National Issues Forums

National Issues Forums (NIF) is a network of civic and educational organizations that promotes citizen deliberation in public forums. NIF forums are facilitated discussions that make use of a pre-set framework of options or "choices" and issue discussion materials prepared in advance. "Choicework," or the process of working through the pros and cons of each, is designed to promote the formation of a shared public judgment that is better integrated, more coherent, and more stable than mere public opinion.

The National Issues Forums Institute helps organizations conduct Public Policy Institutes (PPIs), which are workshops for training citizens to convene and moderate National Issues Forums. Some PPIs also offer instruction in the fundamentals of framing issues for deliberation.

Contact information: Call NIF for an introductory packet (800-433-7834), which explains how to convene and moderate a local forum and offers information about how to get involved in the NIF-sponsored training for local moderators.

Visit the National Issues Forum Institute's Web site.

Other Resources:

NIFI has published a report called "Public Schools: Are They Making the Grade" that is available here as a downloadable PDF file. It details people's thinking as they've "worked through" the issue of public schools by deliberating together, considering other points of view, and weighing the costs and consequences of different approaches to the issue. It shows that people's thinking is complex and sometimes at odds with the policy debate.