When Values Collide: Deliberating Environmental Issues with Youth and Adults
Thursday, 3:00–4:00 PM ET
How do we move past polarized debates and create space for real listening and learning around environmental issues? In this interactive webinar, the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) introduces deliberation as a values-based approach for engaging both youth and adults in meaningful public dialogue.
Participants will explore how deliberation helps groups weigh tradeoffs, surface underlying values, and build shared understanding around complex environmental and community challenges. Designed for educators, facilitators, and civic leaders, this session will share practical tools and adaptable strategies to strengthen environmental education, build civic skills, and support more thoughtful, collaborative decision-making.
All registrants will receive the recording.
Speakers
Cristin F. Brawner
Executive Director, National Issues Forums Institute
Cristin F. Brawner leads the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to equipping, empowering, and mobilizing people to use deliberation to take action for the public good. Her career has focused on helping communities and our democracy thrive by building partnerships, designing programs, and strengthening the civic infrastructure that enables people to talk, decide, and act together.
Before joining NIFI, Brawner served as Executive Director of the David Mathews Center for Civic Life in Alabama. Brawner also founded the Southern Deliberative Democracy Network and is a former Associate with the Kettering Foundation.
Dawn Harfmann
Program Coordinator, National Issues Forums Institute
Dawn Harfmann is NIFI’s Program Coordinator, supporting program development and implementation and the coordination of NIFI partner engagement. Dawn has a background in research and practice concerning nonpartisan community collaboration across differences, and she serves as a trained moderator through Braver Angels, a political bridge-building organization. Dawn has served as an educator in K–12 and at the college level, leading place-based and experiential learning initiatives both in the classroom and in field settings.
This webinar is brought to you by ee360+.
ee360+: Building a Stronger and More Inclusive Movement Through Collective Impact
An ambitious multi-year initiative, the ee360+ Leadership and Training Collaborative connects, trains, and promotes innovative leaders dedicated to using the power of education to create a more just and sustainable future for everyone, everywhere. Led by NAAEE, ee360+ is made possible through funding and support from U.S. EPA and partner organizations representing universities and nonprofits across the country, and five federal agencies. Through this partnership, ee360+ brings together more than five decades of expertise to grow, strengthen, and diversify the environmental education field. Visit https://naaee.org/programs/ee360 to learn more.
