The NIF Model of Public Deliberation
What does the National Issues Forum (NIF) model of deliberation look like?
- Based on input from the public, organizers select an issue that has been framed by the National Issues Forums (NIF), such as health care, energy, or the education gap. Sometimes the issues are modified by the organizers or other people skilled in the “naming and framing” process to reflect local interests and circumstances.
- All members of a community or communities are invited to deliberate in a forum. Those who convene the forum also work to actively recruit participation from individuals reflecting a diversity of political affiliations, racial identities, genders, ages, socio-economic classes, etc.
- Each participant has advanced access to a booklet that includes three or more approaches to an important national or local issue. This NIF booklet uses the language of the public, not the language of experts, to frame and discuss the various approaches a community can take to begin solving the issue.
- Forums are structured so that citizens can come together to discuss the three – or sometimes more - options on the table for resolving the problem. The goal of the discussion is not to choose an option from among those offered, but to use the options—each with its own set of values and insights about the problem—to better reveal the thoughts, feelings, concerns, and desires of the public.
- Every person is encouraged to speak. People are also encouraged to check themselves from "dominating" the conversation. A trained moderator is present to facilitate the discussion.
- Each person's input is recorded by a recorder on a flip chart paper and then put into a final report which also captures the public's judgment or movement toward common ground on the issue.
- Key leaders are identified on the issue and reports are sent to local (or state or national) leaders, the media, and the general public. When discussing a national issue, the reports are sent to the Kettering Foundation and compiled into a national report which Kettering disseminates to lawmakers in Washington D.C. On a local level, reports are given to local leaders who generally take an interest in this type of community participation. Often these deliberative meetings result in a renewed awareness of avenues that citizens can also take on their own to make positive changes in their communities.