1.
Meeting Agenda to Identify the Issue in Your Community
(2 hours)
Purpose of meeting:
To begintalkingabouta situationthatiscausingtensioninourcommunityorthat presentsagreat
opportunity.
1. Welcome andintroductions (10 minutes)
Askpeople tointroduce themselvesandtalkabouttheir connectiontothe community.
2. What brings us together(30 minutes)
Askgroup memberstorespondtothe followingquestions.Recordthe majorideas.
 What isthe issue thatbringsustogetherandwho doesitaffectthe most?
 How doesthe issue affectthe community?Doesitaffectracial/ethnicgroupsdifferently,if so,
how? Doesit have a greaterimpact onany othergroups(youth,seniorcitizens,orothers)?
3. Whyyou are committedto this issue and to this work (15 minutes)
Form groupsof 3- 4 people.Discussthe twoquestionsbelow for10 minutes,thenfor5 minutes,share
highlightsof yourconversationwiththe largergroup.
 How hasthis issue touchedyouinsome way?
 Why doyou have enoughenergytoworkon this?
4. Whoneedsto be at the next meetingto furtherorganize our work together (10 minutes)
Talk aboutthese questionsinpairs:
 Who ismost affected?
 Who cares enoughaboutthisissue tocome to an organizingmeeting?
5. The Three QuestionTest (20 minutes)
As a group,talkabout the issue youare hopingto address,andask yourselvesthe followingthree
questions. “Yes”answerstothese questionsindicate thatyouhave a greaterchance of success.

2.
i. Is it relevant? Askyourselves,if we posedthisissuetopotential participants,wouldtheysee
howthisissue affectsthemortheircommunity? Woulditmake themmore likelytocome out
to talkand act?
ii. Is it timely? Isthere somethingaboutaskingthisissue now thatmakesthistimely? If we act,
can somethingreallygoodhappeninthe community? If we fail toact, can somethingbad
happeninthe community?
iii. Can we do anything abouttheissue? If a personunderstandsthatthisissue isimportantto
them,andif theybelieve the conversationistimely,will the conversationsturnintoaction? Will
the action make anydifference?
6. Planningnext steps(20 minutes)
If we decide tomove ahead,ournextstepwouldbe anorganizingsession. Inthissessionwe have
identifiedandissue. We have testedour questiontoensure thatthe answerstoourThree Question
Testare, “Yes!”
As a group,answerthese questionstohelpyouplanyournextsteps:
 What are the importantdetailsnew people we invitetothe nextmeetingneedtoknow?
 Who do we wantto make sure will be here? Whowill invite them?
 Are there questionstoansweroractionsto take before ournextmeeting? Whowill acton
these?
7. Decidingthe agenda for the next organizingsession(10 minutes)
Here are some ideasfortopicsto coverin the nextmeeting.
 An overviewof today’smeeting
 An overviewof howthese dialogue circleswork
 We will engage the groupinsmall groupdiscussionslikewe didinthismeeting. Startwiththe
discussion,“Whyisthisissue importanttoyou? What commitmentdoyou have thatcause
youto investsome of youron time andenergyto finda solution?”
 We will considerthe assetswhatwe have bydiscussingthe giftsorcommunityassetswe have
that give ushope that we coulddo somethingimportantaboutthisissue.
 We will discussourchallengesandhow we will addressthem.
 We will divide responsibilitiesamongthe grouptomove the dialoguesforward.
8. ClosingComments (5 minutes)
Announcementof nextmeetingdate;thanksforattending