Let’s hear it for the Tri-Cities Herald!  They have started a civic engagement forum for their community which is a great model for other communities.  We hope to adapt one of their ideas for our use as we move forward. 

Here’s what they do:  Every Sunday they have a Tri-City Forum Page in the newspaper, which links to an open website for comments on virtually any topic.  The newspaper’s opinion page has space for readers’ comments, but the webpage:  www.tricityforum.com is totally devoted to readers’ comments. 

Registered users can start a blog or respond to others comments. 

They have a weekly forum question, and they can comment on the question or start their own conversations.  The letters to the editor require names, but the website discussion can be anonymous with “nicknames.” 

Now they have added an in-person dimension to this ‘conversation.’  They have teamed up with the Benton Franklin Dispute Resolution Center so people can actually sit together and discuss an issue in the same room.  Their next topic is a discussion of the November ballot measure in Washington State on “death with dignity.”

The in-person event is over two evenings so people can reflect on the conversation.  The Dispute Resolution Center focuses on finding common ground among conflicting points of views.  Read more about it here. 

Now this is what we call civic engagement.  

CodeBlueNow! was founded on civic engagement.  Like the Tri-Cities Herald, we have several means of engagement.  We have an online survey tool so people can tell us what they think. We have just started an online discussion forum so people care share their ideas and ‘talk’ with us and each other.  We are just now starting a book group, so we can read a book and comment on its ideas.  These book groups can be virtual or in person.  We also engage the public by partnering with other nonpartisan nonprofits so they can have discussions with us and within their groups.   We also blog and participate and share ideas and comments with other bloggers.  Soon we will be starting an online advocacy campaign.

The point is that the people need to be heard and we have more in common than we are told by the parties and the pundits.  So, our hats are off to the Tri-City Herald for its commitment to civic engagement!

Cheers and more later.  Kathleen