The New Americans: The New Challenges of American Immigration (A Centra Conference)

April 20, 2004, 2 – 4 PM ET
(Registration Deadline: April 13)

Listen and view the entire presentation (you will be prompted to install the Centra browser plug-in - not available for Macintosh)

American Immigration is an issue in most every community in America. Many of us know it is complex and have varying thoughts, ideas, and opinions on the many approaches to this issue. This deliberation gives you an opportunity to expand your understanding of the issue and come into dialogue with others interested and/ or concerned about American immigration policy and community realities.

An online deliberation via Centra. In this deliberation we will watch a short video that lays out 3 approaches to the issues in American Immigration. We will then break into groups and discuss our views. After a time, we will come back together and share our group conclusions and dialogue together as a group. The conclusion of this deliberation will be an exploration of the National Issues Forums Institute deliberation resources and how they can be used in community programming.

Event Summary

Benefits from the Training:

• Experience with the deliberative process
• Expanded understanding of the complexity and approaches to American immigration
• Awareness of the resources of NIFI and potential uses in community programming
• Materials for policy development in the community
  

What you need to do to attend:

• Register (before April 13) and once confirmed you will be sent a link to a small free software download that must be put on the computer you intend to use for the deliberation.
• Before April 20, obtain a microphone and speakers OR computer headset with microphone, this will be used by all participants

Highly recommended:

• Order and read the issue book, The New Challenges of American Immigration: What Should We Do? – full and abridged issue books can be purchased from the National Issues Forums Institute at National Issues Forums: Discussion guides for $3.90
• Watch the PBS miniseries The New Americans March 29-31. Check local listings for times.

If you can’t do either of these:

• Go to National Issues Forums: Moderator guides and print and read the 3 approaches to the issue.
  

More about Deliberation:

Public deliberation is a way for a diverse group of people to make decisions together about the common problems they face. Through deliberation, people explore options, weigh others' views, and consider the costs and consequences of public policy decisions. "Democracy requires am ongoing deliberative dialogue. Citizens have a responsibility to make choices about how to solve problems because government alone can not solve them all. Citizen's views often differ from officeholders' views. Deliberation may reveal new possibilities for action that neither citizens nor officeholders saw before." (Kettering Foundation research)

More about CENTRA:

CENTRA provides enterprise software and services for real-time communication, collaboration & learning over the Web, with self-service meetings, Web seminars, virtual classes and more. It allows two-way audio and visuals over the Internet. The only items needed to participate in a CENTRA training session are: a PC (not compatible with MACs), Internet connection (high speed connection with Internet Explorer browser recommended), and a microphone/headset combo -OR- speakers and microphone. CENTRA also requires a small plug-in that is downloaded on the computer that you will be using for the event. Once you have registered for the event, you will get a username and a password to access CENTRA. You will also be sent procedures to setup and do a system check for your CENTRA software.

System Requirements

**NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MACS**

If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to contact us: Susan Jakes at susan_jakes@ncsu.edu, or Barbara Brown at babrwn@clemson.edu

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