Deliberations
Day 2004
By The People: A National Conversation about America in the World
Sponsored by: By the People/MacNeil/Lehrer, The SBC Foundation, The Center for
Regional Economic Issues, ideastream

<> Date &
Time: Oct 16, 2004 8:30 AM - Oct 16,
2004 4:30 PM

Location:  George S. Dively Center

Cleveland,
OH

Description: EVENT SUMMARY

On October 16, 2004, representative groups of Americans in 17 communities
around the nation – from San Diego to Rochester, Cleveland to Baton Rouge --
will meet in Citizen Deliberations where they will learn about, discuss and
deliberate on key issues facing the nation. This democratic dialogue will focus
on what, not who’s, at stake in the upcoming election. The two issues to be
discussed are national security and American jobs in a global economy. A
national PBS broadcast will complement the distinctly local Citizen
Deliberations and local public television coverage provided by WCPN/WVIZ ideastream,
all of which will be linked together under the banner PBS Deliberation Day.

The participants will be drawn from carefully selected random samples of
citizens from each community. The participants will come together to talk in
small groups, meet with experts who also represent a cross-section of the
nation’s political dialogue and share their substantive opinions about key
issues on the nation’s agenda. At the end of the day, participating citizens
will complete a survey about their views.

This will be a local-national event in the fullest sense. PBS Deliberation Day
– which will have national importance because of its scope and reach – will
also be grounded and shaped by local concerns about jobs and economic growth.
Members of participating community groups and alliance organizations will
engage in parallel and subsequent discussions of the same questions.

The collective views of these citizens will provide local and national media
with an extraordinary “poll with a human face.� Local results will be compared
with national Deliberative Polling® data on what people from all over the
country think, on reflection, after they too have had a chance to become
informed about the issues. The process strengthens a building block of our
democracy: the willingness of Americans to participate in a civil exchange
where the contrary views are respected.

A panel will convene of NEO leaders who, in the afternoon Plenary Session, will
discuss participant generated questions pertaining to homeland security and
workforce development. The Cleveland panel members are:

Amos N. Guiora, Visiting Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University
School of Law, Specialist in Anti-Terrorism

Mayor Jane Campbell, City of Cleveland, Ohio

James Peter Trakas (R) District 17 Majority Whip, Columbus, Ohio

Ambassador Wat T. Cluverius IV (Ret.), Cleveland World Affairs Council

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, United States House of Representatives
from Ohio

John Colm, Executive Director, Westside Industrial Retention Network (WIRE-Net)

PBS Deliberation Day is built on public broadcasting’s unique local-national
base, its commitment to public affairs programming and its mission as the
convener of civic dialogue. The Citizen Deliberations link multiple local
organizations – public television stations, civic groups, educational
institutions, student organizations and media partners – in high visibility
efforts. With this template for invigorated civic dialogue, these activities
and partnership relationships can be redirected to other issues on the
community’s agenda.

For local information, contact The Center for Regional Economic Issues, Phone
216-368-5534

Fee: No

Contact Information:
Betsey Merkel
Network Development
Email: bmerkel [at] weatherhead [dot] cwru [dot] edu
Main Phone: 216-368-5540

Website Resources:
By The People
The Center for Regional Economic
Issues
REI@Weatherhead

Location