Dr. Margaret Holt leads a deliberative dialog training session at the Russell Library.
Established in 2008, the Russell Forum for Civic Life in Georgia is a civic engagement program that provides training, community deliberative forums on public policy issues, and collaboration with interested partners.
Drawing on programs developed by the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute, the Russell Library’s deliberative dialogs explore an array of timely and complex topics including the economy, internet privacy and security, the state of higher education, and political partisanship and polarization in America. Russell Forums are always completely non-partisan and facilitated by a trained, neutral moderator.
The Russell Library, a founding member of the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, helped create the discussion guide for community dialog “The Divided State of America: How Can We Get Work Done Even When We Disagree?” First published in 2015, “The Divided State of America” explores different strategies for overcoming political partisanship and polarization to make government work for all.
For more information about the program, please contact Jill Severn at jsevern@uga.edu or 706-542-5766.
