Allison Fine, Demos Senior Fellow New York, NY
$25,000 (second half of a two-year $50,000 grant)

Demos is a nonpartisan public policy research and advocacy organization committed to building a robust, inclusive, and just society based on America's highest democratic ideals. Its Fellows Program supports scholars and writers developing new ideas and engaging in national debates. Allison Fine's fellowship has allowed her to pursue her research on the use of social media to promote dialogue and civic participation among the majority of American citizens not actively involved in public and community life. Besides publishing her first book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age this past fall, Ms. Fine is initiating the Demos Network for Public Participation. Its goals are to create a facilitated hub for research on the impact of social media on public participation, analyze the use and effectiveness of social media for public participation, and provide practical advice, tools, and information to organizations promoting public participation.
www.demos.org



Common Sense California Malibu, CA
Pete Petersen, executive director
$25,000 (second half of a two-year $50,000 grant)

Common Sense California (CSC), the only statewide citizens organization using a deliberative democracy approach to resolving significant public problems and building trust between citizens and government, serves as a bridge between the citizens of California and its elected officials. Founded in 2004, it aims to increase citizen participation in the democratic process, inform and amplify the voice of citizens, and ensure that policy leaders hear and heed that voice. Assisted by a bipartisan board of directors and an organizing committee composed of leaders representing a broad spectrum of professional disciplines, perspectives and sectors, CSC is organizing and launching statewide town meetings on improving and extending health care in California; identifying, promoting and supporting local and regional efforts to find answers to critical problems using deliberative democracy techniques; and encouraging the formation of Citizens Initiative Reviews, in-depth studies of specific California initiatives.
www.commonsenseca.org



Institute for Health Solutions San Raphael, CA
Laurel Mellin, executive director
$25,000

The Institute for Health Solutions (IHS) provides developmental skills training for the prevention and treatment of common and serious bio‑psychosocial problems in children, youth, and adults. The training program, based on the Solution Method™ developed through 25 years of research, equips participants with the developmental skills they need to nurture and set limits from within, improve clarity of thought and decision making, and achieve a state of balance. Originally created to treat childhood obesity, it is used to relieve stress in a wide range of behaviors, including overeating, overworking, smoking, drinking, depression and relationship problems. Through its nationwide network of health providers, IHS offers Solution training through classes, retreats, private coaching, and introductory groups. To disseminate Solution tools more widely, IHS offers a mentoring program to assist Solution graduates in setting up small group training programs in their communities and publishes Solution training packages and kits for individual use and for health practitioners.
www.thepathway.org



International Convention on Human Rights Research Project Berkeley, CA
The Center for Global Challenges and the Law
University of California at Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law
Kirk Boyd, executive director
$50,000

Kirk Boyd, a lawyer and academic, established the International Convention on Human Rights (ICHR) in 2001 to initiate a dialogue process leading to the creation of an international human rights document that elevates economic and social issues to the level of civil and political rights. Inspired by the European Convention on Human Rights now enforceable in 46 countries, ICHR envisions a human rights document ultimately adopted by the United Nations and enforceable in courts worldwide. Adopted as a project of Boalt Hall's Center for Global Challenges and the Law in 2006, ICHR is presently educating legal scholars and the general public about the evolution of international human rights documents and developing a process for involving individuals, organizations, and governments in drafting a new document. ICHR is constructing an interactive Web site to invite people around the world to contribute their thoughts on the document, and in February 2008 will convene the first interdisciplinary drafting conference of international lawyers, scholars, and human rights activists in Berkeley.
www.ichr.org



Just Think San Francisco, CA
Elana Yonah Rosen, co‑founder and executive director
$25,000

A national leader in media education, Just Think trains young people and educators to analyze, evaluate and produce print and electronic media. Since its founding in 1995, it has created and delivered in‑school, after school and online media arts and technical education locally, nationally, and internationally. Just Think's programs integrate critical thinking about the media into the curricula of core school subjects such as math, science, and language arts. By tying content and methods to the real lives of young people, Just Think inspires students to use different media to tell their own stories. Students have contributed to Just Think curricula Flipping the Script: A Hip Hop Guide for the Classroom, Hidden Heroes, and Senior Year. Besides its school programs, Just Think also reaches out to the community at large through film screenings, community events, and its Think Salons, public gatherings designed to encourage people of all ages to think critically about the media.
www.justthink.org



LeaderSpring Oakland, CA.
Cynthia Chavez, executive director
$25,000 (second half of a two‑year $50,000 grant)

LeaderSpring is a leadership development program for executive directors of community-based non-profit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through its two-year fellowship program, it furthers its mission of fostering high-performing organizations by strengthening and connecting the people who lead them. Each year LeaderSpring competitively selects 15 fellows—a majority women and people of color--to participate in its training. The program includes opening and closing weekend retreats, monthly leadership circles, customized professional coaching, and a one-week individual study trip to observe and learn about an organization in another city chosen by the fellow. While LeaderSpring focuses on individuals and their organizations, its ultimate goal is building strong communities. With its emphasis on authenticity, reflection, dialogue, and peer support, LeaderSpring is building a cohort of leaders connected by trust, respect, and friendship and a shared commitment to improving the lives of people living in poverty.
www.leaderspring.org



Mediators Foundation Boulder, CO
Mark Gerzon, founder and president
$50,000 (second half of a two‑year $100,000 grant)

Guided by its overarching goal of fostering global leadership for a peaceful, just, and sustainable world, Mediators Foundation identifies, supports, and connects visionary leaders from around the world to address critical social issues of national and global importance. An incubator for innovative projects for the past 20 years, it recently launched the Conflict Transformation Collaborative. Working in partnership with the United Nations Development Program’s Bureau of Conflict Prevention and Recover, it will convene a core group of international conflict resolution practitioners to form an independent, cross-institutional learning community. This past year, Mediators celebrated the publication of Leadership is Global: Co-Creating a More Humane and Sustainable World. The book, a product of Mediator’s Global Leadership Network project, contains contributions from 22 international senior leadership practitioners on the need to increase dialogue and collaboration across countries, cultures, disciplines, and sectors.
www.mediatorsfoundation.org



Mobilize.org Berkeley, CA and Washington, DC
David B. Smith, founder and executive director
$25,000

Mobilize.org is an “all-partisan network” of young adults dedicated to increasing young Americans’ participation in politics and civic matters. To educate youth about the impact of public policy on their lives and, in turn, how they can have an impact on public policy, Mobilize published and disseminated widely the Mobilizer’s Guidebook, a 10-step handbook on organizing and advocacy. In 2005, it launched a dedicated Web site, www.youthpolicyactioncenter.org, an information clearinghouse that includes updates on state-specific programs and political tools for contracting media and politicians. This past April, Mobilize convened top civic leaders to discuss drafting a Declaration of Our Generation, a statement calling for a new citizen-centered approach to democracy. This fall it will convene a Democracy 2.0 Summit, the culmination of a five-month process of gathering ideas through a series of dialogues, focus groups, online chats and research to create the final draft of the Declaration. Mobilize is also planning youth workshops to coincide with the presidential primaries.
www.mobilize.org



On The Move Napa, CA
Leslie Medine, co‑founder and executive director
$50,000 (second half of a two‑year $100,000 grant)

On The Move (OTM) seeks to build strong communities by developing a new generation of young people who have the desire and capability to be leaders in the public sector. It works on multiple fronts promoting excellence in leadership through coaching individuals and organizations, initiating projects to develop new leaders, and increasing collaboration among agencies operating in the same locale. VOICES, OTM’s foster youth center in Napa, offers one-stop services to young people transitioning out of foster care. Launched this year is OTM’s Educational Equity Initiative to increase civic engagement and academic success among youth and adults in Napa, in particular, Latinos. Also underway is its Reach Institute for School Leadership that includes credential programs for new and experienced teachers and coaching academies for teachers and school administrators. Meanwhile, OTM’s professional and organizational development program, On the Verge, continues to prepare young people working in the nonprofit sector to move into leadership positions.
www.onthemovebayarea.org



PassageWorks Institute Boulder, CO
Rachel Kessler, founder and executive director
$50,000 (second half of a two‑year $100,000 grant)

PassageWorks Institute aspires to motivate, prepare, and support educators to implement its model for nurturing the inner lives of students and cultivating their social and emotional intelligence throughout an entire school district. PassageWorks’ brand of Social and Emotional Learning incorporates a variety of principles and practices based on experiential learning and dialogue. Working with eight partner agencies, PassageWorks recently launched a multiyear demonstration and research project in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado that has a large, diverse student population. It is also now starting a secondary demonstration and research site with a school district in Missouri. In addition to developing its training and curriculum and documenting its practices through research and evaluation, PassageWorks is also currently implementing an outreach program. Through publications, keynote speeches, and parent education, it will promote discussion and learning among educators, youth development specialists, and parents regarding the relationship between students’ inner lives and their academic performances.
www.passageways.org

Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
Chris Gates, executive director
Denver, CO
$25,000

Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), an affinity group of grantmakers, was formed in 2005 to stimulate interest and investment in civic engagement within the philanthropic sector. PACE defines civic
engagement as the commitment to participate in and contribute to the improvement of one’s community, neighborhood, and country through such activities as volunteerism, community organizing, political advocacy, and participation in town hall meetings. With a goal of building a community of knowledgeable grantmakers committed to funding innovative and effective means of encouraging civic engagement and deliberative democracy, PACE has planned a series of activities to promote the exchange of ideas and information: arrange monthly check-in calls for members, conduct research on new approaches to civic engagement, convene four telephone briefings for national funders, host events at meetings of Regional Association of
Grantmakers, participate in the Council on Foundation’s Philanthropic Summit, and develop a more comprehensive Web site.
www.pacefunders.org

Reuniting America Ashland, OR
Ana Mick and Michael Ostrolenk, co‑directors
$25,000

Reuniting America is a network of organizations, associations, and individuals engaged in transpartisan dialogue. It seeks to restore civility and respect to our national political dialogue, develop transpartisan coalitions to advance solutions to pressing national concerns, and to empower citizens to set the national agenda and generate policy options. Since 2004, Reuniting America has convened facilitated leadership retreats that encourage dialogue between heads of national memberships organizations and leaders from different political and ideological perspectives. They operate on the assumption that once trust is established, individuals from across the ideological divide can form transpartisan coalitions. Among its successes are bringing together MoveOn.org and The Christian Coalition on the issue of net neutrality and Common Cause and Americans for Tax Reform on an election integrity initiative. Reuniting America is also exploring how to design, test, and evaluate models for effective citizen participation at the local level.
www.reunitingamerica.org

San Francisco Neighborhood Centers Together

Denise McCarthy and Julie Moed, Co-Directors

$25,000

San Francisco Neighborhood Centers Together (SFNCT) is a network of nine multicultural, multigenerational, multiservice organizations whose goal is to improve the quality of life for all city residents and, in particular, residents living in low-income neighborhoods. SFNCT works to strengthen the individual and collective capacity of its members and promote institutional stability through joint infrastructure investments, training, coaching, leadership development, and technical assistance. Besides advocating on behalf of neighborhood residents and agencies, it helps to build strong relationships through ongoing dialogues among organizational leaders, funders, and stakeholders, and shares informational, resources, and expertise within the Neighborhood Centers and the community at large. Among the items on its calendar this year is a Block-by-Block Conference to explain SFNCT’s advocacy work, expanding trainings at Leadership Meetings for Executive Directors, and developing a plan to distribute SFNCT’s film documenting the work of the Neighborhood Centers.

The Beat Within (A Project of the Pacific News Service)
David Inocencio, co-founder and director
San Francisco, CA
$25,000

The Beat Within is a writing and conversation workshop for incarcerated juveniles and a  publication of the participants’ art and writing. Founded in 1996, the program creates opportunities for troubled youth to learn, change, and reflect on their lives through expressive writing and relationships formed with adult facilitators. Its weekly 100-page edition of The Beat is distributed among the contributors and subscribers ranging from Death Row inmates to probation officers, judges, and community workers. Besides working with 800 youth a week in 40 San Francisco juvenile hall units, it offers three-month paid media internships to 50 ex-detainees, which include job training, media skills, financial support, and a safe place to hang out. Two-thirds of its workshop facilitators are ex-detainees. Stretching beyond the classroom, The Beat trains workshop participants to become advocates for incarcerated youth with policymakers at the local and state level and has begun offering satellite workshops and partnerships to promote its model in other states.
www.thebeatwithin.org



The Hybrid Vigor Institute
Denise Caruso, co-founder and executive director
$50,000

Founded in 2000, The Hybrid Vigor Institute is an independent, nonprofit research organization and consultancy dedicated to interdisciplinary and collaborative problem solving in the areas of health, the environment, and human potential. The organizing principle for its work is the shared topic or problem that when studied by several disciplines—the social and natural sciences—has the greatest potential for a shift in traditional thinking. To encourage integrative learning and knowledge the Institute researches, produces and publishes topic-specific journals and books on its Web site; hosts symposia on specific topics; and develops and makes available on its Web site sophisticated methods, tools and technology to help researchers collaborate across disciplinary and geographic boundaries. It is also working to build a global network of diverse, top-ranked thinkers from the public and private sectors comfortable with cross-boundary inquiries. Denise Caruso’s book, Intervention: Confronting the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering and Life on a Biotech Planet won the 2007 Silver Medal for Science in the Independent Publishers Book Awards.
www.HybridVigor.net



The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation Boiling Springs, PA
Sandy Heierbacher, co-founder and director
$50,000 (second half of a two year $100,000 grant)

The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD) is a membership organization providing resources, networking opportunities, and programs for an expanding community of practitioners, scholars, artists, and educators dedicated to solving organizational and social problems using dialogue and deliberation. Founded in 2002, NCDD and its 700 members operate on the shared belief that honest talk, quality thinking, and collaborative action can advance the values of justice, innovation, and democracy. Besides convening a biennial national conference, NCDD’s Web site, an information clearinghouse on dialogue, deliberation and public engagement, serves as a nexus for scholars and practitioners seeking and sharing ideas. NCDD has recently launched a mentorship program to match young, aspiring dialogue and deliberation practitioners with experienced professionals. It is also assisting members in establishing regional networks of dialogue and deliberation practitioners and researchers.
www.thataway.org



The Society for Philosophical Inquiry Williamsburg, VA
Christopher and Cecilia Phillips, co‑founders and executive directors
$25,000 (second part of a two‑year $75,000 grant)

The Society for Philosophical Inquiry (SPI) is a grassroots member organization that promotes the use of Socratic Dialogue as a means of cultivating independent thinking, civility, and active civic engagement. Since 1999, SPI has inspired more than 350 Socrates Cafes in countries around the world. The Cafes, composed of people of all ages and backgrounds, meet in venues ranging from coffee houses and bookstores to senior centers, homeless shelters, and prisons to explore personal and social questions that concern them. In 2006, SPI began delivering in-service workshops to train elementary and middle-school teachers on how to infuse SPI’s approach in their classroom and after-school activities. It also introduced Socrates Cafes to high schools and is currently developing a survey for the teachers and students to evaluate their experiences using Socratic inquiry. Besides its quarterly print newsletter, SPI maintains a Web site that allows users to download facilitation guides, access contact information for Socrates Cafes, and exchange ideas.
www.philosopher.org



Taos Institute Taos, NM
Ken Gergen, executive director
$25,000

The Taos Institute is an educational institution composed of a community of noted scholars and practitioners focused on the ways that shared perceptions anchor individuals’ professional, public, and personal conduct and decisions. Founded in 1992, it locates, creates, and disseminates forms of dialogic practice that promote reasoning and collaboration within families, communities, and organizations around the world. Taos has positioned itself at the interface between the scholarly community and a wide spectrum of societal practitioners from communities of mental health, social work, counseling, organizational change, medicine, gerontology, and community building. To further its educational mission, it started a Ph.D. program offered in partnership with Tilburg University in the Netherlands and a Continuing Education Distance Learning Program for therapists. Besides organizing conferences and workshops, it publishes a book series on social constructionist practice and theory. To reach the widest possible audience, it allows users of it Web site to access all of its resources free of charge.
www.thetaosinstitute.net



Western Justice Center Foundation Pasadena, CA
Najeeba Syeed-Miller, executive director
$25,000 (second half of a two-year $50,000 grant)

The Western Justice Center Foundation (WJCF) strives to create a more civil society through a process of engagement and education that enables individuals and institutions to be partners in building and sustaining peace. Non-partisan and non-ideological in its approach, it works on local, regional, and national projects with children, communities, schools, courts, and governments to achieve peaceful conflict resolution and improve access to justice. As a local and national resource, it provides services and tests new models of mediation and dialogue in the greater Los Angeles area and then communicates the results to a growing national and international constituency. Two of WJCF’s community engagement programs planned for 2007 are The Pasadena Model, a partnership with the Pasadena Police Department to hold dialogue sessions on high-school campuses on preventing violence, and ECO, to research and identify a local government partner in assessing processes used in dealing with conflicts over environmental issues.
www.westernjustice.org

World Café Community Foundation
Juanita Brown and David Isaacs, co-founders
Mill Valley, CA
$25,000

The World Café Community Foundation was established in 2001 to foster the development and dissemination of The World Café, a dialogue process introduced in 1995 by corporate consultants Juanita Brown and David Isaacs. Rooted in a systems thinking approach, the dialogue process guides participants to link and build on conversations as they move between small groups cross-pollinating ideas and discovering new insights into questions important to them. Hundreds of organizations in the U.S. non-profit, private, and public sectors use the World Café process as well as ordinary citizens. Currently, an international community is forming to use the dialogue process as a catalyst for collaborative problem solving, decision-making and action. The Foundation promotes its work through its Web site, resource materials and seminars. Additionally, a network of volunteer stewards is guiding and shaping the work of the foundation through such efforts as strengthening its core operations and infrastructure, hosting a global meetings of meetings in Spain, and developing the next generation of World Café stewards to collaborate with youth leaders from other
organizations.
www.theworldcafe.com

YES! Santa Cruz, CA
Michelle Robbins, co-founder and president
$25,000

Founded in 1990 by two American teenagers, YES! connects, inspires, and empowers the next generation of social changemakers through its “Jams,” week-long retreats for young leaders from around the world. Each Jam brings together 30 talented international changemakers between the ages 15 and 35 to share their knowledge and skills, network, and build alliances. Yes! also initiated Leveraging Privilege for Social Change, gatherings to explore how global issues might shift if resources were shared strategically, and Leveraging Alliance to create opportunities for participants to stay connected and to use their connections to be more effective in achieving their desired outcomes. To date Yes! has held more than 90 Jams attended by thousands of young people from 60 countries. Besides speaking at conferences and on campuses, YES! distributes books, articles, and organizing manuals written and produced by Jam participants.
www.yesjams.org