20-04-2025
Community organizations launch 'Civic Conversations'
Four long-time Quad-City advocacy organizations, One Human Family (OHF), Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG), Quad Cities Interfaith (QCI) and Iowa Citizen Action Network (ICAN) are excited to announce a new series of community forums on newsworthy topics entitled Civic Conversations.
Gail Karp of OHF announced that the series will be launched with 'The State of Journalism Today' on Friday, May 9, with a breakfast from 8 to 9 a.m. at Scott Community College Urban Campus, 101 W. 3rd St., Davenport. The meetings are open to all and are free.
Henry Marquard of QCI said the panelists for the first session will be journalists Ed Tibbetts, formerly of the Quad-City Times, who now writes a newsletter on Substack called Along the Mississippi; Tory Brecht, editor/writer with the University of Iowa and former editor of the Iowa City Press-Citizen; and Zachary Oren Smith, political correspondent for Iowa Starting Line. All are members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.
According to Sue Dinsdale of ICAN, 'Our first discussion will be the state of today's journalism in an increasingly fragmented media environment. We have invited these eastern Iowa journalists as resource persons to help us explore such questions as the role of disinformation and new news/information platforms.'
Allison Ambrose of PACG said the purpose of the new series is to help bridge the gap in understanding others' point of view. 'We want to explore the facts together before we plan a course of action. Can viewers of Fox News and readers of The New York Times find common ground? Our goal is to bring civility back to civil discourse.'
Gail Karp pointed out that the model for the series was started 20 years ago by the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, called Intersections, now hosted by the First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids. 'Our vision is secular and not religion-based. We have invited investigative journalists who have done deep dives on these topics.'
The morning meetings will include a continental breakfast. There is no charge, but donations will be accepted. Online registration is available at Quarterly meetings are planned, the next one being Friday, August 8, from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Scott Community College Urban Campus.
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