Practice
CSC offers training programs that equip students, scientists and citizens with skills to plan and facilitate conversations that open productive lines of communication. Trainees learn practices that build relationships of trust, shift power through authentic partnerships, and foster communication where all feel valued.
Our Programs
This workshop series trained Boston’s Dorchester residents to lead dialogues where community members could listen to understand diverse points of view about COVID vaccination and explore vaccine choices that were best for them.
This community stakeholder engagement program was done in collaboration with Tufts CTSI.
trainees
dialogue participants
communities supported in Greater Boston
Key Outcomes
Participants gained skills needed to:
Listen with empathy
to better understand, without judgement, why people chose to be vaccinated or not
Confidently facilitate dialogues
that helped community members better understand their own feelings about COVID vaccination
Participant Testimonials
This four-part workshop series included training in 1-dialogue planning, 2- dialogue question formulation, 3- creating dialogue agreements and 4-facilitation skills. Trainees included community members who were advocates for housing, health equity and food justice in Greater Boston.
facilitators trained
dialogues implemented in three years
Diverse topics including homelessness, affordable housing, and health equity
Key Outcomes:
Supported participants sharing stories
and experiences about topics that are most important to their communities
Built sustainable dialogue
capacities to support future community dialogues
Trainees gained new understanding
that dialogues can overcome barriers to open-minded discussion about challenging community issues
Participant Testimonials
CSC trained Tufts undergraduate students with skills to plan and facilitate dialogues that built connection and belonging on topics ranging from toxic masculinity in team sports to food justice. Fellows learned to use dialogue to support 5 civic science principles:
This program was done in collaboration with the Tisch College for Civic Life and Essential Partners Inc.
participants in the program
diverse disciplines from across Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM
campus dialogues created
Key Outcomes
Learned to plan dialogues
by analyzing the risks and benefits of engaging across differences of values and beliefs
Assembled skill sets
needed to engage in competitive job markets and complex leadership roles, both within and outside professional contexts
Developed facilitation skills
to enable productive conversations rich in viewpoint diversity in different social contexts across diverse communities
Participant Testimonials
This training conducted at the University of Rhode Island in 2023 offered sustainable dialogue skills, so community members could co-create dialogues on topics most important to their communities through:
(1) “Concern Gathering” to better understanding community member hopes and concerns on an issue
(2) Creating agreements to foster an environment of “sufficient safety”
(3) Dialogue questions that unravel viewpoint complexity
(4) Facilitation strategies
(5) Inviting people to dialogue
participants from diverse academic and community-based organizations
presenters from diverse organizations
topics on dialogue creation presented
Key Outcomes
Participants learned to:
Build partnerships
that recognize community member’s lived experience, identities, and value
Co-create dialogues that listen
to community hopes and concerns so those offering care might be worthy of community trust
Communicate health information
that can decrease stigma so community members can make informed decisions about their health
