by Melanie Speir, Civil Discourse Team

Democracy requires participation from all of us in order to work, but the current tide of dis/misinformation, polarization, and lack of respect is discouraging voters from engaging in the political process in this critical election year. As part of our focus on Making Democracy Work, the League is engaging these challenges on several fronts, including fostering civil civic engagement and countering dis/misinformation.

Civil discourse fosters civil civic engagement by encouraging critical thinking and respectful, engaged dialog -- core skills needed to organize and express thoughts so others can understand or “hear” you.  It also offers people the encouragement and respect to vet their “facts” for accuracy. Check out our Civil Discourse page for more information. 

Please join this effort - we need all hands on deck this election year! We are actively seeking new members for the Civic Engagement Committee - people who are concerned about political intimidation, polarization and misinformation! To join the team, to volunteer or for more informtaion, please email us at civic.engagement [at] lwvdv.org.

• Organize our lists of resources and materials for our website
• Present our power point and script at local meetings
• Facilitate group workshops
• Hand out brochures at appropriate League events ("tabling")

• The National Institute for Civil Discourse presented an excellent webinar about Democracy, Disinformation and Distrust and the video is now available here.
• News Literacy Project (LWV of Larimer County, Colorado)