NH Listens partners with local communities, schools, and state-wide organizations to create environments that help move conversations forward.
We work with public officials, organizations, and leaders in all sectors to build relationships, talk about difficult subjects, build coalitions, and gather broad input that can lead to improved practice and policy.
We design opportunities for people to engage with each other regarding some of the most challenging issues communities face. We work with state and local partners to achieve equitable decision making through facilitated dialogues and learned exchanges that engage a mix of people with lived experiences and content expertise. We are committed to being fair-minded in our mission to create and sustain an inclusive process for public engagement.
Core Areas and Approaches To Our Work
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Engagement and Equitable Practices for Grounded Community Change
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NH Listens works with the Endowment for Health and the NH Center for Equity and Justice to sustain transformational engagement focused on race, intersectionality, equity, and long-term field-building for collective impact.
- NH Listens works with NH public school districts focused on equity and engagement coaching for educators, administrations, school boards, along with providing family/community engagement, and critical incident response.
- NH Listens fellows focus on youth leadership and building a community of practice network to foster public engagement, youth voice, and peer facilitation in schools/communities.
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UNH/USNH Collaboration to Stick with Difficult Conversations
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The Carsey School develops frameworks for equity and engagement in coursework, collaborations, and field experiences.
- NH Listens student fellows and interns learn together and design dialogues for diverse groups of people across politics.
- NH Listens designs workshops/dialogues for faculty/staff to build learning exchanges about trust, mattering, and equity.
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Applied Research on Civic Life and Participatory Democracy
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An interdisciplinary team studies civic health statewide and locally to understand how people participate in communities.
- NH Listens engages in applied research in local dialogues for community change process with Everyday Democracy and other thought partners – developing theory, frameworks, and tools.
- NH Listens participates in applied community-engaged research focused on equity, reciprocity, and community voices with partners, infusing public engagement to build inclusive practices and encourage trust-making and accountability.
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Learning Exchanges for Engagement and Equity
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NH Listens' fellows gather monthly for a community of practice and partner on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging work in NH.
- NH Listens facilitates the Leadership learning exchange for equity (L2E2), cross-sector cohorts for leaders to reflect on their roles linked to racial equity and engagement in NH.
- NH Listens facilitates sessions to deepen connection across race and equity colleagues in NH to foster dialogue with NH practitioners and shareholders.
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NH Listens Local Programming to Strengthen Community Skills and Engagement
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NH Listens designs and facilitates anti-polarization and intergenerational dialogues for public decision-making and understanding, people learn to persist through challenging topics.
- NH Listens provides services in public engagement and facilitated dialogues about equity, identity, and power dynamics that encourage mixed groups of people to "stick with tough conversations" in communities.
- NH Listens expands online/in-person workshops on community conversations and facilitation, resources, skills, and tools.
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