A Community Table: Democracy Edition

We are a nation brought to the brink. It's up to each one of us to help bring it back, through meaningful dialogue and solutions-oriented conversations about the issues that matter most to you and your community, in spaces that challenge while they protect and allow you to work toward a better tomorrow, together. 

A Community Table is an online platform through which you can engage in structured, meaningful, solution-oriented conversations about the issues that matter most to you and your community. DU Grand Challenges provides the tools (sample invitations, conversation guides, facilitation training webinars, and more) that you need to host a  conversation. You choose when, on what platform, and with whom to have that conversation. It's that simple. 

Interested in hosting A Community Table: Democracy Edition conversation?
Get Hosting Details

All of our materials are online, free, and available to download at anytime. In addition to our traditional facilitation guide and conversation prompts, you can to access information on the best web platforms for A Community Table, step-by-step instructions on how to use those platforms, and more. You can use the online meeting platform of your choice (for example, Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts). 

What do we hope to accomplish with A Community Table? We have three overarching goals:

• Foster rich civic dialogue
• Build community capacity to solve public problems
• Identify opportunities to partner with you to tackle grand challenges.

We look forward to hearing your voice about issues that matter to you and how you think DU and the community can collaborate to address them. As with all Community Tables, we will use the information to continue to inform our efforts and planning for the coming academic year.

A huge shout out to our friends in DU DialogUes and Inclusion & Equity Education for collaborating with us to create our new A Community Table materials!  We so value and appreciate you sharing your time, energy, and wisdom with us. All things are better when we work together!

A Community Table is modeled after The Chicago Community Trust's On The Table event. We offer our sincere thanks to the Trust for their encouragement and support for replicating their model. 

Host A Community Table Conversation

Table hosts organize an online conversation for a group of people. Groups between 5 and 10 people work really well!

Hosts are responsible for:

• Registering your conversations
• Picking a date, time, and an online platform on which to meet
• Inviting guests (whoever you want!) and communicating when and on what platform you'll meet
• Reviewing the Table Host Guide and watching the facilitation webinars
• Facilitating your conversation 
• Encouraging participant to complete the post-survey
• Completing your host survey

We also ask that you encourage participants to host their own conversations. Let's keep building our communities!

Virtual Host Resources

• Host Materials - Democracy Edition

  You can find the question prompts and other important information in the Democracy Edition Conversation guide. The guide is designed to ensure you have flexibility around what topics or events you want to discuss and which questions you want to ask.

  For guidance on facilitation, planning your conversation, and more, please check out the Host Handbook.

   

   

• Facilitator Training Webinars

  This short webinar series covers everything you need to know to plan and host A Community Table. While you don't need to watch all of the videos at once, please do watch them sequentially. You can access the full video playlist here or use the links below to jump to a specific video.

  • Video 1: An Introduction to A Community Table
  • Video 2: Host Facilitation Overview 
  • Video 3: Facilitating the Content
  • Video 4: Logistics & Resources

   

• Participant Recruitment Resources

  ​​​​Ready to invite your guests? Save some time by using the templates below for invitations and reminders.

  • Participant Invitation Template 

  • Participant Reminder Template 

• Web Platforms

  You are welcome to use any platform you like to host your conversation. You could even host over the phone if you wanted. While there are any number of web platforms available, we find Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Cisco Webex to be easy and useful platforms for A Community Table conversations. Below, please find resources and tutorials for those platforms. 

  ZOOM

  If you're a DU faculty member, staff member, or student, you have access to the professional version of Zoom. If you're not affiliated with DU, you can still use Zoom for free. The Office for Teaching & Learning has a host of resources on the ins and outs of using Zoom on their website. We recommend the following tutorials to get you started:

  • How Do I Host a Video Meeting on Zoom?
  • Inviting Others to Your Zoom Meeting
  • How to Share Your Screen in Zoom

   

  GOOGLE HANGOUTS

  Google Hangouts allows you to host meetings (Google uses the term "video call") with up to ten people for an unlimited amount of time. In order to use this platform, you and your guests must all have Gmail accounts. We have created the tutorial below on basic topics including how to set up a video call, invite your guests, and use functions like "chat" while facilitating your conversation. We also recommend perusing Google's Hangouts Chat Help Center.

  • Introduction to Google Hangouts
  • Google Hangouts Chat Help Center

   

  CISCO WEBEX

  Cisco Webex allows you to host meetings with an unlimited number of participants for however you long you want. It also has features like screen sharing. We have created the tutorial below on basic topics including scheduling and running a meeting. If you use Webex, we recommend setting up an account now due to the high volume of users on the platform. Cisco also has a host of resources on their site including video tutorials and FAQs.

  • Introduction to Cisco Webex
  • Cisco Webex Meeting Video Tutorials
  • Cisco Webex Help Center

   

  Please contact us at CCESL.ACommunityTable@du.edu with questions.

• Conversation Tools

   

  Tell the world about your ideas and insights! Please share the social media information below with your guests at the start of your conversation. 

  Make sure to tell us, too, by completing the host survey and providing the participant survey link to your guests. DU Grand Challenges takes your feedback seriously and integrates the ideas you share into our collaborative programming. 

  Tools for you:

  • Social Media
  • Host Survey

   

  Tools to share with your guests:

  • Social Media
  • Participant Survey
• Issue Resources

  Not sure what to talk about? We invite you to peruse the resources below. Please note that these resources are not exhaustive. They are simply meant to be a conversation tools. If one of these issues resonates with you, you might consider sending the link to your guests beforehand to help orient the conversation. Please note that all resources are specific to Colorado.

  DUGC INFOGRAPHICS

  • Education Access: Denver's Opportunity Gap
  • Food Security
  • Health Equity
  • Immigration & Refugee Resettlement
  • Resource Conservation

   

  SHIFT RESEARCH LAB REPORTS

  If you haven't heard of the Shift Research Lab, you definitely want to check them out. A program of the Piton Foundation, they provide reliable, objective data and analysis on some of Denver's most pressing issues. Check out their work below.

  Education

  • Youth & Education: DPS Enrollment Forecast

   

  Employment

  • Employment in the Denver Metro Region

   

  Gentrification

  • Gentrification: A Recent History in Metro Denver
  • Our Changing Denver Region

   

  Families & Children

  • Colorado's Youngest: A Profile of the 0-5 Population
  • Early Childhood Development
  • The Labor Market's Impact on Families

   

  Housing 

  • Homeownership
  • Exploring Colorado’s Housing Affordability Challenges

   

• For Faculty

  Faculty members are encouraged to host A Community Table conversations with friends, colleagues, community partners--whoever you like.

  If you're specifically interested in integrating A Community Table into one of your courses, we encourage you to visit our A Community Table ePortfolio page for additional resources and tools.

• Contact Information

  Please contact us at ccesl@du.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!