On May 9, 2018, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. ET, the Kettering Foundation and the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) will host A Public Voice 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. A panel will discuss outcomes from early forums on the issue of immigration. A more complete report will be available later in the year that will draw from forums held throughout the coming months.
The event will also feature discussions about divisiveness in public life.
We want YOUR stories in YOUR words to be part of the conversation in DC. Join the Facebook event to be notified when we start broadcasting via Facebook Live, and Kettering program officer Amy Lee will collect your comments and relay them to the panelists.
About A Public Voice
A Public Voice is Kettering's annual event that brings together policymakers and practitioners of deliberative democracy from around the country to discuss the work of citizen deliberations and how policymakers and citizens might align. This year, A Public Voice will focus on how the public thinking that is emerging from National Issues Forums on immigration (among other issues) differs from the public opinion data usually available to policymakers. The roundtable will also discuss divisiveness in American public life as a potential subject for a future NIF issue guide and forum series. Gary Paul, a National Issues Forums institute director and professor at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, will moderate the exchange among members of a roundtable that will include:
- John Doble, Kettering Foundation senior associate and contributing editor of the Coming to America issue guide
- Jean Johnson, National Issues Forums Institute vice president for moderator development and communications and contributor to the Coming to America report
- Alberto Olivas, executive director, Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service, Arizona State University
- Virginia York, National Issues Forums moderator, Panama City, Florida
- Oliver Schwab, chief of staff, Rep. David S. Schweickert
- Mischa Thompson, senior policy advisor, US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
- Adam Hunter, former director, immigration and the states project, Pew Charitable Trusts
- Betsy Wright Hawkings, program director, governance initiative, Democracy Fund