The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice Manual

of an action project can be daunting if the group feels itself limited in time and/or expertise, or
has divergent interests among members. In some instances, groups have subdivided for purposes
of action projects while preserving their identity as a whole. The next section explains how the
Network and the Buffalo Coalition for Common Ground arrived at a project that met both its
interest in, and its capability for, acting on an important local issue, by expanding the pool of
interested participants. In the process we created a model for community dialogue.
Common Ground on Teen Pregnancy
In 1996 the Network and the Buffalo Coalition for Common Ground (BCCG) sponsored
a community-wide dialogue on teen pregnancy prevention for a broad spectrum of the Buffalo
community where there was firm disagreement over prevention approaches (e.g.. “abstinence
only” versus birth control.) The purpose was to more fully define the problem, surface
overlapping concerns and locate common strategies that could be acted upon. The desired
outcome was new and fruitful relationships between segments of the community that had been
unwilling to work together in any way.
The motivation for the project came from deep concern about a sustained high rate of
teen pregnancy and its consequences for the community. This subject had repeatedly emerged as
an area of common ground between pro-choice and pro-life advocates. However, a lack of
expertise and insufficient direct involvement with the issue among BCCG members had thwarted
the group’s efforts to formulate an effective action plan. Key community stakeholders and
activists on teen pregnancy prevention were not in the group.
The Network suggested and BCCG agreed to assume the role of neutral convener for a
larger community forum. What BCCG offered was its expertise and credibility in the process of
getting people of differing and conflicting perspectives to work together and its mixed prochoice/pro-life
constituency. This mixed constituency provided access to the various elements
of the community whose participation was needed, and also built trust that this project was not
an effort to coopt anyone, or force a compromise, since the overlap between positions on
abortion and teen pregnancy prevention strategies was large. The needed special knowledge and