Join us for Civility Project updates and a dynamic skill-building session focused on how to give and receive feedback more effectively.

Citizens4Community and the Sisters Country Civility Project will present its Summer Quarter 2016 Information and Skill-Building Sessions from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District Hall, 301 S. Elm St., in Sisters. All area residents are invited to this FREE event.

Come ready to learn new skills that can help us all communicate more effectively, encourage one another and foster understanding. The evening will center around Giving Constructive Criticism and, by extension, Showing Respect—two of the nine basic tenets of the Sisters Country Civility Project and Speak Your Peace.

Two back-to-back sessions will be offered on July 12. Both sessions are Free, and attendees are invited to attend one or both.

Beginning at 5 p.m., attendees will enjoy an introduction to how the Civility Project got started locally in partnership with Speak Your Peace. Updates about the Project's progression also will be offered.

During the 6:30-8 p.m. session, award-winning speaker Sharon Strand Ellison will lead a discussion and practice exercises. The author of “Taking the War Out of Our Words,” Sharon was a nominee for the Leadership for a Changing World Award, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Advocacy Institute.

She and her daughter, Ami Atkinson, co-authored the audio-book “Taking Power Struggle Out of Parenting,” winner of a Benjamin Franklin Award. As the guest speaker for the 11th annual Lawrence W. Kaplan Dispute Resolution Lecture Series in Pennsylvania, she received an honorary award as a communication pioneer.

You'll Learn: How and why: (1) “constructive criticism” so often becomes judgmental, and (2) why people resist hearing feedback, even when it can help them accomplish their goals. Using stories to demonstrate the process, Sharon will present a 3-step process for giving feedback that can prompt others to feel respected and want to listen. Participants will have an opportunity to practice the skills.

Based now in Deschutes County, Central Oregon, Sharon has been a longtime “fan” of Sisters. She began visiting Central Oregon as a teenager. She is the creator of the Powerful Non-Defensive Communication™ process and provides keynotes and training programs for individuals, parents, and youth as well as organizations in a dozen different professions.

Sharon has provided keynotes and training programs for cities including Portland and Tigard in Ore., and Charlottesville, Virg.; as well as the Oregon Mayors Association and the Marin Council of Mayors and Councilmembers. Her clients also include Hewlett Packard, Wells Fargo, Stanford University, the U.S. Navy, United Way, the Smithsonian, and the The Centre for Dispute Resolution, in London England.

For additional details about Sharon's work, see http://www.pndc.com/learning-room/index.php 

We hope you'll mark your calendars and join us on July 12.

This informative community event is being made possible with generous financial support from Sisters Coffee Company and a grant from the Deschutes County Commissioners.

Sharon Strand Ellison

To see the full-size flyer, simply click on this image.