Community Foundation seeks 1,000 hosts for ‘On the Table’ community conversations

The Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley is looking for residents, businesses, churches and other nonprofits willing to host meal-time conversations focused on improving the community.

Columbus is one of 10 cities across the United States selected for the “On the Table” initiative funded by the James L. Knight Foundation. The project will culminate Nov. 7 when local citizens gather together in their homes, workplaces, churches and other spaces for community dialogue. The foundation would like to register 1,000 hosts by November.

“Everyone is invited to participate in On the Table, and we especially encourage folks to register as a host,” said Betsy Covington, president and CEO of the local Community Foundation. “Hosts play an important role in bringing people together around a table. The Community Foundation will provide hosts with all the information, training and resources they will need, which means hosting will be simple and fun!”

All hosts must sign up at OnTheTableChatt.com, where they will be provided toolkits that include sample discussion questions. They will be required to organize at least one table of 8-12 people. Super-hosts will host multiple tables.

“.... The topics, issues and ideas discussed during each On the Table conversation will be completely organic and driven by the interests and perspectives of the participants and the opportunities and challenges in their community that are most important to them,” according to a news release issued by the foundation. “Hosts are in charge of their own event, including whom they invite (people they know or haven’t yet met), and what time of day it’s held. They can also choose to either serve a meal, have participants bring their own or something to share, or meet up at a restaurant.”

Following the conversation, hosts will encourage guests to share thoughts, actions and ideas generated by the dialogue via a survey. The survey responses will be compiled by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE). The survey will ask about items such as participants’ On the Table experiences, their opinions on community issues and the topics their group discussed. The results of the data will be shared publicly and be accessible to the community in an effort to help us better understand our needs and opportunities.

For more information, and to sign up to participate as a host or a guest, go to OnTheTableChatt.com or call 706-718-9565.

This story was originally published September 26, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Community Foundation seeks 1,000 hosts for ‘On the Table’ community conversations."