The Dialogue Network for Action (DNA) will be launched when the Activist Solutions population is large enough to recruit many small groups of up to ten people each, who will meet regularly in real time.

It will be an on and offline national network of small solutions-oriented action groups

• The purpose of the new project will be to add the dimension of face-to-face community building and personal interaction to the Exchange.
• DNA will consist of a national web of small ongoing problem solving, planning, and action groups. Each DNA group will be composed of up to ten compatible people. When Solution Exchange participants post ideas for solutions, they will be told of like-minded individuals who have posted or indicated support for solutions similar to theirs.
• Members of DNA groups that live close enough to one another will meet face-to-face; otherwise, meetings will take place online. Some groups will combine these two modalities, meeting sometimes in person and other times via the Internet.
• These ongoing small groups will work together to improve and if possible combine similar solutions to the same problem, and to develop implementation strategies for joint action plans.
• All the participants in each group will have chosen the same problem to work with. Collectively, the group network will represent many points of view on each issue.
• These self-selected clusters of compatible people will meet together as often as they like for as long as it takes to improve and consolidate their solutions and strategies.
• At DNA group meetings, the members will choose a facilitator. (Facilitation will rotate or it may be performed by the same person, at the group’s discretion.) The facilitator’s primary task will be to get everyone involved, heard, and responded to. They will also be commissioned to keep the group’s discussion focused, on target, and positive. Their primary objective will be to resolve conflict without generating negativity or animosity.
• Group members will endeavor to refine, improve, and (whenever possible) merge their individual ideas for solutions to the same problems. As the group’s solutions evolve, they will be routinely re-posted on the Solution Exchange for feedback from other participants. They will attempt to combine their ideas with other individuals and groups with similar thinking. After a reasonable amount of contact, if DNA group members find they are incompatible, they will have the option to change groups or to form new ones.
• The members of each DNA group will eventually discuss strategies for publicizing their solutions and acting together with others who agree with them to try to get their joint proposals implemented.
• Participants in DNA groups are expected to be able to create more thoughtful and practical proposals and more innovative action strategies than their individual members could have produced alone.
• Most importantly, the DNA groups will facilitate real world community building. They might help create popular political movements that go far beyond what’s now possible on the Internet alone.

Why small group dialogues?

Small groups of compatible people who meet regularly to accomplish shared goals tend to develop very stable community and a strong sense of camerardie. If they learn to dialogue successfully, they’re likely to accomplish some of what they set out to do together, and to deeply enjoy the experience.

Almost everyone has been part of a group of this kind at some time. For many, it was their families, a church or community group, a school club, a sports team, work associates, a cluster of friends who enjoy and help each other, or a political group. For others, it was charitable work of some kind.

The possible power of such goal-oriented group interaction was apparent in Howard Dean’s political rise in 2003, which was due in part to the emergence of a national network of politically oriented small group “meet-ups.” Similarly, the success of Saddleback, one of America’s largest and most influential “mega-churches” has been attributed to the creation of small groups of up to ten people that meet regularly to talk and pray together.

To read more about this project, which is still in the planning stage, go here. If you are interested in helping us launch this project, or in being informed of its progress, contact us and we'll put you on our mailing list.