Thoughtful dialogue and active listening are essential to productive community engagement. It’s about collaborating with diverse people to build inclusive communities. Dialogue fosters understanding and helps identify shared values. Programs like Service-Leadership Work Study create opportunities for students to engage and learn from community members with different perspectives.
The Listening Project aims to provide a space where community members of different backgrounds, including students, can come together to listen to and learn from each other through facilitated dialogue opportunities. In doing so, the Listening project seeks to build relationships between different segments of the community and the College.
The dialogue events run by the Listening Projects are scaffolded conversations that are 1) grounded in shared agreements that participants help shape and 2) that are supported by intentional facilitation that seeks to provide an inclusive space where a diversity of perspectives can be heard. Our goal is to foster curious listening so that participants can learn about each other in rich and complex ways, thereby breaking down stereotypes.
Importantly, our dialogue sessions provide a space to talk about both the things that connect us and the things that make us different from each other. Talking about differences may seem backwards at first, so let’s explain why this is important. Iowa State Representative Ako Abdul-Samad said “If we understand our differences, our similarities have substance.” We do want to celebrate our common ground because those connections remind us of our shared humanity and our inherent dignity. Yet, each of us also has different life experiences which shape how we understand the world around us and how we interact with others. None of us fit neatly into a box defining who society tells us we are supposed to be. Yet these differences can be places where we misunderstand and hurt each other. Some differences have more serious consequences in people's lives than others. When people perceive us as different due to unfair stereotypes and judgments, we can suffer. Exploring both our differences and common ground can help us to challenge stereotypes so that we can better listen to, understand, and collaborate with each other across our differences.
Grinnell is a vibrant community made up of residents from all walks of life and various parts of the world. That remarkable diversity includes strong differences of opinion and moments of misunderstanding. But there is lots of goodwill amongst those who live in the community, which means there is lots of interest in building bridges across differences and finding common ground. In a context of national polarization, the Listening Project aims to celebrate the things that connect us, while also providing ways for community members to listen to and learn from one another so that we can take advantage of the diversity of our community.
If you are interested in connecting with different community members and listening to other perspectives, we welcome you to join us for our regular dialogue sessions, which happen on both campus and in the community.
If you would like to become a Listening Project facilitator, you can reach out to Ryan Solomon. Facilitators participate in once-a-week training session through the fall and spring, as well as assisting with dialogue sessions (at least once-a-month). Student facilitators are paid the standard on-campus employment wage. Community member facilitators receive an honorarium for their time. This is a great opportunity to develop professional skills that can be used to support dialogue across a range of contexts.
The Grinnell College Restorative Practice Initiative strengthens our community. Our mission is to promote inclusion and honor the inherent dignity of every member of the community. We believe in the interconnectedness and interdependence of our community and strive to empower community members to address issues of concern in healthy, respectful, and transformative ways.
Connect with on-campus, student-run religious and spiritual organizations, worship communities in town, or religious staff members for conversation or counseling, the CRSSJ helps engage with Grinnell’s diverse spiritual community. Designed to foster interfaith dialogue and support many religious traditions, the center promotes local and global social justice through regular community meals, service opportunities, and other activities.
We promote successful transitions to the Grinnell College community by facilitating a residential education curriculum designed to introduce students to self-governance, responsible decision-making, engaging in a diverse community, and knowledge of wellness, harm reduction, and sexual respect.
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