20,000 Dialogues: Our Accomplishments
Since the launch of 20,000 Dialogues in August 2007 to March 2010, over 600 organizations and over 30 national partners have hosted or participated in community and living room dialogues, bringing together over 55,000 people in personal dialogue at civic venues and in households.
Our Evaluation Method Documents Participants’ Shift in Attitude
We measure changes in participants’ understanding – beyond the headlines – of Muslim history, culture, and peoples. After researching how the popular media portrays Muslims, we identified key areas of misunderstanding. We measure participants’ attitudes in these key areas before and after they watch and discuss a film, and have shown a substantial shift in understanding as a result of the 20,000 Dialogues experience.
We Work With Community Leaders to Make Dialogue Happen
Many have participated in our orientation programs. Through our civic leadership programs, we work with community leaders who help move us toward our goal of 20,000 dialogues. We host stakeholder meetings to introduce our discussion model, and offer train-the-trainer workshops for community leaders to help them host community dialogues of their own.
Another resource we offer are our webinars, which bring dialogue hosts from around the country for 1 hour phone webinars. If you sign up for a community dialogue we offer a webinar orientation customized for your community dialogue. Learn more about the webinar in the resources page.
Participants Give High Ratings to the 20,000 Dialogues Experience
Over eighty percent of participants have rated the 20,000 Dialogues experience as excellent or very good. Participants report that the post-film dialogue did in fact promote interfaith understanding and respect.
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