Alabama Issues Forums is a statewide program designed to help local Alabama communities talk through issues of public importance.
AIF provides citizens with an opportunity to come together and address an issue of public concern through deliberation. Deliberation is a form of decision-making that encourages citizens to examine multiple approaches to addressing an issue and ultimately find common ground for action. Through deliberation, we attempt to look at what matters to a community in relation to an issue, and weigh possible action ideas against costs, consequences and tradeoffs.
A neutral moderator guides the deliberative discussion using an issue framework, and a neutral recorder works to capture and share the major themes and ideas. Through public deliberation, we strive to create a shift from simply bemoaning public issues to understanding why they require attention and how a community might take action to address them.
Coaching Community Innovation workshops equip communities and classrooms with the skills to facilitate public forums and foster deliberative dialogue.
Coaching Community Innovation (CCI) workshops equip Alabamians to identify an issue of public concern, engage differing perspectives, and move towards collective action.
These workshops are designed to develop a statewide network of individuals and organizations committed to the growth of deliberative democracy. Deliberation refers to discourse focused on finding common ground and taking action; it’s a conversation that is representative of an entire community, and one that moves towards a solution, rather than simply circling around an issue or problem.
We develop deliberative engagement via our Alabama Issues Forums series, but AIF is only one step within a larger process. Through CCI workshops, we ultimately aim to place the tools for deliberation directly into the hands of Alabamians. We view the people of Alabama as the experts on their communities, and we offer these workshops to individuals and organizations to equip them with the tools they need to develop the deliberative model in their own communities or classrooms.
