Westmont Center for Dialogue & Deliberation Projects and Publications
Our work is community focused.
If you're looking for additional information about the work we're doing in Santa Barbara or want to read any articles we've written, take a look through the tabs below for our recent publications and research. You'll find articles written for the Santa Barbara Independent, the National Civic Review, and others on ways that deliberative engagement can help our communities weigh nuanced tensions and tradeoffs or how liberal arts colleges can constructively facilitate community conversations.
There's more work for us to do.
If you're looking for a list of community conversations we've hosted, you can see more on our "Past Conversations" page under the "Community Involvement" tab. If you're looking for updates on conversations we'll be hosting in the coming months, please take a look at our "Upcoming Conversations" page under the "Community Involvement" tab.
Drs. Dunn and Winslow co-authored an article published in the Journal of Dialogue Studies exploring dialogue as community engagement amongst service providers, residents, business owners, and people experiencing homelessness in Santa Barbara's Eastside neighborhood.
Co-founder and co-director of WCDD Deborah Dunn wrote on mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic for the Santa Barbara Independent as a symbol of our need to weigh the tensions and tradeoffs of what we hold valuable to avoid polarization.
Drs. Deborah Dunn and Rachel Winslow published an article in the National Civic Review after bringing history and communication studies students together for a collaborative public deliberation about immigration policy in Santa Barbara. They describe student and community feedback, summarize outcomes of the conversation, and argue for students' continued civic participation in their community as a means for deepened relationships and community development.