Community Dialogue

Community Dialogue on “Freedom and Our Founding: What do they mean for us today?"

Tuesday, March 22 from 7-8:30pm, The Kane Forum, Edward R. Leahy, Jr. Hall, The �Ӱ�ԭ��

Members of the �Ӱ�ԭ�� and great Scranton community are invited to join for a nonpartisan political dialogue on "Freedom and Our Founding: What do they mean for us today?". This community dialogue will involve facilitated small-group structured dialogues that allow participants to reflect on freedom and the founding and our role as citizens in a democracy. Participants will have a chance to consider brief excerpts from founding related readings, share their own experience and perspectives on issues that relate to freedom and equality today, listen to others’ views and engage in conversation.

Register for Community Dialogue on Freedom

This dialogue event is a part of the "Scranton's Story, Our Nation's Story" project and is a collaboration of The �Ӱ�ԭ�� with the Black Scranton Project, Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department, The Lackawanna Historical Society, Scranton Public Library, The Greater Scranton MLK Commission, Scranton Area Ministerium, and WVIA with the support of additional project partner organizations.  

For more information about this project and other upcoming events, please visit

“Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story” has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Past Community Dialogue Events

Community Conversation: A Scranton City Dialogue

Wednesday, May 5 from 6-7:30pm via Zoom

Community members joined a Jane Jacobs inspired community conversation focusing on questions and themes she raised in a seminal 1987 letter to the City about “what Scranton is, has been, and can be.”

This special community dialogue event was a part of the Observe Scranton “Jane Jacob’s First City Festival,” a weeklong celebration of Jane Jacobs’s life and legacy. The festival events took place in Scranton, PA and virtually from May 4, 2021 through May 8, 2021. For more information about Observe Scranton and the festival events, please visit

Sponsored by The �Ӱ�ԭ�� and The Center for the Living City in partnership with United Neighborhood Centers of NEPA, NeighborWorks of NEPA, Scranton Tomorrow, Valley in Motion, the Greater Scranton MLK Commission, and the Scranton Area Ministerium

Finding Community Amid Coronavirus: An Online Dialogue: Drawing Strengths from the Past to Inform Today’s Challenges

Virtual Community Dialogue Connects Participants in Community

In a time of physical distancing, �Ӱ�ԭ�� faculty, staff, and community partners lead an effort to collect and share residents’ stories of resiliency and strength. This effort began with a virtual Community Dialogue on April 29, 2020.

The event "Finding Community Amid Coronavirus: An Online Dialogue: Drawing Strengths from the Past to Inform Today’s Challenges" drew over 30 participants together to share their own personal stories of strength and to learn from other community members. Participants joining from a range of backgrounds, spanning generations and across diverse racial/ethnic identities, came together in dialogue as members of our shared community.

This Community Dialogue event allowed participants to find connection during a time of physical distancing. Through the course of shared dialogue, participants and facilitators alike discovered that although our challenges are unique, we all share common ground. Hearing the authentic stories from others truly fostered connection and provided a new perspective on the challenges that we are all facing together in this unique time.

Finding Community Amid Coronavirus: Identifying What We Value and Seeing the Possibilities Ahead

Second Virtual Community Dialogue Held on June 3

The second virtual dialogue “Finding Community Amid Coronavirus: Identifying What We Value and Seeing the Possibilities Ahead” engaged participants in reflection to identify important lessons that can be found in our current unique circumstances. This virtual dialogue offered participants a space to look within themselves during the current circumstances and to learn from others in our shared community.

Members of both the �Ӱ�ԭ�� and the broader Scranton area communities joined in the event to find connection and to listen and learn from others. This Community Dialogue is coordinated by the �Ӱ�ԭ��’s Political Dialogues Working Group in collaboration with community partner, Valley in Motion, and is made possible by a �Ӱ�ԭ�� Strategic Initiatives Grant.

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