Brad Rourke’s Blog
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Forest Rangers in Community
A kind of entity that may exist in a community: one that sees its role as developing the capacity of the community to address shared problems and opportunities. Note that the role is developmental, and not focused on execution. There are a myriad of entities in any locale that are working directly on projects. This…
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Announcing the Hidden Common Ground Initiative
I am pleased to announce a new initiative in which I am playing a small part in my role at the Kettering Foundation: The National Issues Forums network and the Kettering Foundation are joining a major initiative spearheaded by Public Agenda and USA TODAY to examine how Americans think and talk about the most urgent…
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Naming Public Issues: Economic Concerns Illustrated
Two reasons that people find it difficult to work on shared problems are that the way they are talked about obscures their nature, and an assumed course of action is implied even though there is not broad agreement on either. When developing materials for people to deliberate together on shared problems, we try to mitigate…
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Leadership Paradox
I recently began formally mentoring someone, and so I have been thinking about the nature of leadership. There’s a bind that “leaders” face. It has to do with the expectations of those who are led, and of the person who is trying to be a helpful leader. Consider the teacher of yoga class. They “lead”…
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Ways of Addressing Political Division
Broadly speaking, I am in a field in which many are trying to address the political division that appears to be increasingly engulfing our nation. One way to make sense of all these efforts is to explore what appear to be the assumptions underlying their approaches. What do the designers of an initiative think will…
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Friday Morning Street Banjo Music
When I am in DC, on weekdays I go to my office near the US Capitol. It is on the Senate side, so for those who know the city I take the train to Union Station and walk a few blocks. Like many train stations, Union Station attracts street musicians. While we all have heard…
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A Theory of Community
Human beings are innately social. We live together in groups. Living together brings a number of benefits: we can protect ourselves, we can pool resources, we can find safety when vulnerable due to illness, we can raise children, we can better shelter ourselves from elements. These things motivate our group life. In part, they…
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How Should We Prevent Mass Shootings In Our Communities? Announcing New Conversation Materials
I am pleased to announce publication today of a brand-new update to the National Issues Forums issue advisory, How Should We Prevent Mass Shootings In Our Communities? The materials are meant to support deliberative conversations in community and other settings, and are free to download. From the guide: The tragic attacks in El Paso, Texas;…
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Explanation Day
For his column commemorating Independence Day, my friend and Hofstra University professor Michael d’Innocenzo points out that in fact July 2 was the date that the Continental Congress took the decision to become independent. And indeed, in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, John Adams predicted that “The Second Day of July…
Brad Rourke 