How should we improve Topeka? Use a local community-created framework to deliberate three possible options for taking action. Weigh tradeoffs and consider unintended consequences.
Register for Zoom link and issue guide. Learn more at tscpl.org/conversations or email connect@tscpl.org
Learn more about deliberative conversations at the library. Download the issue guide "Reframing Topeka" today!
Hopefully participants can join on Zoom and use their video/microphone to participate. We will also use chat as needed to make sure that anyone joining can participate as fully as possible.
What is deliberation and why is it important?
The discovery of a shared direction, guided by what we value most.
Deliberation is an unbiased kind of talking that starts where the problem starts?with your experience of it. It's not a bunch of abstract backroom negotiations, but real, genuine, human struggles of which we are a part.
Unlike debate, or lecture, or an airing of grievances, deliberation asks us to begin with what we hold most dear and share our personal experiences with a given issue. It's not about reaching agreement or seeing eye-to-eye. It's about looking at the costs and consequences of possible solutions to daunting problems, and finding out what we, as a people, will or will not accept as a solution.
Learn more from the National Issues Forum.
AGE GROUP: | Teens (6th - 12th Grade) | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Virtual | Civic Engagement |
Our mission is sparking curiosity and connecting our community through literacy and learning. The library features the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery, the Millennium Café, Chandler Booktique (bookstore and gift shop), free meeting rooms, computer training and free Wi-Fi access. The library has a collection of more than 414,000 books and serves more than 81,000 registered borrowers. Bookmobiles make 23 stops Monday-Saturday across Shawnee County. The website tscpl.org serves customers’ needs 24/7. The library offers state-of-the art technology, youth programs that encourage learning and reading, adult learning programs, online learning tools, events, and reference and research tools.