Some ideas that were brought up for Biennial sessions during our September call include:
1) Adapting the World Cafe format to Chicago
2) Doing a session around the experiences of students interested in practice, and
3) Making a concerted effort to integrate the community (organizations and members) into the conference and sessions. 

What do you all think of these proposals? Any more suggestions? Which should we elaborate on.  

I'm particularly drawn to the third suggestion - making a concerted effort to integrate the community into the conference and sessions.  Has this been done effectively at SCRA events in the past? Are there members who live in Chicago who may be interested in contacting organizations they work with?

I also liked the flip side of this suggestion, of actually doing some kind of community-based activity while in Chicago. I think some people mentioned doing a community service project, while others mentioned doing sessions out in the community, eg. trainings for community-based organizations.  Chicago is a fascinating place with a lot of social services, I think the more we can build on the richness of the city itself, the more chance we'll have a really meaningful experience.

I think all three ideas that Sharon has listed are terrific. I would love to have an open discussion around #2 the experiences of students interested in practice.How do we do this in a  way that the students will feel safe and comfortable to talk about their struggles as students with a focus on practice? And so it isn't a bitching session. Do we do a session where we read testimony from students but do it confidentially (students submit and ohers read them)? Other ideas for formats? A speak out? Town hall meeting?  How do we make sure that faculty attend?  Have a faculty response panel? Co-plan with CEP?

This needs a good creative format and most of all it needs ideas from present and recent students as to what would work. Ideas/

Tom

Two thoughts:

(1) Given the findings from the Value Propositon Survey that CP training programs are inconsistent in preparing students to enter into community and actively participate in implementing (as distinct from researching and evaluating) change,  I would like to hear a panel of current  and recent graduate students describe their vision of an ideal training model for learning how to implement change in partnership with communities/organizations/groups.  What would they like to have included?  At what points during and/or after their formal training? In what types of settings?  Mentored by what sorts of mentors?

(2) Regarding the integration of local organizations into the Biennial experience, I suggest that a survey be done of potential participants from the Chicago community, asking them what information and processes would be most useful to them.  For example, one could send out a list of the CP skill sets and ask which ones are most relevant to their efforts, and what expertise would be most useful to share (in both directions) during the Biennial.  It seems to me that a "learning dialog" would be a very valuable experience.

Al Ratcliffe

I've been thinking about both of these proposed themes a lot this week.   Here are my reactions to what's been said:

School Training in CP - Al, I like your idea that we give students (and recent students) an active voice in this session.  But I also understand Tom's appeal to both A) make sure it's constructive and not complaining and B) ensure that faculty attend.  My thinking is that not all students in community psychology programs are having the same experience - so it might be helpful to do a "two-stage" or "two-step" session where first we would have separate sessions: students in one and faculty/program directors in another.  So each group could interact and flesh out the issues that they themselves face, before bringing the two groups together.  Although we tend to want to integrate things, I think divergent thinking on this issue could be helpful - especially since the experiences and situations of students and programs across the country are so different.  Then when we all got together in session number two - the conversation could be more valuable as each "perspective" would be presented with a better understanding of the issue.  What do you all think of this proposal.... Does that make sense?  Or do you think that a two-step session on two different days would lose momentum and interest? Could it be detrimental to separate the groups?

The Community and SCRA - Gina, I'm not sure what the history of community integration at biennials is.  I know that sometimes people do presentations with community partners, but I don't know about formal involvement.  Perhaps someone else could address this?  Personally, I'm not a fan of one day volunteer projects - I don' t think they have much impact on the organization, the community or those doing the service.  While I see the merit of polling organizations to see what kind of services/talks/skills they would want to see at the conference, I tend towards the other extreme:  What can these service organizations and initiatives offer the conference attendees? What can we learn from the work they are doing?  I think integrating community organizations in this way could tie into our drive for a practice-focus.  Perhaps instead of a service-event we can have shadowing opportunities, or a "success tour" where we see the actual settings these work is happening in, and organizations have a chance to share.   Thoughts?

The reason why I suggested that students discuss their vision of an IDEAL training model is so they can focus on what they would like to see without having to criticise what is.  I would not want to put students into a "bitch session" situation, because that would not be productive and would be stressful for student participants. 

We could also ask for willing faculty to discuss their vision of an ideal training model for learning how to implement change in partnership with community groups.  And then blend the products of both discussions.

For that matter, we could also invite community participants to comment on each presentation, pointing out those elements that would be most effective/useful in their communities.

I think Sharon and Al have landed on the idea - let's do a visioning session like the one in Urbana but this time the question is what do we envision for a positive future of the training of community psychology practitioners - let's get everyone involved (students, faculty, practitioners etc - a plenary session?) and then let's do an Apprecitive Inquiry process to talk about how we do this at our best and how to expand our best practices etc.

Sound good?

It would be fun

Tom