Volunteer Facilitators

SPECIAL NOTICE - JUNE 24

The response to this opportunity has been so overwhelming that we have more volunteers than we can accommodate for July 20. However, we will still be filling some demographic needs, especially from low population states, as we create this nationwide team. And there will be future opportunities.

If you would like to register, with the understanding few additional people will be considered for July 20, we'd love to have you. With your interest and contact information in file, we can then notify you of future opportunities for volunteer facilitation with an AmericaSpeaks project. Use the same form at the end of the facilitator requirements to register your interest. Thank you for your willingness to serve.

There are many other volunteer needs and opportunities for Listening to the City prior to and on July 20th. Please visit the New York Cares website and click on the "Recovery Efforts" section to sign up. If you are a resident of the NYC region, we also encourage you to register as a participant on July 20.

"Listening to the City" will be a 21st Century town hall meeting combining intimate, face-to-face dialogue with interactive technology, including networked computers and instant keypad polling devices. During the day, participants will have an opportunity to review and respond to the current proposals for rebuilding Lower Manhattan and creating a memorial for 9/11. AmericaSpeaks, a nationally-recognized non-profit dedicated to engaging citizen voices in governance, is designing and facilitating the meeting.

Who Can Volunteer?

The tragedy of 9/11 impacted the nation as a whole and the entire nation is invested in rebuilding Lower Manhattan and remembering those lost. To reflect the country's commitment to the rebuilding effort, we are inviting volunteer facilitators from throughout the country to participate. To cover expenses associated with travel to and lodging in NYC, volunteers may need to solicit funding from home community resources.

Required Skills

Volunteers will be responsible for facilitating one small participant table in multiple discussions and tasks during the day-long program. Volunteers should be experienced facilitators. The specific required skills include:

• Significant experience facilitating small group face-to-face deliberation, building toward consensus while holding respectful space for difference
• Able to adhere to a tight, prescribed design, but also able to immediately respond to real-time change in design and direction from lead facilitator
• Able to focus on one's own small group while maintaining overarching responsibility to the total assembled group
• Deep listening skills; able to hear both unique individual voices and also emergent themes
• Comfortable with diversity on many dimensions, including those of power and authority
• Comfortable with the expression of strong emotions and able to support their expression, drawing the important content back into the conversation
• Aware of one's own thoughts, opinions and feelings but able to transcend them to stay in a facilitation role despite any personal stake in the content of the conversation

Required Commitment

• Volunteering time 7:00 AM-5:00 PM on Saturday July 20 at the Javits Center, Midtown Manhattan
• Attending one of several two-hour orientation sessions Friday, July 19 in Manhattan
• Participating in one of several one-hour phone conferences prior to the meeting to review the background and key elements of design
• Providing feedback and reflection to planners and colleagues at the conclusion of the session

Volunteer Registration

To register your interest in volunteering as a facilitator on July 20, 2002 in New York City, please fill out the Facilitator Registration Form. Our facilitator coordinators will respond to you individually to confirm your participation.

More Information

For more information about the Listening to the City program design and model, please review the information posted on the February 7, 2002 "Listening to the City" program in the Previous Event section and visit the AmericaSpeaks website.