To stay up to date on activities of the Frank Zeidler Center for Public Discussion, check out our website at www.frankzeidlercenter.org
The mission of the Frank Zeidler Center for Public Discussion is to promote, support and facilitate community discussion among persons with a variety of viewpoints regarding important issues facing individuals, families, neighborhoods, cities and nations. The Center is rooted in Frank’s commitment to seek the public good through community dialogue, strategic planning, issue analysis and action.
The Center was founded on February 19, 2006 on the occasion of the presentation of the Wittenberg Award to Frank by the Luther Institute. The Center is administered by a small steering committee which meets once per month on the first Tuesday at 6 PM. Steering committee members are Shelley Bruehling, Mary Campbell, Ilona Cinis, Rick Deines, Carol Ann Meverden and Brian Tyndall.
What an incredible year 2007 was! During the Center’s second year of existence, we accomplished the following:
Martin Luther King Day, January 2007, we were part of a community Martin Luther King Day celebration organized by Venice Williams and held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. In addition to activities for children and youth, there were two sessions for adults, one on peace and the other on Violence in the City led by Zeidler Center facilitators in which a cross-section of community participants discussed the topic with each other. The discussions were profound and many participants connected with each other on issues of common concern.
In March 2007, we held a small First Anniversary Lunch Celebration and Discussion at the Ambassador Hotel with special invited guests, Mike Gousha from Marquette Law School and community activist, Attorney Henry Hamilton. It was fascinating discussion of the issues facing Milwaukee and the need for broad-based conversation by members of the community to help citizens address these issues. It was also the beginning of Zeidler Center connections with Marquette.
In May, the first two-session orientation course was offered, entitled Crossing Barriers in Public Discussion. This course is designed to provide basic training in the public conversation method. We were pleased to have 20 people in this orientation course which included students and their professor from a graduate level course at Marquette.
Later in May, 2007 in conjunction with Serenity Inns, Zeidler Center facilitators served as guest facilitators at the Milwaukee Town Meeting on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, leading discussion groups on addictions. The meeting was sponsored by Serenity Inns, a ministry connected with the Synod that provides services for persons in recovery. This event linked persons currently in recovery with 11 groups in Milwaukee that provide services.
On September 27, 2007, the Zeidler Center was invited to teach the first session of a year long course at the Marquette Pilot Project for Community Transformation at Marquette University in which the participants are learning various methodologies to bring about community transformation. Participants in this course are civic, religious, business and educational leaders in our community. Our facilitators led the class in a discussion about Transforming Milwaukee. Project organizers are interested in collaborating with the Zeidler Center in future projects.
One interesting side-note here is that the second presenter in the course was organization transformation specialist Peter Block. Contact was made with him and he graciously agreed to meet with Redeemer leadership team and Zeidler Center steering committee members before his class. We took that opportunity to explore possible connections with him for the Zeidler Center but also received his suggestions for Redeemer’s process. He has asked me to keep him posted on our progress.
On December 10, Zeidler Center facilitators led a discussion “the elephant in Milwaukee’s living room” for the 2008 Future Milwaukee class. This class is composed of young leaders from the Milwaukee metropolitan area who care about the health of our community. As a result of that success, we will be invited to participate in the future.
Finally, on January 14, 2008, Zeidler Center facilitators were invited by Pr. Amy Reumann, Synod Coalition Director, to lead a group of ELCA seminarians participating in an Urban Ministry J-term course in Milwaukee in a discussion on charity and justice for the homeless.
We invite you to be in touch with us to explore how your organization or ministry can benefit from public conversation.
