Here*s what we typically have been using to introduce people to NCDD:

NCDD is a Coalition of organizations and individuals who are committed to strengthening and uniting the growing dialogue and deliberation community. With over 200 pages of resources and a number of interactive features, our website serves as a hub for practitioners, scholars and students of these transformational communication processes.

The Coalition emerged a little over a year ago from the first National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation. The event was unforgettable - it was the first time practitioners and scholars of dialogic and deliberative processes were ever brought together en masse across the spectrum of practice. As you may know, there are many different streams of practice which center around dialogue and/or deliberation (conflict transformation dialogues, deliberative democracy, higher ed dialogues, online deliberation, Bohm dialogue, intergroup relations, etc.). These streams of practice hold similar values and principles, but use different terminology, have different networks, and are familiar with different resources and organizations. NCDD is creating a shared language, a sense of mutual respect and an openness to collaboration among these communities of practice.

Here*s what I (Sandy) think is important about this: *emphasizes that members are committed to something (a common cause) *includes a little about what we do (serving as a hub, providing resources, bringing people together) *acknowledges that there are different streams of practice that we represent/involve *mentions the impact we*ve made * creating a shared language, a sense of mutual respect and an openness to collaboration within the D&D community

Here*s what I don*t like about this: *it*s too long for a mission statement, of course *it doesn*t mean anything to people who don*t know what dialogue & deliberation are *it*s not inviting or inspiring *it doesn*t explain why all of this is important!

So why //are// NCDD*s efforts important?

I spent some time thinking about this recently, and here*s what I jotted down.

*Why is NCDD trying to "strengthen and unite the dialogue & deliberation community"? **In my mind, it*s to enable our community of practice to have a greater collective impact on communities/society. *Why should we try to impact society with our processes and principles? **To improve humanity*s ability to solve problems, make decisions, resolve conflicts, relate to one another. In other words, to create a culture change. To create a more collaborative, egalitarian culture. *Why is that important? **Perhaps it*s a necessary part of human evolution if we*re to survive this time. Certainly it would enable us all to have a better future.

Perhaps the next to last statement will reach the most people:

To improve humanity*s ability to solve problems, make decisions, resolve conflicts, relate to one another. In other words, to create a culture change. To create a more collaborative, egalitarian culture.

So perhaps this is a starting point for NCDD*s mission statement.

Other things to keep in mind about NCDD:

Goals and objectives NCDD has already worked towards (through our conference, website and networking activities):

*Making the dialogue & deliberation community of practitioners and scholars more cohesive. **by helping them connect with each other **by helping them find the information and resources they need **by helping them stay updated on what*s going on in the field **by helping them tackle issues and problems collaboratively **by helping them disseminate the outcomes and key findings of their programs *Developing collective insight about the key questions in our field. *Building collective knowledge and sharing information. *Building practitioners* skills in facilitating and organizing D&D processes. *Developing an agenda and building an infrastructure to support the future activities of this network * and of the dialogue and deliberation community as a whole.

Long-term goals:

*Knowledge and awareness will be increased, both within the field and throughout the public and government, of the types, purposes, potential and outcomes of the processes of dialogue and deliberation. Knowledge will be increased about what these processes accomplish and why they are valuable. *Practitioners will be more likely and able to effectively evaluate their programs, continuously improve strategies and plans, constantly increase their knowledge, share successes and techniques, learn about best practices and promote the dialogue and deliberation processes. *People will more easily and effectively find the information and assistance they need to organize and facilitate dialogue and deliberation programs, and researchers will more easily and effectively access the data they need to analyze the processes and their outcomes.