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Manuals and Guides: Community

Manual Index

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Basic Steps in Creating a Community-wide Program
Part III: Sample Documents
Part IV: Stories of Community-wide Study Circle Programs
Part V: Appendices

Contents

The following outline provides basic steps for organizing a community-wide study circle program. Of course, actual programs never develop in such a tidy, linear fashion! You will sometimes find yourself going hard at several items simultaneously, while wrapping up previous steps and planning later ones.

1. Build a working group of community leaders who are committed to open community dialogue on an issue of common concern. By including people who approach the issue from different perspectives and experiences, you will help ensure a broad base of support for the study circles. (See "Building a central working group." in section 2.2)

2. Hold a study circle among your working group. This will help solidify your collaboration and help your group come to a better understanding of the study circle process and the value of cross-sector dialogue. It will also help you finalize decisions about what discussion materials to use for your program. (See "Selecting and/or Writing Discussion Materials," section 2.3)

3. Decide how your working group will handle the overall coordination of the program. That is, decide who will recruit study circle participants and leaders, and how participants, leaders, and sites will be matched. Communities do this in various ways: in some, the working group "pools" participants and leaders, and then forms study circles that they assign to various sites around the community; in others, the sponsors take primary responsibility for forming the study circles, which remain closely tied to their organizations; in yet other communities, the working group "pairs" or "matches" the study circles that have been organized by individual organizations. (See "What needs to be done, and who will do it? Three general models." in section 2.4)

4. Identify and recruit sponsors who can lend their resources and credibility to the program. They will expand the power of the study circle coalition and help reach out into the whole community. (See "Identifying potential sponsors" and "Recruiting sponsors." in section 2.2) At this stage, some working groups hold kickoff events to recruit sponsoring organizations.

5. Once you have recruited sponsors, hold a few pilot study circles among coalition members, to help solidify the commitment of sponsors and to increase their understanding of the study circle process. Those who participate will gain an increased sense of ownership of the program, and will make a much more powerful call for dialogue to the community as a whole. The success of pilot study circles can gain visibility for the program and help win support from other community leaders and the community at large. Pilot study circles can also help to create a pool of potential discussion leaders. (See "Holding pilot study circles." in section 2.4)

6. Assist sponsors if they are going to be recruiting study circle organizers from among their colleagues and constituents. One way to do this is to share a "pledge of participation," which will help potential organizers understand their role and make explicit their commitment to the program. (See "What needs to be done, and who will do it? Three general models" in section 2.4 and sample document "Pledge of Participation for Study Circle Organizers." )

7. Recruit potential discussion leaders. Sometimes the working group takes primary responsibility for this, and sometimes sponsors are asked to help with recruitment. Whatever the case, when you look for leaders you won't need experts on the topic, but rather people who know how to help people listen and engage in constructive dialogue, and who are comfortable dealing with people of different backgrounds. (See "Recruiting and Training Discussion Leaders," section 2.5, and sample documents "Tips for Recruiting Discussion Leaders," and "Pledge of Participation for Study Circle Discussion Leaders.")

8. Hold a training session for the discussion leaders. A local college or university, or a human relations organization, might be able to organize this facet of the study circle program. Such organizations should be part of the central working group if they are going to provide ongoing support for discussion leaders. (See "Recruiting and Training Discussion Leaders," section 2.5 and the booklet entitled A Guide to Training Study Circle Leaders.)

9. Set a range of dates for the full-fledged program so that all of the study circles in the community will occur more or less within the same time frame.

10. Hold a "kickoff" event to broadcast the study circle program. This is an ideal way to generate media coverage and gain greater community visibility. Refer to what transpired in your pilot study circles, and state clearly how and why people should take part in the study circles. (See "Kickoff and Celebration Events," in 2.6 and "Publicizing the Program." in 2.8)

11. Work with your study circle organizers as they recruit participants. (See "Coordinating the Overall Study Circle Program," section 2.4 and "Recruiting Participants," section 2.7)

12. Let the study circles begin!

13. During the study circles, be available to discussion leaders and study circle organizers. After the study circles have been meeting for a couple of sessions, convene the leaders and trainers so that they can share questions, challenges, and ideas with one another. Organizers may need your advice and assistance in working out scheduling, overflow, etc.

14. Hold a community function at the conclusion of the program. Use this event to inform participants about new and existing action opportunities. It can be a chance for people to reorganize themselves into action groups and new sets of study circles, or to report to officials and community leaders. It is also an important opportunity to celebrate the successes of the program! (See "Kickoff and Celebration Events," section 2.6)

Remember that the Study Circles Resource Center can provide assistance and advice as you plan and implement your program.

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2.2 Building a Coalition to Sponsor and Organize the Discussions

Sample Documents

"Community Survey"
"Letter of Invitation to Potential Sponsors"
"Pledge of Participation for Sponsors"

Establishing a coalition of community organizations that will sponsor and organize the discussions is the most important step in creating a community-wide study circle program. The coalition usually includes a small central working group that takes responsibility for the overall program, and a larger group of sponsors that provides resources, credibility, and connections to participants.

Keep in mind the vision of what you are creating: a strong, diverse coalition dedicated to citizen dialogue and involvement. If you strive to know your community and to build a broad coalition that represents many sectors, voices, points of view, concerns, and experiences, your study circle program will have tremendous vitality and appeal in the community.

This kind of coalition-building requires unique leadership, a working knowledge of community dynamics, and a willingness to learn as you go. For example, you will likely have to work through the turf and ownership issues, mistrust, and genuine disagreements that are part of any collaboration. Because study circles do not promote one particular point of view or try to persuade people to take a particular action step, potential coalition partners can usually find ways to work through these tensions. After all, the partners do not have to agree on an exact definition of the problem, or on specific solutions—they must agree only on the importance of citizen involvement and dialogue in addressing the issue. In fact, as potential coalition partners come together for the express purpose of promoting grassroots dialogue, they themselves often have their first real opportunity to engage in open, honest, cross-sector dialogue.

As you recruit program sponsors, you may encounter reservations about the benefits of public dialogue and involvement. Even though many organizations believe that public involvement is important, most have had little tangible experience in creating opportunities for that involvement. Part of your job, then, will be to help people understand that broad-based dialogue is an important and doable way to address a community concern and to achieve their organizational goals. (See "What do communities gain from community-wide study circles?" and "Measuring the Outcomes of Community-wide Study Circle Programs." section 2.10)

Building a Central Working Group

There are two general approaches to building a central working group. In some communities, organizations with a history of working together decide to carry their collaboration into creating a study circle program. There are obvious advantages to such an approach: people already know one another, feel comfortable working together, and have the blessing of their sponsoring organizations for their collaborative work.

In other communities, there is an intentional effort to build a working group of "unlikely partners"—that is, of organizations that approach the issue from quite different experiences and perspectives. While the establishment of this kind of working group may take longer than the first approach, it can yield great rewards. In some cases, the call for dialogue will be credible to the larger community only if all the important (and different) community leaders are making the call together.

Whichever way you form your working group, share the proposed discussion materials early on and hold a study circle among yourselves. Such a pilot provides a valuable opportunity to get to know one another in new ways, to discover ways to work together, and to gain understanding of the value of study circles for the general community.

Identifying Potential Sponsors

As your working group begins to consider the larger group of program sponsors, think broadly. Think of the various sectors of the community, and of the organizations and agencies that could help carry study circles into these sectors. It is important to realize that no one can know all the institutions and people that are already working on an issue, or that would like to be involved. So, even if you have been working on this issue in your community for a very long time, take some time to explore the range of groups in the community and to ask whether they would like to become involved in the study circle program.

A simple survey of the agencies and organizations around your community will help you better understand the lay of the land—especially if you ask respondents to provide contact information for other organizations you should know about. (For a model of an informal survey, see "Community Survey.") This survey can help you avoid, or at least minimize, the need to approach someone at a later date to say, "We're sorry. We know now that you should have been invited to join us at the start of our program. Would you join us now?"

In thinking about potential sponsors, remember that your program's scope depends on the grassroots outreach potential of your sponsors. What organizations can and will make the commitment to signing up participants? Some of the organizations and institutions which regularly come into contact with large numbers of people include churches, membership organizations, senior centers, businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies. Who has "the ear" of varying segments of your community? Think in terms of your community's variety of racial and ethnic groups, economic levels, occupations, and political views, and don't forget to include new arrivals in your community.

Who has visibility and credibility in your community? After thinking in terms of the different parts of your community, think of who can effectively speak to the entire community to make the plea for dialogue. Is it a public official or "city hall"? A group of community leaders? A widely respected civic organization? A newspaper or other media organization? (See "Media support and partnership in community-wide programs." in section 2.8)

Who has the resources to help pull the program together? Staff time for organizing your program is a critical need, and the organization(s) devoting the most staff time should obviously be part of your working group. Another resource, expertise for your discussion leader training, is probably available in your community.

An important note: Many communities have started out small. That is, rather than take on every community sector in the first study circle round, the working group has recruited sponsors from one particular sector—say, from religious congregations throughout the city, or from high schools or neighborhood associations. Then, in successive rounds, it has reached out to a wider group of potential sponsors. This incremental approach allows the working group to gradually build support for the study circles and to learn as it works toward broad sponsorship.

Recruiting Sponsors

After identifying potential sponsors, you can start recruiting them to support the study circle program in various ways. Share discussion materials with potential sponsors early on, to give them a clear idea of what the study circles will entail. Individual members of the working group might talk with potential sponsors one-on-one, either through visits or phone calls.

To follow up on these conversations, you might hold a strategizing meeting between the working group and potential sponsors. At this meeting, you can explain the study circle idea, lay out your plans, solicit feedback, and brainstorm on next steps. Such a meeting also provides a setting in which the broader coalition can begin working together.

In some communities, once the working group has identified potential sponsors, it plans a large community event to which potential sponsors are invited. There, the working group makes a broad public call for community sponsorship of the study circles, and asks for commitments from potential sponsors. Some of these events receive substantial media coverage and help publicize the study circles to the general public.

Whether you decide to hold a less formal working meeting, or a more formal "kickoff" event, a "pledge of participation" for sponsors will help you clarify plans. (See "Pledge of Participation for Sponsors.")

Holding Pilot Study Circles

In many communities, the coalition (the working group and sponsors) holds "pilot" study circles at this stage of the planning. Some communities devote months to this stage. The pilots help solidify coalition members' commitment by allowing them to experience firsthand the value of really listening to different viewpoints, of clarifying their own thinking, and of working with others to find new ideas for addressing the issue.

Pilot study circles also enable sponsors to be more credible spokespersons for the study circles. In some cases, sponsors who have participated in the pilot discussions have been so convinced of study circles' value that they have asked to join the central working group! Pilot study circles can also provide a pool of potential discussion leaders for the full-fledged program.

Funding and Staffing Your Program

The success of a community-wide program generally depends on its being adopted by an organization which sees promoting public dialogue as an integral part of its mission. This key organization—one of the central working group members—acts as the overall coordinator of the program and as a central hub for communication among coalition members and throughout the whole community. Organizations which have played this role include mayor's offices, city councils, interfaith or ecumenical organizations, YWCAs, National Conference affiliates, and human relations commissions.

In some cases, this coordinating organization is able to incorporate the study circle work into its budget. In other cases, outside funding may be required to hire study circle staff, or to support the dedication of existing staff to the study circle program. Increasingly, study circle programs are receiving funding from community foundations, the United Way, local corporations, and local government. SCRC staff can assist with your fundraising by providing letters of support which outline our in-kind services and help potential funders understand the broader context of your efforts.

Whether you are seeking outside funding or are integrating study circles into your organization's budget, the list on the following page represents the basic kinds of expenditures and "in-kind" contributions you may want to include in your budget. (Including in-kind contributions will give you a much more realistic view of the actual cost of your program.)

We are not including figures, since they vary so much from program to program, but sample budgets developed by various communities are available from SCRC. Please note that we are not suggesting that you include every item listed here in your program, but rather offer these items as suggestions for what you might include.

Possible Budget Items

Promotion (including design costs)

Major mailings

Stationery
Printing/photocopying
Postage

Posters/flyers
Newspaper advertisements

Kickoff and celebration events


Food/refreshments
Room rental
Decorations
Honoraria for speakers

Meetings with sponsors


Refreshments

Staff (including benefits, often calculated at 15%)


Program coordinator
Discussion leader training and support
Support staff
Volunteers (listed as in-kind)

Office expenses


Telephone Postage (possibly including the expense of mailing materials to facilitators and/or participants)
Photocopying

Discussion leaders


Training

Materials*
Room rental
Meals or refreshments
Honorarium for a trainer
Travel and lodging expenses for trainer (if from out of town)

Volunteer hours (usually in-kind, though some communities pay small stipends)
Travel expenses
Child care

Discussion materials for participants*

*For community-wide study circle programs, SCRC provides free copies of its materials. (For exceptionally large programs, we provide our materials at cost.)

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2.3 Selecting and/or Writing Discussion Materials

Constructive dialogue on a public issue requires a basic understanding of the discussion process and some shared knowledge about the issue. Good discussion material helps to convey these basics.

The material should give study circle participants a clear idea of how the sessions will progress, what the discussions will cover, and what is expected of them. The materials should also help leaders provide focus and structure for each session and for the overall program.

In addition, good material helps convey the essence of study circles to groups and individuals who show interest in participating in the program. For this reason, the working group often shares discussion material as a first step in recruiting other working group members or in recruiting sponsors for the program.

The materials you share with sponsors, discussion leaders, and participants—usually reading materials, sometimes augmented by videotapes—should provide these critical elements:

• Basic Information about the study circle process. The Study Circle Handbook includes two sections that you might photocopy for participants: "What is a study circle?" and "The role of the participant."
• Some basic information about the issue being discussed. Even though expertise is not a goal of the study circles, a common baseline of information provides a solid starting place for the discussions.
• Structure and continuity for several sessions of discussion. SCRC materials usually lay out a progression of sessions roughly along the following lines:

  Session 1: Introduction to the study circle process, sharing of personal experiences and concerns about the issue;

  Session 2: A range of views on the issue (with questions to help people explore a variety of views);

  Session 3: What are some ways to address the issue? (perhaps looking at how other communities have handled the same or a similar issue);

  Session 4: What can we do in this community?

  This progression has worked well on many issues in many communities. Of course, different issues may lend themselves to different formats. For example, you will want to incorporate national public policy into the discussions when it is particularly pertinent. In some communities, a definition of the problem itself may be a hot topic for discussion, in which case a session on "What are we facing here?" may be useful.

• Discussion questions for each session. These help focus participants' and leaders' thinking.
• An opportunity to talk about personal concerns, experiences, and perceptions related to the issue. As noted above, this is often the focus for the entire first session of the study circle. This gives people a chance to understand the variety of experiences that exist in the community. This type of discussion also encourages people to see the connection between their personal experiences and the views they hold, and to appreciate how others' experiences might lead to different views.
• A fair, balanced presentation of a range of views on the issue. Presenting a range of views helps ensure that all group members know they have a "place at the table." The material should also help people see the strengths and weaknesses of each view, and thus help them to thoughtfully explore each one. The discussion leader should be careful to present the range of views as a starting point for discussion, not as a list from which people must choose.
• An opportunity to talk about possible action steps. This is usually the focus of the last session of the study circle. Even though coming to agreement about action is not the goal of the study circle, people need the chance to think together about the kinds of steps they—as individuals, or as members of other groups—might take after the discussions. This helps people use the discussions as a step toward making a difference in the community.

SCRC has developed several discussion guides specifically for community-wide discussion programs. (See the resource list at the end of this guide.) We can also recommend materials from our clearinghouse list of discussion materials produced by a variety of other publishers. If you decide to tackle a national policy issue, for example, you should look into the discussion guides developed by the Kettering Foundation's National Issues Forums. (Call 800-433-7834 for more information on NIF, or 800-338-3987 to order their issue books.)

No package of discussion materials should be taken as the last word on how to discuss a topic. Whenever you see fit, you should customize discussion materials for your community. Holding pilot discussions gives sponsors the opportunity to recommend ways to augment the materials. You might, for example, add discussion sessions that address aspects of the issue that are unique to your area, such as pending ordinances or legislation. Local news clippings are a good way to interject your community's unique history with the issue. In Yarmouth, Maine, sponsoring organizations submitted information on the town budget, which the working group then synthesized into readable discussion materials.

In rare instances, organizers of community-wide study circle programs may decide they need to develop completely original discussion material. This is a major undertaking, but one in which SCRC can lend advice. Our Guidelines for Creating Effective Study Circle Material provides a solid starting point.

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2.4 Coordinating the Overall Study Circle Program

Sample Documents

"Pledge of Participation for Study Circle Organizers"
"Tips for Recruiting Discussion Leaders"
"Pledge of Participation for Study Circle Discussion Leaders"
"Study Circle Record Sheet"

Coordination of the study circles requires an overall plan for how participants, discussion leaders, and discussion sites will be matched. It also requires a clear understanding of who is taking the responsibility for the various aspects of the plan. More an art than a science, this is the "nitty-gritty" work of grassroots public deliberation which is so time-consuming and yet so critical to success. In this section, you will see that there are many ways of handling this. We share these ideas as a way to help you and your working group think through program logistics.

What needs to be done, and who will do it?
Three General Models

No matter how you decide to handle the overall coordination, you will need to give attention to detail and be able to respond quickly to last-minute problems. As mentioned previously, one organization within the working group usually staffs the overall coordination of the program.

There are three basic models for coordinating the "who, when, and where?" details of the study circles. Each model entails a different distribution of the workload and will have different implications for the program as a whole. Your decision on which to use will depend upon what you hope to achieve with the study circles, on the needs of your community with regard to the issue you are addressing, and on available staff time.

Keep in mind that these models are very adaptable. Some communities combine various aspects of these approaches.

Model 1: The working group recruits participants from the general public and also recruits discussion leaders. It then takes the responsibility for forming study circles. This is done by grouping participants (often by time availability or in a way that makes each group diverse), matching leaders to those groups, and assigning the groups to sites around the community. This entails heavy organizing responsibilities for the working group. In this model, the working group relies on sponsors primarily for publicity and credibility, and perhaps for helping to recruit participants.

Model 2: The working group recruits sponsors, who in turn recruit study circle organizers from their organizations. These individual organizers then recruit discussion leaders, recruit participants (sometimes from the general public, but often from their own organization's members or constituents), and set up meeting sites and dates. These individual organizers report back to the key coordinator in the working group, who then helps with organizational details. However, the working group has less responsibility than in Model 1.

Model 3: This is a version of the second model. Once the individual organizers have recruited groups of participants and discussion leaders (as in Model 2), the working group then "pairs" or "matches" various groups with each other. In this way, some of the initial organizing work is handled by sponsors. With the more intentional mix of affiliations within each study circle, the working group can ensure diversity. Often, discussion leaders from each pairing (one from each organization) act as co-facilitators. The two organizations may alternate in hosting the study circle meetings.

• Who will recruit the discussion leaders? If the working group will be responsible for finding discussion leaders, you may want to recruit from one or two pools of people who have some kind of group facilitation experience. Advantages to this approach include the fact that the training may not need to be as rigorous as when inexperienced leaders are recruited. If you are asking sponsors to recruit discussion leaders, you will need to give them clear guidelines. (See "Tips for Recruiting Discussion Leaders." )
• Who will recruit study circle participants? Will the working group make a call for dialogue to the general public and provide a way to sign up for study circles, as in Model 1 ? Or, will your sponsors (through their organizers) recruit participants primarily from their organizations, as in Models 2 and 3?
• Who will find the meeting sites? If you are asking your sponsors to take on this particular aspect of organizing, you may want to provide pointers on what makes a suitable site. (See "Selecting the sites" below.)
• Who will match groups of participants, discussion leaders, and sites? Will you "pool" all participants and leaders and then assign them to groups and sites, as in Model 1? Or will you ask each sponsoring organization to recruit its own participants and leaders, and then have them stay in that particular grouping, as in Model 2? Or, will you—the working group—ask each organization to set up groups which you will then pair or match up, as in Model 3?

Ensuring a Mix of Participants Within Individual Study Circles

Diversity is a critical component of study circles. Indeed, one of the most important elements of any community-wide study circle program is the opportunity for participants to talk with others in the community that they don't often have a chance to meet or hear from. While the importance of different types of diversity will vary with the issue you are considering, racial and ethnic diversity in the groups will be critical in many communities.

Some other kinds of diversity to consider include:

Age - A mix of generations always adds vitality and new perspectives to the discussions. It is particularly important when discussions center on youth issues.

Life experience and working background - For example, on the issue of education, study circle organizers often aim for a mix of parents, teachers, administrators, and members of the community whose ties to schools are less direct. On the issue of violence, some communities include neighborhood police officers in the discussions, as well as people from social service agencies who work on various aspects of violence.

Economic situation - On almost any issue, people with different incomes or in different economic situations will see an issue from unique perspectives.

Political perspectives - In some communities, talking across the lines of political division may be the most challenging and rewarding.

Some organizing schemes lend themselves more readily to establishing diversity within individual groups. It is particularly easy to establish diverse groups when the overall program organizer matches up groups of participants recruited by various organizations. Congregation pairing is an example: a white church and a black church can be paired to create racially diverse study circles. In another case, you might match participants recruited from a government agency with those from a private employer. Perhaps you'll match up a youth group and a senior center, or two different neighborhood organizations.

A different approach would be to give each individual organizer the responsibility for recruiting a diverse group of participants. Some organizers will have no difficulty doing this, or will rise to the challenge. In the words of one program coordinator, "People who work with you to organize individual study circles understand that it's important to have diverse groups. Encourage them to do it right, and they will usually come through for you." You can plan to match up those few organizers who are unable to recruit a diverse group of participants.

Creating diversity within each group is especially challenging when the working group takes responsibility for forming each study circle. The key coordinator must pool all the participants and then decide how to group them so that each study circle represents a desirable mix. Of course, this requires that you gather appropriate demographic information for each participant. Considering that you have to take into account the times that people are available and how far you can ask them to travel, this approach can become difficult and time-consuming. For this reason, we generally recommend one of the other options for most of your study circles.

Selecting the Sites

Unless participants in a study circle know one another (and they usually don't), public meeting rooms should be chosen over living rooms. Possible sites include meeting rooms in libraries, church halls, and community centers; community rooms in banks and other businesses; sponsoring organizations' conference rooms; firehouses; schools; union halls; police departments; and social service agencies.

These types of sites will generally offer wheelchair accessibility and adequate parking, but it's worth double checking. You can easily accommodate people with hearing loss by arranging some of your meetings in libraries or other public buildings in which assistive listening devices (ALDs) are readily available. Advertising the availability of these devices may help in recruiting participants.

Scheduling the Study Circles

Set a range of dates for your study circles so that all of the study circles in the community will occur more or less within the same time frame. This will help you promote the idea that your program is a true community-wide effort, not just isolated conversations among small groups of people.

Try to offer a variety of meeting times. A study circle or two that meets at breakfast, several brown-bag lunchtime groups, and a Saturday group, in addition to the usual mix of weeknight options, will increase your chances of attracting a wide variety of participants. Early evening study circles, perhaps with food and child care provided, make participation more workable for many community members.

Even if your study circle organizers handle most of their own recruits, they may need your help to find slots in other study circles for a few people with scheduling problems.

Last Words

• Do not add new participants to study circles that have already had their initial meeting. Doing so can harm the group identity and the high level of comfort and camaraderie that tends to develop in the early stages of a study circle. If possible, organize new study circles for the latecomers.

• Lots of people have established study circles without the help of a computer, but nearly all of them wish they had done otherwise. Even a simple database of names, addresses, and phone numbers can be a real time-saver in the long run. Your list will be even more valuable if you code each person's role in the program, indicate which study circle they belong to, and insert memo notations to remind yourself of conversations, promises, etc. (See "Study Circle Record Sheet" for a sample data collection form.)

2.5 Recruiting & Training Discussion Leaders

Sample Documents

"Tips for Recruiting Discussion Leaders"
"Pledge of Participation for Study Circle Discussion Leaders"

Skilled discussion leaders—sometimes referred to as "facilitators"—are absolutely critical to the success of the study circles. You will need people who care deeply about their community and the issues facing our society, and who want to help others engage in open, democratic discussions about those issues. They need not be experts, but should understand the range of community members' concerns and perspectives.

Part of the challenge in identifying potential study circle leaders lies in the fact that our society does not typically cultivate or reward these qualities. Thus, "Where do we find potential discussion leaders, and how do we prepare them for the role?" are common questions from study circle organizers.

Identifying & Recruiting Effective Discussion Leaders

One good way to find potential study circle leaders is to seek out those people in the community who have some kind of experience in group facilitation, including conflict resolution, mediation, or total quality management. With little additional training, they can apply their skills to the study circle process. To locate these people, contact your local university's community services or adult education program, the university's conflict resolution program, your community mediation or dispute settlement center, the Cooperative Extension Service, or your community's human relations commission.

Another highly recommended approach to finding discussion leaders is to recruit them from the organizations involved in your study circle program. You can ask people from each of your sponsoring organizations to help you identify individuals who have experience in leading meetings, or who in some other way have shown that they have the qualities you seek: good listening skills, the ability to put people at ease in a conversation, respect for all views, and the ability to exhibit leadership without dominating. (See "Tips for Recruiting Discussion Leaders.") The people you recruit in this manner will require a substantial training program since most will not have had previous training in group facilitation. However, this training can greatly expand the overall leadership pool in your community.

A third method, one which we do not generally recommend, involves making a general call for volunteer facilitators and then training anyone who signs up. This approach can result in the unpleasant task of having to "fire" a few volunteers, since you are apt to recognize during your training a couple of people who want to promote their own ideas rather than foster open dialogue. If you find you must broadcast a call for volunteers, try to filter inquiries by carefully explaining that the facilitators will talk less than anyone else in their groups, and that their views must remain unstated. Then, give people the opportunity to opt for the role of participant rather than discussion leader.

Who should train the leaders?

Now that you have a carefully selected group of people willing to serve as discussion leaders, you will need topnotch people to help train them.

There are many able trainers in most communities. Organizations which provide instruction in group facilitation can readily adapt their techniques to the study circle process. Successful trainers of study circle discussion leaders have come from interfaith networks, human relations commissions, social service agencies, and university departments of adult and continuing education. Often these organizations have played a key role in the central working group for the overall study circle program.

When a local organization trains study circle leaders, the benefits include lower cost, ongoing support for the trainees, and more community ownership of the program. Some organizers, however, are more comfortable bringing in a trainer from outside the community for the initial training. If you take this approach, be sure to line up people to work with this person in order to develop your local expertise.

At times, SCRC can provide a staff person to assist with an initial training. If this is not possible, we can often recommend consultants who have effectively trained study circle leaders in a wide variety of organizations and communities. However you decide to handle your training, SCRC's free consultation includes helping you design a leader training session to suit the leaders you have recruited and the goals of your study circle program.

What should happen during a training program?

The single most important aspect of any leadership training is the opportunity to experience a study circle. By allowing several hours for this aspect of your training, your novice facilitators can work through several discussion sessions, take turns practicing leadership, receive feedback from the trainer, and critique and encourage each other.

There is more to a training than the practice study circle, of course, and SCRC's A Guide to Training Study Circle Leaders answers most questions about conducting a training program.

Ongoing Support for Discussion Leaders

During your training you should inform the discussion leaders about the kinds of ongoing support that will be available. For example, give them the phone number of the person who conducted the training, or someone in the working group, along with an invitation to call if they have any difficulties in their study circles.

It's also a good idea to hold a follow-up to your training at the midpoint of the study circles. This will give your discussion leaders the opportunity to discuss successes as well as problems. Ideally, your trainer should be there as a resource person, but you will probably find the leaders offering one another suggestions on ways to handle any difficulties that their peers have encountered.

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2.6 Kickoff & Celebration Events

Sample Documents

"Letter of Invitation to Potential Sponsors"
"Press Release for Kickoff Event"
"Now That We've Talked...Ideas for Community Involvement"
"After the Study Circle...I'd Like to Stay Involved!"

Kickoff and celebration events provide an opportunity for you to build momentum for your program and to mark milestones in its development. If your program evolves into several rounds of study circles, you may have an ongoing cycle of these events as you expand to different topics, different sponsors, or wider participation.

Planning these events requires the same skill and flexibility involved in planning any large-scale community affair. Below are some ideas that have helped inaugurate or wrap up various community-wide study circle programs.

General Suggestions

• Consider connecting your event to holidays or local events. Martin Luther King Day, for example, has been especially suitable for launching or concluding discussions of race relations. In some communities, a declared "Week Without Violence" provides visibility to the issue as you launch or conclude community discussions.
• Be sure to invite the media! (See "Media coverage of study circles," in section 2.8 and sample document "Press Release for Kickoff Event.") Your press releases should help editors and reporters understand the "angle" of your story. You might want to mention, for example, that your local efforts are part of a much larger movement.
• Have study circle discussion leaders or participants talk about their experience. (For kickoff events, this is another good reason to conduct pilot study circles.) Using this approach you can easily arrange an agenda which features the perspectives of public officials, community leaders from a variety of sectors, and ordinary community members.
• These events are sometimes working sessions in which people talk about next steps for dialogue and/or action. This might require breakout groups at the larger event.
• Invite your program's sponsors to share information on themselves and their activities. This could be as simple as setting up a table for brochures, or you could invite organizations to set up their own exhibit tables.

Suggestions for Kickoff Events

• If bringing people on board is the main goal, be sure that people do not leave without having a chance to make a commitment to participate. Be sure to make sign-up sheets readily available.
• Your event can be an opportunity to educate people on the issue to be discussed in study circles. For example, victims of violence and professionals who deal with violence can help people understand how it affects the community.

Suggestions for Celebration Events

• Ask representatives from study circles to report on their discussions and on any action steps that have emerged. You may want to use these summaries to design a written program report for the community at large.
• If you don't do it in your study circles, distribute a questionnaire asking participants how they would like to become involved in addressing the issue discussed in the study circles. (See "After the Study Circle ... I'd Like to Stay Involved.")
• Do something to build on the community spirit that has come out of the study circles. People who participated in the first major round of study circles in Lima, Ohio, staged a picnic celebration that included family and friends. Their Labor Day parade even featured a study circle float!
• Ask study circle participants to announce action groups or committees that they would like to help organize. Arrange for sign-up sheets or other ways for people to join these groups.
• Ask sponsoring organizations to announce groups or efforts they would like citizens to be involved in. For example, a police department might invite people to join a new advisory board or an existing neighborhood watch program.

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2.7 Recruiting Participants

Sample Documents

"Study Circle Program Description"
"Letter of Invitation for Participants"
"Pledge of Participation for Participants"

Community-wide study circle programs are based on the belief that ordinary people have both the ability and the authority to deal with difficult issues. But how do you attract people who don't consider themselves "civic minded"?

And how do you make sure that the people who come to your study circles are broadly representative of the community? Study circles, after all, are about grappling with various points of view. Your program can provide a rare opportunity for people to hear the personal experiences and honest views of people different from themselves—different in terms of race and ethnicity, occupation, age, physical ability, political viewpoint, religious affiliation, and more. (Some considerations of diversity were covered in "Ensuring a mix of participants within individual study circles.")

Following are some recommendations gleaned from successful programs around the country.

Start with a Strong Coalition

You will depend on your coalition to recruit participants for your program. Individuals will feel welcome if your coalition includes the organizations they relate to and respect, so think broadly in terms of potential coalition members. Have you considered organizations of seniors? youth groups? literacy organizations? unions? major employers? civil rights organizations and minority associations? tenants' associations? interfaith organizations and ministerial associations? (See "Identifying potential sponsors," and "Community Survey.")

Seek out a broad-based institution to help you establish ties with sectors of the community that are outside the working group's network. In some places, a public official has the credibility required to initiate new bonds in the community. In other places, it may be the local human relations organization, an interfaith organization, the newspaper, or the YWCA.

If you have media support for your program, or if your coalition includes media partners, your ability to reach out to the broader community will be greatly enhanced. Newspaper articles and ads, as well as radio and TV public service announcements (PSAs), will get the whole community talking about your program.

Much of the success of the study circle program lies in shared ownership. When people recruit for a program they know is truly theirs, they will be more persuasive. In turn, they will pass on that spirit of ownership to study circle participants.

Work with the People Who Will Sign Up Individual Participants

Stress the importance of personal invitations. An announcement is nice, a letter is better, and a note with a follow-up call is most likely to get results! People lead busy lives, and are drawn to participate in those activities where someone they know personally emphasizes the importance of their participation.

Make sure that those who are recruiting participants are well informed about the program. Ideally they will have participated in pilot discussions. They should at least have a copy of the materials that will be used for the discussions. You will want them to have an overall sense of the organizational structure of the program so they can convey the fact that participants will be part of something that is truly community-wide. (See the "Study Circle Program Description" which is suitable for sharing with the people who recruit participants.)

Encourage your study circle organizers to tell potential participants that your program is trying to build bridges among all parts of the community. Make it clear that no person will be expected to represent all Hispanic Americans, or all Republicans, or all senior citizens. But also explain that having participants from a variety of backgrounds will bring in experiences and perspectives that otherwise would not be present.

2.8 Publicizing the Program

Sample Document

"Press Release for Kickoff Event"

Publicity for community-wide study circle programs comes in many forms, ranging from informal notices to full-blown media partnership.

Informal publicity

Encourage your coalition members to take responsibility for publicizing the study circle program. Articles and notices in company and union newsletters, church bulletins, and organizational newsletters will help spread the word about the study circles and add credibility. You can increase the likelihood that sponsors will take part in this kind of promotion—and help ensure accuracy—by providing complete, usable text in several different lengths.

Media Coverage

If you are new to media work, it's important to realize that you don't need special training or experience to effectively promote your story. What you do need is the readily available information on basic methods for communicating with the media. You can find this information in books, in "how-to" guides published by nonprofit organizations, or in SCRC's Study Circles in the News: Approaching the Media with Your Study Circle Story. (See the resource list for ordering information.)

There is growing media coverage of community-wide study circle programs. Particularly when the issue touches many people in the community, journalists see great value in covering the story. SCRC has a rapidly growing collection of newspaper articles on study circle programs. (Call if you would like some samples in addition to those included this guide.)

Kickoff or celebration events provide especially good opportunities for media coverage. In some cases, a newspaper reporter will ask to sit in on a study circle. If this happens:

1. Make sure that someone from the working group talks with the reporter prior to the study circle to convey a sense of the overall program.

2. Set clear ground rules for the reporter. One common ground rule is that the reporter not attribute comments to particular participants without their explicit permission.

3. Identify the visitor as a reporter at the beginning of the meeting, inform participants of the special ground rules, and ask for their consent to this arrangement.

Television coverage of an actual study circle can be more problematic since it is impossible to promise confidentiality. However, television has been used creatively and effectively in many community-wide programs. In Louisville, Kentucky, for example, the Faith Channel supported the study circles by broadcasting ongoing interviews with the working group. In addition, the station frequently aired well edited segments of study circles (among participants recruited expressly for this purpose) to promote the study circle program among churches.

In another example, the Warner Cable Company in Lima, Ohio, produced a short, interesting video that showed brief clips of study circles. It primarily featured interviews with program organizers, discussion leaders, and participants. Since people told why the experience was a powerful one for them, the video became one of the working group's primary tools for recruiting additional sponsors. It also became one of SCRC's main tools for explaining the value of community-wide programs, and has led to support from cable companies in other communities.

Media Support & Partnership in Community-wide Programs

In a growing number of communities, media institutions are key players in community-wide study circle programs. The "public journalism" or "community journalism" movement has bolstered this trend.

Strong media support takes two basic forms:

Full partnership in the working group. In most of these cases, the local newspaper develops and publishes the discussion materials, and prints extra copies to be distributed to study circle participants. The newspaper uses its journalistic expertise to lay out evenhanded, accessible readings, and also uses newspaper space to encourage citizen involvement and participation. Since the discussions are geared not to agreement, but to broad-based community involvement, a growing number of papers see this as a viable way to fill an important public responsibility.

Sponsorship of the program. Newspapers, radio stations, and television stations in various communities have committed themselves to publicizing the study circles, explaining their value to the community (through editorial coverage), and providing prominent coverage. With public service announcements, radio and television have helped to broadcast the appeal for study circle participants.

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2.9 Integrating Study Circles into Community Problem Solving

Sample Documents

"Now That We've Talked... Ideas for Community Involvement"
"After the Study Circle... I'd Like to Stay Involved"

A large-scale study circle program can change the way a community deals with its problems. In the short term, citizens and the community as a whole become more capable of dealing effectively with a specific problem. In the long run, local people and institutions can work together to build a community that is capable of solving all kinds of problems.

The degree of change in your community will depend, in part, on the continuation of study circles as a means to bring community members into community conversations. It will also depend on the degree to which you include mechanisms to help connect the study circles to opportunities for action in the larger community.

Individuals & Action Steps

Most people know that they can volunteer in their community, and in fact many people do. Still, many question whether their service will really make a difference. Even people who give much to the community may sense that they have no real voice in dealing with the roots of the problem they are trying to address.

Study circles can strengthen community service. When people have a chance to talk and work with others on an issue, they begin to feel that they aren't alone, that their neighbors support and appreciate their work.

As an organizer of a community-wide study circle program, you can help to maximize the potential of the new volunteers who will emerge from the study circles. Along with the discussion material, provide as much information as possible on how people can channel their efforts after their study circle. SCRC discussion guides include suggestions for action, but it will be much more valuable to have information that is community-specific. (See "Now That We've Talked... Ideas for Community Involvement," and "After the Study Circle... I'd Like to Stay Involved.")

As you prepare this information, enlist the help of public officials, reporters, and local experts on the issue. They can provide basic information on how the issue has impacted the community, what local government is doing about it, what service organizations and nonprofits are doing, and—most importantly—what volunteers can do to help.

When you approach community organizations that deal directly with problems or provide actual services—such as schools, police departments, government agencies, and housing nonprofits—ask them not only for information on how volunteers can help them, but on how community members can provide input to their organizations. In this way you can set up a two-way relationship between community members and the organizations that serve them: the organizations open up more to input from the community, while community members provide the organizations with more support and resources.

Small Groups of Active, Engaged Community Members

As study circle participants share personal experiences, find common ground, come up with new ideas, and talk about what can be done, they often move quite naturally toward cooperation and action. This is especially true if the participants are a mix of people who are likely to approach a single problem from different vantage points—police officers and neighborhood residents, for example, or parents, teachers, and local business people.

You can facilitate the spread of grassroots solutions to community problems by giving people the opportunity to form new, more action-focused groups. Of course, no one should be pressured to take a particular action or to become part of an action group. But, by providing opportunities, people will be more likely to find ways that they can act on their newfound knowledge and collaboration. To help with this, you can:

• Encourage interested group members to form a "discussion-to-action" group after the study circle.
• Hold a coordinating meeting (perhaps at the celebration event at the end of the round of study circles) where new groups and projects are announced and sign-up sheets are circulated. In this way, all the study circle participants around the community will have a chance to hear each other's action ideas, work jointly with people from other study circles, and participate in action efforts as they see fit.
• Encourage the development of "follow-up" study circles that have a more narrow focus. Often, people want to continue their conversations. Some simply want to delve more deeply into the subject. Others may feel that they need to engage in more specific discussion prior to taking action. For example, people who have been part of study circles on education might go on to discuss school-based management or character education.
• If your program has the support of community institutions such as the school board or the police department, encourage those institutions to take advantage of the ideas and enthusiasm that come from the study circles. These groups can encourage their employees to participate in action groups, and they can provide financial, logistical, or in-kind support for new programs and projects that develop.

Institutional Change

If major community institutions understand the potential of citizen involvement through study circles, they may decide to make study circles an ongoing part of their operations.

School systems, police departments, and other official institutions often have auxiliary citizen's groups, such as neighborhood watch groups, parent-teacher associations, and advisory committees. These groups are sometimes small and ineffective because they fail to provide members with opportunities to speak, to take meaningful action, or to have a sense of belonging.

Study circles can help revitalize these citizen groups by making them more open and welcoming to a diversity of participants, by strengthening relationships between the citizen group and official community institutions, and by generating support for volunteer and small group activities. For example, the police department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has incorporated small-group discussion into its community policing effort. As a result, neighborhood associations have attracted new members, neighbors have developed better relationships with each other, and police officers who participate in the discussions have a more effective way to interact with the residents who live on their beats.

To facilitate the development of this kind of institutional change, consider convening a strategizing meeting among the central working group, other community leaders, and some study circle participants for a "next steps" planning group. This group can present recommendations to the community on how the study circles might be institutionalized by local organizations.

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2.10 Measuring the Outcomes

Sample Documents

"Discussion Leader's Evaluation Form"
"Participant's Evaluation Form"

To win support for any new program, you must be able to describe what the program will accomplish. Community-wide study circle programs are no different: government agencies, charitable foundations, and other institutions that are considering endorsing, funding, or otherwise supporting a study circle program want to know what the outcomes will be.

This is certainly a reasonable request, but it does not lend itself to easy answers. It is, in fact, impossible to predict the outcomes of a study circle program.

Ironically, the fact that study circle organizers cannot foresee or even plan for outcomes may make them more likely to occur. Since study circle ground rules specify that neither consensus nor an explicit action plan is the goal of the discussion, prospective participants know that they are entering a safe environment, free of hidden agendas. The actions that result from study circles therefore evolve naturally, and on the participants' own terms.

While some study circle outcomes are measurable, the most important one—laying the foundation for community problem solving—is very difficult to quantify. Still, organizers of virtually every community-wide study circle program can proudly point to "new actors" in the community whose leadership potential was uncovered in study circles.

In spite of the challenges inherent in designing meaningful evaluation of study circle programs, several formal efforts are underway. These will enable SCRC to better answer questions about study circle outcomes. Institutions conducting evaluation of community-wide study circle programs include:

• Edmund S. Muskie Institute of Public Affairs, University of Southern Maine;
• The Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University;
• Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio; and
• The Ohio State University at Lima.

For the remainder of this section, we offer our best understanding of study circle outcomes and how they can be evaluated.

Changes in Attitude & Behavior

The most easily observed outcomes are changes in individual attitudes. Study circle organizers often hear from participants that the experience has given them new insights, a greater understanding of views different from their own, and a renewed hope that problems and conflicts can be resolved. This is especially apparent in study circles on race relations, because people rarely have the opportunity to have candid conversations on race with people of different racial backgrounds.

Projects to measure these changes in individual attitudes and behavior are currently underway in the two Ohio communities with the longest history of community-wide study circle programs—Lima and Springfield. At The Ohio State University at Lima, an interdisciplinary team (including a psychologist, a sociologist, and an historian) is conducting a study of changes in participants' attitudes toward race. "The problem is people will say 'I know it has an effect, I can feel it in my heart,'" said Psychology Professor George Handley. "What we hope is to track whether the attitudes remain changed."

To do this, the researchers developed a survey of racial attitudes, which they administered to a random group of study circle participants before and after they had taken part in a study circle. The initial results showed a "significant improvement" in racial attitudes: after the study circle, respondents were more likely to accept and feel comfortable with people of different backgrounds in a variety of situations. "I would be very surprised if sitting down with a racially mixed group of people and listening to the problems wouldn't make each person more aware," Handley said. Since the research team is particularly interested in the long-term impact of the study circles, they are also conducting a longitudinal study.

The most compelling anecdotal evidence that individuals enjoy and learn from one another in study circles is that, in so many cases, they continue meeting after the "last" session. Others go on to join discussion-to-action groups. Many continue socializing with friends they first met in a study circle.

New Grassroots Collaborations

A well-organized study circle program produces in each discussion group a mix of people who approach a single problem from different vantage points—police officers with neighborhood residents, for example, or parents with teachers and local business people. The typical result is that people recognize the different aspects of their common problem, get a better picture of how others approach it and why, and work together to create solutions based in the ideas and efforts of citizens.

For example, a group of study circle participants in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, decided that a film festival on prejudice and race relations would be a good way of getting others in the community to think and talk about these issues. A study circle in Springfield, Ohio, decided to begin a community project in which young people from different neighborhoods come together for arts activities at the local museum. Still other study circles "adopt" a block, or decide to begin neighborhood conflict resolution programs. The list of such outcomes is long and varied, and continues to grow.

Study circles' success in fostering this kind of grassroots problem solving has attracted a great deal of interest from foundations and from government at every level. One reason for this is the growing realization that creative grassroots participation and energy are essential to effectively address deep-rooted problems such as crime, poverty, and delinquency.

The formal evaluations of study circle programs will help to shed light on their role in creating new grassroots collaborations and will help us better understand their long-term impact.

Institutional Changes

Study circle programs also produce outcomes at the institutional level by changing the ways that local institutions—such as police departments, school systems, and mayor's offices—connect to the larger community. Sometimes they even change the way these institutions operate internally.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a striking example. Under the direction of Community Policing Coordinator Sgt. Michael Morris, the city's police department incorporated small group discussion in several ways: as a mechanism for community police officers to interact with residents on their beats, as a way for police officials to communicate with neighborhood associations, and as a process by which all the employees of the department can devise more effective methods.

"The study circle methodology has helped us move from a community policing experiment to a way of thinking that permeates the police force and the city of Baton Rouge. After three years of neighborhood roundtables, we have married the police department and the community so that citizen input, resources, and effort are part of everything we do," says Morris. This transition, which took place over three years, has been accompanied by a significant drop in the Baton Rouge crime rate. Violent crime has fallen 19% in the last year, and Sgt. Morris cites the importance of the new ways the department and the community are working together.

Around the country, study circle programs are leading to various kinds of institutional change. The study circle program on crime and violence in Lima, Ohio, is playing an important role in the development of community policing. In Yarmouth, Maine, the School Committee used a large-scale study circle program to facilitate public discussion of a town budget crisis. In a statewide program, the Ohio Department of Human Services uses study circles as an internal mechanism to improve internal relations and to help all of its employees think through the public implications of their work.

The measurement of long-term, institutional changes will, by definition, require a long time frame. But the stories of these communities and institutions suggest the kinds of changes that others can expect.

Laying the Foundations

It would be a mistake to look at study circles only in the context of the specific outcomes they produce. By uncovering new leaders in the community, creating new connections, and reinvigorating existing institutions, study circles lay the foundation for more effective, community-based problem solving. As community members gain opportunities to create their own outcomes, the results of community-wide study circle programs fit into the local context and are more likely to receive broad public support.

When study circle organizers set out to create opportunities for public dialogue, they are not usually aware of the full potential of their efforts. Rather, they begin by seeing study circles as an effective way to address a single issue. It is only later that organizers see the study circles' results as something more fundamental, more permanent, and more valuable.

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Manual Index

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Basic Steps in Creating a Community-wide Program
Part III: Sample Documents
Part IV: Stories of Community-wide Study Circle Programs
Part V: Appendices

Contents