A new group, Watertown Community Conversations, met at the Watertown Residence Inn by Marriott to find ways to improve civic dialogue.
Watertown Community Conversations (WCC) convened a group of Watertown community leaders Dec. 15 at the Marriott Residence Inn on Arsenal Street to learn about a new effort to promote improved civic dialogue in Watertown, organizers announced.
WCC is an initiative to engage community members in town policy and decision-making, and to help community members communicate effectively with each other.
The kickoff event was facilitated by John Sarrouf from Essential Partners (formerly the Public Conversations Project) together with a volunteer group from WCC. The event was generously supported by the Watertown Community Foundation and the Marriott Residence Inn. The evening included a presentation on innovative approaches used by communities throughout the country to promote inclusive, thoughtful and productive public engagement and to improve the quality of public decisions.
Participants offered their ideas about ways in which Watertown might use these techniques, and made suggestions about next steps.
The organizers, Abby Yanow, Cecilia Lenk, Larry Raskin, Nancy Hammett, and Ora Grodsky, look forward to engaging many others in the use of new methods for improved dialogue on important issues in Watertown.
How can we find out about future events ?
What became of this meeting…is there a website with goals or action items..minutes? What is the next step and is the public available to go to a meeting to at least listen to the conversation(since this is all about communicating better our community)?