Sustained Dialogue Campus Network

Sustained Dialogue Campus Network works with students at various campuses across the country to create inclusive environments and come to positive action on controversial topics through dialogue. The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue (IISD) is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 that develops everyday leaders who engage differences as strengths to improve their campuses, workplaces, and communities. A primary initiative of IISD is the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN), which engages 27 campuses (in the US and six countries worldwide), 4,500 students, and 4,000 alumni annually. SDCN participants meet weekly for results-oriented dialogue, building relationships around topics such as race, class, gender, and faith, while simultaneously addressing pressing needs in their communities. The five-stage, dialogue-to-action model of Sustained Dialogue includes identifying who needs to be involved in a continued process in order to leverage change (stage 1), building trust and transforming relationships among group participants (stage 2), identifying root causes of issues in the community (stage 3), envisioning future scenarios to address the root cause (stage 4), and working together to enact change (stage 5).