New Issue Materials Related to COVID-19 Pandemic |
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As the United States slowly emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, many questions remain about what communities should do over the long run to keep people safe, get their local economies moving again, and prepare for future outbreaks.
In thinking about different ways to approach the problem, we will consider such questions as:
- How much should we change our lives to adapt to the virus?
- What responsibilities does each of us have to our neighbors?
- How should we weigh the community’s health against the need for more people to go back to work?
- How much weight do we put on reaching consensus and avoiding the controversies and divisions that may emerge?
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How should we teach all of our children now while keeping them safe?
In thinking about different approaches, we will consider these questions:
- How will these proposals affect student learning?
- How will they affect students’ social and emotional needs?
- Should we consider different approaches for younger children, low-income children, or those with learning disabilities?
- Schools provide meals, counseling, social learning, friendships, and extracurricular activities. How will these be affected?
- What kinds of resources—money, teachers, and more —do schools need in order to return to in-person learning? Do the schools have enough resources? If not, how could we provide them?
- How should we make up for the educational and other losses that all children suffered over the last year? How should we address the educational inequities that the pandemic both exposed and made worse?
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Click here to read more about these two new issue discussion guides.
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Let us know what you are doing |
Do you have news or events related to the deliberative public forums work you do? We'd love to be able to share what you're doing. Please send information to Patty Dineen.
If you are planning to hold a forum or workshop, please post a few details in the Events area of the National Issues Forums (NIF) website by logging in and clicking here.
Support public deliberation
Would you like to make a difference in how people talk about public issues in our society? There are three ways to support our work: donate to the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), the Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund, or the Elizabeth "Libby" Kingseed Teaching With Deliberation Memorial Award. Click below to learn more and to donate.
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About Deliberation in National Issues Forums |
National Issues Forums issue guides are designed to stimulate public deliberation, which is a way of making decisions together that is different from discussion or debate. The purpose of deliberative forums is to inform collective action. As citizens, we have to make decisions together before we can act together, whether with other citizens or through legislative bodies. Acting together is essential for addressing problems that can't be solved by one group of people or one institution. These problems have more than one cause and therefore have to be met by a number of mutually reinforcing initiatives with broad public participation.
About the National Issues Forums Institute
The National Issues Forums Institute's mission is to promote the use of public deliberation in schools, colleges, civic organizations, and religious institutions in the United States. The institute's board members are volunteers drawn from leaders in government, colleges and universities, libraries, civic organizations, the media, and medicine. For more information visit www.nifi.org.
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