Dinner and conversation event to combat political polarization

MADISON – UW–Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have partnered to host a “dinner and conversation” event aimed at promoting civil dialogue this evening in Madison. Community members will participate in guided small group discussions to find common ground on issues that matter to them and their community leading up to the election.

The main topic of tonight’s event will be K-12 education. One aim of the event, which is expected to attract more than 100 attendees, is to inform researchers studying polarization and the effectiveness of these types of events in helping people talk across differences. Respondents to the statewide WisconSays survey were invited to attend the event, and it is not open to the public.

Following the event, a news package containing information about the event, b-roll, and recorded interviews with event participants will be shared with local media. To ensure that participants feel comfortable expressing their views openly, we are not able to invite outside media outlets to the dinner and conversation events.

The dinner and conversation event is part of a series of Main Street Agenda Community Conversation events around the state that seek to promote thoughtful conversations across differences at a time when polarization is on the rise. “Ultimately, the goal of the events is for participants to find common ground on issues that matter to them with people of differing views,” says La Follette School Director Susan Webb Yackee.

The Madison event follows other successful dinner and conversation events in Pewaukee, Green Bay, and Eau Claire. The final event in the series will be an October 15 town hall in Milwaukee. At this free public event, a panel of policy experts will help shed light on major public policy issues related to inflation, and attendees will have a chance to share their thoughts on how the issues affect their community. Members of the press will be invited to the Milwaukee town hall.

Director Yackee will be available for interviews about the events. Please reach out to communications manager Lauren Weitkamp (weitkamp@lafollette.wisc.edu) for more information.

Main Street Agenda

These events are the culmination of a yearlong project called the Main Street Agenda. Each month this year experts from the La Follette School have analyzed data from the WisconSays survey and shared findings on Wisconsinites’ views on major policy issues. So far this year, policy experts from La Follette have discussed Wisconsinites’ views on inflation, family finances, gun violence, climate change, and more.

About the La Follette School of Public Affairs 

The Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is a leading academic institution with a 40-year history of improving the design, implementation, and evaluation of public policy and the practice of governance. The school was built on the foundation of the UW–Madison Center for the Study of Public Policy and Administration, which was established in 1967 under the Department of Political Science. In 1983, the Wisconsin Legislature formally separated the center from the Department of Political Science. The school officially opened in 1984, now named after Robert M. La Follette, the former Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator who is regarded as one of the most celebrated figures in the state’s history. Today, the La Follette School offers domestic and international master’s degrees in public affairs as well as certificates for undergraduate students. La Follette School faculty, alumni, students, and staff extend the practice of the Wisconsin Idea across the state and around the world through research and outreach that inspires evidence-based policymaking, impacts society’s pressing problems, and advances the public good.