The Countywide Community Forums (CCF) is a public engagement program in King County that facilitates discussions on key issues. It was created in 2007 through citizen initiative and is overseen independently by the King County Auditor's Office. The program is funded through donations and underwritten by the Spady family. Over 2,000 people have registered as Citizen Councilors to share insights through the program. The document provides information on hosting CCF forums to participate in surveys on topics like the county budget, which organizations can qualify for grants by generating survey responses. It also includes frequently asked questions.

1. Countywide Community Forums (CCF)
Round 8: Partner Grant Program Training
Suzanne Pak & John Spady
08/24/11 http://www.CommunityForums.org CommunityForums@KingCounty.Gov 1

2. Countywide Community Forums (CCF) is a nationally recognized public engagement program in
partnership with King County. The program is designed to make democracy more user-friendly and was
created through citizen initiative in 2007 and unanimously adoption by the King County Council. Over
2,000 people have registered to be a Citizen Councilor through the program to share their own insights
and opinions on key issues that impact communities across King County.
CCF is independent and overseen by the King County Auditor’s Office (KCAO). It uses no tax dollars and
depends on donations from civic-minded individuals, companies, and foundations. It is underwritten by the
Spady family of Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. Dick Spady is a lifelong advocate for civic participation
and meaningful public dialog. He serves as Citizen Councilor Coordinator Emeritus for CCF and is joined by
his sons John and Jim in support of his work to strengthen our civic infrastructure and community
connections.
King County webpage for CCF program:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/auditor/communityforums.aspx
 Richard Spady is the author of “The Leadership of Civilization Building.”
http://www.ForumFoundation.org/leadership
 John Spady is the current appointed Councilor Coordinator for the Countywide Community Forums of
King County and is a member of both the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD.org) and
the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2.org).
Story On King 5 Up Front with Robert Mak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvdw-d-OG6g
Round 2 Topic Video produced by KCTS9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_jXQcCvLC0
For more news stories about CCF: http://communityforums.org/participate/ccf-in-the-news/
CCF Overview
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3. Join Us on Our Website & Social
Media:
http://CommunityForums.org/
http://www.facebook.com/CCFKC
http://twitter.com/CCForums
We have 38 Round 8 partners!
http://CommunityForums.org/partners-
page/
Here, you can add, view, and RSVP
to CCF forums:
http://ccfkc.CommunityForums.org/en/
index/events/
Register as a Citizen Councilor &
receive our email communications:
http://ccfkc.CommunityForums.org/en/
registration/index/
How to Engage with CCF: Online & Social Media Channels
You can tag Countywide Community Forums on Facebook & Twitter. You can also use
Twitter hash tags #R8budgetforums, #R8ukcforums
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6. For Each Survey Response to Count:
 Each survey respondent must select your
organization from the CCF Partner list
provided in the survey. Participants must
select only one CCF Partner for a selection to
be counted on a paper survey. The online
survey only allows a participant to designate
one CCF Partners.
 Each survey response (online or paper)
will count equally towards winning the grant.
 Only one survey response per individual
per topic will count towards the grant. If there
are multiple responses to the same survey
from one respondent, only the first qualifying
one will be kept.
Here is a reminder of how you can earn a grant from CCF. You can always refer
to http://communityforums.org/partnerapplication for more details on CCF’s
Partner Grant Program.
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7. Tip: Friday 9/9: Starting Monday
Tuesday 8/23:
Launched UKC survey On question “(I-3) Deadline for responses 9/12:
Please indicate if to UKC Survey
Share this online survey After confirming tallies
you are a
with anyone who lives NOTE: In order for a with the KC Auditor we
supporter
or works in King County survey to be counted will send you individual
of one of these
http:// as complete by the emails with the number
CCF grant
ccfkc.communityforums. Auditor, survey must of survey responses
partners”
org/en/index/survey/ have at least one credited to your
encourage your
“D” (Demographic) organization.
supporters to
or question, and at least
select your Your tally will be added
one “T” (Topic)
organization to any additional survey
http://tinyurl.com/CCF- question answered.
responses you get for
SurveyIndex the King County Budget
survey that starts on
Sept 12 and ends on
Oct. 16
Unincorporated King County: New Framework for Public Engagement (UKC)
Participation in this online survey counts toward the partner grant
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8. Monday, 9/12: Host your own Join us for a Sunday, 10/16:
CCF forums special catered
Launch of King forum in Last day for in-
County Budget During your International person forums.
Survey meeting or event District!
in September or Mailed responses
Forum will be around
Follow the same early October, must reach
10/14 or 10/15;
directions as you schedule an in- Auditor by
invitations will go out
person forum for Wednesday, 10/19
did for the UKC in early September.
30-45 minutes! to qualify.
survey, and
encourage people You should invite
Remember, there After 2 weeks, we
to fill out the your stakeholders,
is a special $1,000 will send you
online survey members, and staff
Bonus Grant for emails with the
who have not yet
the organization number of survey
participated to join
that generates the responses credited
you. Survey
most number of to your
responses at this
paper survey organization.
event will count
responses through
toward your partner
an in-person
grant.
forum!
King County Budget: Achieving Sustainability Together
Participation in this online survey counts toward the partner grant
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9. Hosting a Forum: Facilitating a Forum:
 During September 1st– October 16th, you can  We can provide a trained facilitator, and we
host a CCF Forum during your meeting, event, encourage you to co-facilitate the session with
or office hours! us!
 We will provide topic video DVD, paper Best Practices:
surveys, and optional facilitator(s) for your  In many organizations, there many be common
forum.
viewpoint about certain issues. If our topic is
 We will also post your CCF Forum on our related to an issue your organization is
website, Facebook page, and Twitter. involved with, you may reference that in your
communications. But we discourage
 Please login at CommunityForums.org to organizations from explicitly asking people to
schedule your own event or contact us to help fill out the survey a certain way (apart from
schedule a forum for you! selecting your organization as a partner).
Typical Agenda for a CCF Forum (30 min):  We also encourage you to keep an open mind
and encourage those with divergent viewpoints
 Introduction (4 min) to share their views. Our goal is not to try to
 Topic Video (7 min) achieve consensus of viewpoint, but to
 Table or Group Discussion (12 min) empower individuals to discuss public policy
 Survey (7 min) issues civilly.
Hosting & Facilitating a CCF Forum
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10.  Can the surveys be translated into different  If we have a lot of members who don’t have
languages? computers or easy access to the Internet, is it
 We have the technical capability to put translated possible to provide them with paper surveys?
versions of our survey into both online and paper
 Yes, but we encourage you to capture the paper
versions, but we unfortunately do not have staff or
surveys during an in-person forum. Otherwise, you
funding to pay for translation. If your organization can
would need to fill out a “Certification of Authenticity”
translate our survey, we’d be happy to validate and put
and ask each survey respondents to fill out a guest
the translation into our surveys.
registration form. You will need to mail these in along
 How do I respond if my members are having with the paper survey responses. You will also need
trouble understanding or answering a certain to hold an in-person forum if you wish to qualify for
question? the Bonus Grant of $1,000
http://CommunityForums.org/partnerapplication
 If someone does not understand the survey question or
feel they have enough information to answer, they can  How are the topics and survey questions
always select ‘Abstain’ as their answer. They are also not selected? Do I have a say in how future topics
required to answer every question on the survey. In order and questions are developed?
for a survey to be counted as complete, survey
responders must answer at least one “D” (Demographic)  The topic for each round is developed in close
question, and at least one “T” (Topic) question. collaboration with the CCF Steering Committee and
King County Council. If your organization is credited
 Will the individual level survey responses be sold with more than 250 registered Citizen Councilors (who
or shared with third-parties? select your organization as partner), you will be
invited to be part of the Steering Committee to advise
 No. The survey responses are anonymous, and only us on future topics. The survey questions are
the aggregate results will be shared publicly. Please see developed by the CCF team and King County Auditor’s
our Privacy Policy: Office.
http://communityforums.org/participate/ccf-privacy-statement/
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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15. THANK YOU!
Suzanne Pak & John Spady
Leave us a message at: 206-296-1633
08/24/11 http://www.CommunityForums.org CommunityForums@KingCounty.Gov 1