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 The Wisdom Council Process can facilitate the people of a city or community to get involved, face and solve difficult issues, and to build a new spirit of community in the process. Governments can initiate the process or a local network of people can initiate the process in a way that can be used by governments, schools, hospital districts, minority citizen groups, etc..  Here is a description of how a group of concerned citizens might set up the process for their community.... Or, the service clubs or just individual citizens can bring forward difficult issues as well, like addressing homelessness, fears about Covid, tax inequities, etc. Key is that this process can be used to establish a an ongoing creative, collaborative community conversation that reaches whole-community conclusions. "We the People" can then provide responsible leadership to elected leaders, community organizations and to the community at large.

Most of our experience with this process is happening in Europe at present. See the Wisdom Councils in Austria. 

Setting up a Wisdom Council Process offers a way for a citizens group to ..
  • Shift the public conversation away from argument to collaboration ... especially on hot issues like Covid
  • Help citizens understand complex issues and the various possible responses to those issues
  • Spark meaningful involvement from all citizens ... where "we" make things happen
  • Realize breakthrough solutions to impossible-seeming issues ... and build public support for them
  • Generate new levels of trust in government and one another ...
  • Help elected officials and staff feel greater levels of citizen support  ... 
And as the process gets going it necessarily will  oo
  • Empower citizens to a new level of "We the People" capability, taking on the responsibility of leadership to the government, institutions and culture.

Wisdom Council experiment in Asheville NC

HOW IT CAN HAPPEN IN YOUR COMMUNITY (see the example from Santa Cruz county)
  1. Build a small cadre of people who understand this new-paradigm approach. Things usually begin with the 3-day “Dynamic Facilitation, choice-creating and the Wisdom Council” seminar held in your community. This seminar, which has been taught to rave reviews all over the world, provides new-paradigm understandings about modes of thinking, facilitation and approaches to whole-system change. In the seminar participants will learn and practice Dynamic Facilitation on issues they care about ... and make a plan. . The skills are vital leadership competencies, helping people face and solve seemingly impossible issues through shifts and breakthroughs. They can be applied to ones personal life, work life, and to “community democracy.”
  2. Build a small pool of DF'ers. Often local participants who attend the seminars will choose to keep meeting, further developing their DF skills. This can provide community organizations with new and better meetings. It's a way to build community awareness about the desired quality of thinking ... especially the shift from "decision-making" to “choice-creating.”.
  3. Conduct a series of Community Wisdom Councils. At some point this DF'er community can work with the local government or a Community Foundation to convene Wisdom Councils on different issues. 
  4. Facilitate “Community Democracy.” When Wisdom Councils are held regularly, every four months or so, this process establishes a new kind of public conversation, where citizens become more informed and involved, and where a legitimate “We the People” forms to provide clear direction to community leaders. 

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