The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice Manual

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After thanking participants for their introductory letters, the facilitator’s second message calls for group members to elaborate the cursory outlines of their views on abortion by “telling their stories." This can be achieved through asking a question such as, "What experiences in your life have been pivotal in the formulation of your beliefs about abortion?" or “How have you come to the views you now hold – what was that journey?” The facilitator follows this question with an inquiry about any topics or questions participants want to put on the dialogue "agenda." The inquiry might be, "What topics most interest you?", or "What question would you like to pose to the people taking the opposite position?" Going this latter route, it is best that the facilitator remind the participants of what makes a genuine question (see Chapter Five), and of the need to reflect on a question before answering it. Group members get about one week to respond. From here on, the facilitator is going to essentially support the participants in following their own inclinations. It may help to keep the group focused by asking more questions about specific areas of common ground that surface, or making suggestions for topics of discussion that seem to be emerging. Any of the dialogue questions in Chapter Three can be productive. To help participants identify the emerging common ground, the facilitator uses messages with a prompt: "As you face the reality of the differences [which will definitely have surfaced], what are the common concerns of yourself and others?"; and "Please comment on 'common concerns' you hear being raised in each others' statements and their meaning to you." Closing Session When the scheduled end date comes close, the facilitator advises participants that their mutual commitment has been fulfilled and brings things to closure by asking what people have learned or gained through the dialogue. Having experienced six weeks of dialogues, it may be that some participants will be so engaged they want to continue the dialogue. If so, the facilitator can suggest ways to do this, including exchanging email addresses for informal direct dialogue sessions, continuing the listserve address, or acting on one area of common ground that emerged in the dialogue. Several of these options depend on the continued availability of the
listserve and, possibly, the facilitator if his/her participation is desired. Finally, the facilitator proceeds with a closure letter thanking the participants for their time and effort. We advise that the organizer then ask participants to evaluate the dialogue by responding to a brief email questionnaire. The answers can be compiled and shared with the facilitator, who will appreciate the feedback. What you learn will be very useful if you conduct a dialogue again. The evaluation questions found in Chapter Five can be adapted for this purpose. II. A COMMON GROUND CONFERENCE The Network for Life and Choice (the Network) held two national conferences: in 1996 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in 1998, at Syracuse University. These conferences were a natural "next step" for a project like the Network that linked and supported common ground efforts across the country. We believed that gathering common ground activists together in one place would be a powerful way to support those "doing the work", spark new efforts and action projects, and expose the media and public to the idea of common ground in the abortion conflict. Planning The Importance of the Planning Group To achieve our goals, these conferences had to be inviting and interesting to the broad spectrum of people we hoped to draw: both pro-choice and pro-life activists, facilitators and mediators, academics, community leaders, and journalists. It would not be a common ground conference if only pro-life people were attracted, or only facilitators and mediators. Network staff worked closely with our national Steering Committee, composed of pro-choice and pro-life advocates, community activists and mediators, in the planning and design. The range of perspectives and backgrounds represented led to conference programs that responded to multiple interests, and that resonated with both pro-choice and pro-life people, as well as people interested in facilitating dialogue. The planning group’s ideas for topics and presenters were
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The Common Ground Network for Life
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Common Ground Concepts Appendix 1.1
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over abortion. The Network came int
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together out of a mutual commitment
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About the Authors Mary Jacksteit wa
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others are “wrong.” Debate tend
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other people with the same label, d
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etween people related to one anothe
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Appendix 1.1 THE COMMON GROUND DIAL
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• Dialogue questions, not “topi
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Appendix 1.3 The Search for Common
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CHAPTER TWO: GETTING STARTED People
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eferred interested people to the lo
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4. Offer and accept views without a
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CHAPTER THREE: PLANNING FOR DIALOGU
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Another type of workshop might have
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Dialogue Workshop. Based on experie
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hour training session for workshop
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First Small Group Dialogue After th
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may be particularly concerned that
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Appendix 3.1 WORKSHOP PLANNING MEET
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Appendix 3.2 Dialogue Workshop Mate
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9:00 am Check-in, Welcome, Large gr
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Appendix 3.4 Sample letter to small
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Appendix 3.6 COMMON GROUND DIALOGUE
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Session Time: 30 minutes.
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(5 meaning strongest agreement and
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COMPARISON OPINION SURVEY If you ar
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5 4 3 2 1 (5 meaning strongest agre
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Appendix 3.9 OPINION SURVEY RESULTS
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Appendix 3.10 Exploring Stereotypes
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COMMON GROUND WORKSHOP Evaluation Q
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language, insuring understanding be
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Page 82 and 83: [5 min] -Communicate care for the s
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Page 95 and 96: CHAPTER FIVE: “WHAT NEXT?” Freq
Page 97 and 98: dialogues: • Reducing the rate of
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Page 108 and 109: • Working together to remove the
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Page 112 and 113: Appendix 5.4 A Structured Community
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Page 119 and 120: Structuring an email dialogue Organ
Page 121: it is important to stress the signi
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Page 127 and 128: impartial. To the extent possible,
Page 129 and 130: Engaging one's adversaries in a pos
Page 131 and 132: Appendix 6.1 On-Line Dialogue Dear
Page 133 and 134: Time frame. In order to give the gr
Page 135 and 136: CHAPTER SEVEN: ADAPTING THE DIALOGU
Page 137 and 138: undermine the genuineness of the di
Page 139 and 140: Discussion in small groups follows
Page 141 and 142: Afternoon Small Group Session [This
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Page 148 and 149: Appendix 8.1 COMMON GROUND CONFEREN
Page 150 and 151: ealize," agrees Frederica Mathewes-
Page 154 and 155: CHAPTER NINE: RESOURCES There are c
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