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| National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation | |
|---|---|
| Name | National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation |
| Abbreviation | NCDD |
| Formation | 1999 |
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Region served | United States |
National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation is a network organization that convenes practitioners, scholars, funders, and civic actors involved with public engagement through deliberative democracy, conflict resolution, public participation, dialogue and civic engagement processes. Founded in 1999, it operates at the intersection of practitioner communities associated with community organizing, public policy, social movements, journalism and philanthropy, seeking to build infrastructure for convening, capacity building, and dissemination of practice across sectors such as education, local government, nonprofit organizations and faith communities.
The coalition emerged from practitioner networks active in the late 1990s linked to convenings such as the Kettering Foundation-supported forums and gatherings involving leaders from Public Agenda, Tides Foundation, Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and regional groups including AmericaSpeaks. Early participants included figures associated with Ira Helfand-style public engagement and organizations like Essential Partners, Sierra Club, New Economics Foundation allies and mediators influenced by William Ury and Roger Fisher. Initial conferences attracted staff from Harvard Kennedy School, MIT, University of Minnesota, University of California, Berkeley and state-level practitioners linked to Minnesota Citizens Council on Legislative Choice and the California Endowment. Over subsequent decades the coalition connected networks rooted in events such as the World Forum on Democracy, National Issues Forums, Copenhagen Consensus, and local initiatives spawned after incidents in cities like Boston, Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans.
The coalition’s mission emphasizes strengthening capacity for structured dialogue and deliberation practice among organizations including nonprofit organizations, municipal governments, school boards, labor unions and philanthropic foundations. Objectives include: supporting knowledge exchange among practitioners affiliated with Kettering Foundation, National Civic League, Civic Lifecycle, International Association for Public Participation, and Public Conversations Project; promoting quality standards reflected in materials used by RAND Corporation, American Political Science Association members, and university-based centers; and facilitating collaborations linking community organizers with actors from legal services, healthcare institutions like Kaiser Permanente, and cultural partners such as Smithsonian Institution.
NCDD runs practitioner-facing initiatives including annual convenings modeled after National Issues Forums and workshops similar to programs at Liberty Fund seminars and Eisenhower Institute retreats. Programs have included communities of practice tied to projects funded by foundations like W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and convenings with partners such as National Civic League, Institute for Local Government, Everyday Democracy and Every Voice Center. Training curricula draw on frameworks developed by Deliberative Democracy Consortium scholars, methods used by AmericaSpeaks, and facilitation tools popularized by Search for Common Ground and International Center for Transitional Justice. Digital initiatives paralleled work by Mozilla Foundation, Berkman Klein Center, and civic technology groups aligned with Code for America and The Aspen Institute.
The coalition is structured as a membership network with a small central staff and a volunteer steering committee comprising leaders from organizations such as Public Agenda, Essential Partners, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (do not link), Everyday Democracy, Kettering Foundation affiliates, and university programs including Harvard Kennedy School and Georgetown University. Past and affiliated leaders have included practitioners formerly associated with Civic Practices Network, Institute for Local Government, National League of Cities, Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and independent mediators with ties to American Arbitration Association and Association for Conflict Resolution. Governing practices reflect nonprofit governance models found at Independent Sector, BoardSource, and regional fiscal sponsors used by networks like Tides Center.
NCDD has partnered with national actors such as National Endowment for Democracy, Election Assistance Commission, U.S. Institute of Peace, National Conference on Citizenship, and philanthropic partners including Cleveland Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. Funding models combine membership dues, conference fees, project grants from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, capacity grants from Carnegie Corporation of New York, and contracts with municipal clients similar to engagements by Participatory Budgeting Project or Civic Hall. Collaborative grant projects have involved university research teams from MIT Media Lab, University of Michigan, University of Washington, and evaluation partners like Mathematica Policy Research.
Evaluations of coalition-supported programs have been produced by researchers affiliated with RAND Corporation, Harvard Kennedy School, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Academy of Sciences-linked committees, and independent evaluators like Benetech-associated teams. Impact narratives cite practitioner reports documenting influence on local processes in cities including Portland (Oregon), Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Detroit and in post-disaster settings such as Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Academic citations appear in journals connected to American Political Science Association, Journal of Public Deliberation, and policy briefs from Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. Metrics reported include participant diversity measures used by Center for Community Change and deliberative quality indicators derived from work at Kettering Foundation and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium.
Critiques of the coalition mirror broader debates about deliberative practice raised by scholars and organizations including Ilya Somin, Cass Sunstein, Chantal Mouffe, and commentators in outlets like The New Yorker, Washington Post, and The Atlantic. Common criticisms address questions about scalability similar to concerns voiced regarding AmericaSpeaks, questions about representativeness raised in studies from Pew Research Center and Annenberg Public Policy Center, and debates over neutrality and facilitation standards paralleling disputes involving Search for Common Ground and Facilitation Project controversies. Some funders and civic actors have contested program priorities in contexts involving polarized issues such as immigration reform, healthcare reform, and municipal budget fights observed in Detroit and Baltimore.
Category:Civil society organizations