Talking to Friends and Family Resource Guide free with any donation now through the end of the year!
Join LRC & Dr. Anita Sanchez to talk about Forgiveness on December 5th
Take a peak at our newest guide Conversations in Troubled Times!
Interested in using this conversation guide? Click here to tell us about it!
We’re happy to help! If you find this guide valuable, please consider making a donation of $5 to help us continue offering free resources.
We all want our communities to be safe and our criminal justice system to be fair, humane and effective. When formerly incarcerated people return to their communities without a safety net, their recidivism rates run well above 60 percent. Some states have provided a safety net, such as job training, housing assistance, treatment for substance abuse and mental health and more, which, substantially reduces recidivism. What is different in communities with lower recidivism rates? What are the costs and benefits of our current practices and what opportunities are there to improve our systems? This conversation explores opportunities and obstacles to change with the goal that our community is safe for everyone.
Living Room Conversations offers a simple, sociable and structured way to practice communicating across differences while building understanding and relationships. Typically, 4-6 people meet in person or by video call for about 90 minutes to listen to and be heard by others on one of our nearly 100 topics. Rather than debating or convincing others, we take turns talking to share, learn, and be curious. No preparation is required, though background links with balanced views are available on some topic pages online. Anyone can host using these italicized instructions. Hosts also participate.
Share your name, where you live, what drew you here, and if this is your first conversation.
These will set the tone of our conversation; participants may volunteer to take turns reading them aloud. (Click here for the full conversation agreements.)
Optional: a participant can keep track of time and gently let people know when their time has elapsed.
Each participant can take 1-2 minutes to answer one of these questions:
Take ~2 minutes each to answer a question below without interruption or crosstalk. After everyone has answered, the group may take a few minutes for clarifying or follow up questions/responses. Continue exploring additional questions as time allows..
Take 2 minutes to answer one of the following questions: