation
A high-quality collection of teaching and learning resources designed to promote respectful discourse.
Setting Ground Rules: Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions
"...Ground rules and the examples written by other students to develop your own norms of civil discourse."
TrueViews
Displays estimates of public opinion on many issues and at numerous geographic levels. Simply choose an issue and a geographic level, and the map updates accordingly.