Why it matters
{It's Our Home}

In Santa Cruz County so far, we have convened one Citizens Wisdom Council by random selection, which was on the rail corridor
{January 2019} see notes below.

As well as a resident-sponsored:
"Facilitated Session on Homelessness Solutions" #2020FSHS

KSCO Sun Marian aka Mrs Future of the Dr Future Show was filming the entirety of this Facilitated 2-day Session, She reported on her experience as co-host of
KSCO Dr Future Show (starting after the first 7 minute segment).

See Santa Cruz Sentinel Column also on Facilitated Session:
BEFORE.............. & AFTER Commentary.

Sentinel Guest Commentary on the Dynamic Facilitation & Wisdom Council model:'

Citizens Wisdom Council
2019 ARCHIVAL

On the issue of rail corridor /coastal trail

Halfway through the first session3 'experts' come in to give 3 different perspectives
(5 mins each plus fielding questions from WC participants)

Ongoing Wisdom Councils in our community is a way to find out who we all are, what we want and creative ways to move forward.

Differences in views are an ASSET, NOT a liability.

Our differences help us solve the REAL problem(s)


The big breakthrough was when the group said, we’ve been talking/arguing about this for 10 years, but it has only been within the auspices of the county transportation commission [RTC]. This subject is actually bigger;

A 'choice-creating' We the People Conversation

It’s about “how we, as a community, get to define ourselves going forward.”;

How do we want to be thought of as a community and how does this opportunity fit into future plans for our county?

e.g. the invention of the surfboard grew out of this innovative, dynamic place.

This is really about starting the conversation that has been missing,

We are better off with ALL the community thinking about this issue – in terms of our future.

What and who we are can be reflected in every aspect of our landscape and our strategic plans.

We have no idea because the future of transportation technology is just getting started / it’s IN development

°Problem-statements°Data°Concerns°Solutions°

Dynamic Facilitation invites a new conversation by welcoming all input from those in the room as legitimate potentially fruitful grist for the mill. Every utterance without exception fits one of four categories; ‘Data’, ‘Concern’, ‘Solution’, Problem-statement’...; round and round, hour after hour. And the conversation morphs, marked by surprising junctures, shifts and breakthroughs.

From this arises organically, the obvious ‘Of Courses’ (what anyone can see) and ‘Actionable steps’

Santa Cruz maverick spirit champions multi-modal

– ‘Winning the game’ would be generating a recognizably legitimate Voice of the People. This could inspire people by making it clear that their concerns are respected and their ideas are valuable, and it could free policy makers from the sense that anything they try to do will be opposed by special interest groups and inspire them to make active use of the WCP to guide their actions. In the long run, it could lead to a systemic change in the way we organize self-governance.

This is a citizen council, a Wisdom Council, formed and disbanded in a night and a day, its distilled perspective by no means an absolute. Breakthroughs in thinking are par for the course in this model and arise as a way out of and a way forward, beyond where anybody has been or seen.

It is proven through repeated practice that a randomly selected citizens council, no matter how diverse, will arrive at a solid shared perspective which resonates with broad swaths of people in the wider community.

"It may have been perverse of destiny to array perception across billions of subjectivities, but the fact is central to human life and language and culture, and no philosophy or cognitive science should be allowed to evade it."

Marilynne Robinson, from 'Absence of Mind' 2010

"I would always start with a Citizen Wisdom Council because it is such a lean, elegant and effective approach. With a small sample of people, you can not only get to the core of a problem but to the core of a good solution. Chances are high that the solution will be accepted by the public." ​

Manfred Hellrigl [Austria], former director of State of Vorarlberg's Office of Future-related Issues {a decade of convening citizens Wisdom Council's with and for the State legislature}

We develop and teach social innovations by which people can face and solve impossible-seeming issues. These innovations can be used at large scale to empower "We the People". That is the citizens Wisdom Council Process. Dynamic Facilitation is the operating system of a Wisdom Council.