In this announcement, Bill Muse, President, National Issues Forums Institute describes a special offer of free issue guide materials to the first 100 moderators and conveners who register to hold forums using the soon-to-be-released guide titled Making Ends Meet: How Should We Spread Prosperity and Improve Opportunity?

Applications are now being accepted (deadline is December 31, 2015) from individuals who are interested in being considered to receive a Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund grant. Grants are provided to individuals to enable them to develop an understanding of deliberative democracy and launch one or more deliberative dialogues in their communities and organizations in order to advance NIFI's overall mission, which is to promote public deliberation about national issues.

Issue guides are at the center of the National Issues Forum Institute’s efforts to engage concerned citizens around discussing actionable solutions for our nation’s most pressing issues, such as health care affordability and social security reforms. They provide the unbiased facts, research and potential solutions to spark a discussion about solving these types of national challenges. We think of them as study guides for your forums.

Making deliberation easier, more accessible

In the following essay, Rev. Gregg Kaufman, National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) member and retired Lutheran pastor and professor, reflects on Pope Francis' recent message to the United States Congress in which he empasized the importance of dialogue and engaging all people to help solve problems.