韦斯特蒙特对话中心 & 审议 过去的谈话
We coordinate and facilitate conversations about multifaceted具有挑战性的话题.
自2018年以来每年秋季和春季, we've hosted conversations amongst community members, 利益相关者, and policymakers in Santa Barbara moderated by student facilitators. We believe that the collective wisdom of citizens, 当不同的声音聚集在一起, 能带来真正的改变. We are so grateful to the numerous Santa Barbara residents who have chosen to engage with us and one another to reach common ground and identify potential courses of action in facing community challenges. Below you'll find promotional materials for previous conversations and reports that summarize our findings from each conversation.
Our fall event for the Westmont Initiative for Public Dialogue and 审议 (WIPDD) focused on the issue of immigration in Santa Barbara County. Using the National Issues Forum guide “Coming to America: Who should we welcome, what should we do?,” WIPDD facilitated a unique civic discussion about the state of immigration in our region. We chose to feature immigration due to its current political resonance and because our region hosts a significant Latin American immigrant population. Sixty people participated in the November 1 deliberation, hosted at the Karpeles Manuscript Library in downtown Santa Barbara.
Westmont students served as facilitators and notetakers at eight-person tables. By creating space for citizens and neighbors to reflect diverse perspectives, to rank things they held valuable differently, and to forge some common ground out of political shrapnel, 学生们学以致用. 正如一位学生睿智地观察到的那样, “No matter how book prepared and experienced we were with practice runs, being with real people who have real stakes in the issue was a completely different experience.”
Indeed, the conversations certainly weren’t easy. The challenge of bridging divides between discrete values systems was immediately apparent, even as the purpose “was not to solve the wicked problem of immigration, 而是互相倾听,用一位学生辅导员的话来说. The subject matter added intensity; we expected that the vast majority of our participants would bring a pre-existing opinion of some sort to the conversation. As expected, many of the tables hosted people with entrenched political views and alliances. Some even came with vivid personal stories that informed their sense of the best way forward. This event uniquely demonstrated the benefits of the deliberative model, especially when considering the ways in which participants worked to cross barriers of race, class, and political orientation to listen intently to each others' views.
2018年4月, community members gathered to discuss what we might do to protect 脆弱的孩子 in our community, 重点关注需要寄养的儿童. We worked to gather a cross-section of community members with interest in this topic and asked participants to discuss priorities in helping 脆弱的孩子. Here is some of what this group learned, expressed, and concluded.
许多与会者认为，加州, 在一般情况下, has a better system for helping 脆弱的孩子 than many other states, although there were key areas that community members felt needed work to better care for 脆弱的孩子 and their caregivers in Santa Barbara County.
The most often mentioned areas needing attention and improvement included the need to support 资源的父母 and families materially, 在情感上, and spiritually; the need to educate the community more broadly as to the nature and needs of the foster care system; the need to increase inter-organizational cooperation and reduce silos, 这样非营利组织, ag娱乐官网ag娱乐官网, and county agencies coordinate their work and share information; the need to make an overall strategic plan to best serve the needs of 脆弱的孩子, incorporating the various organizations already working on different ends of this issue; and recruit more 资源的父母 and families to care for 脆弱的孩子.
当被要求确定前进的方向时, several participants mentioned the need to recognize that many issues facing Santa Barbara County are interconnected, 包括无家可归, 上瘾, 脆弱的孩子, 课堂特殊教育, 提前教育项目, 以及县市预算. Participants seemed to agree that supporting children in loving 首页s and transitioning well into adulthood reduces adult 首页lessness, 上瘾, 长期失业. 也许更重要的是, participants emphasized the need to provide children with care as the fundamental job of communities. Participants also recognized the inherent tensions in trying to best serve the needs of children, 亲生父母, 血缘关系的父母, 资源的父母, 更大的ag娱乐官网. What is best for one may not be best for another. 不过, most participants agreed that all family members need greater support to reduce trauma and provide for needs that go beyond food and shelter, ranging from special education to specialized training. 最后, participants noted that there are roles to play for the County, 对于ag娱乐官网团体, 对于非营利机构, 以及志愿组织. For the sake of our children as well as our overall community health and fiscal responsibility, all need to come together for master planning, 超越孤立的孤岛.