Local Voices Network Forum

press release: The Local Voices Network welcomes Ananda Mirilli, other members of the MMSD School Board and members of the City-County Education Committee to a community forum at the Madison Public Library.

Over the past nine months, hundreds of Madisonians have participated in the Local Voices Network (LVN). LVN is a public conversation network designed to bring under-heard community voices, perspectives and stories to the center of a healthier public dialogue. LVN is a scalable network of in-person conversations about locally relevant topics. Each conversation takes place around a “Digital Hearth,” which records the discussion and enables hosts to play speech snippets from other groups in order to cross-pollinate voices and perspectives across community boundaries. The conversations are then transcribed to make them machine readable, and then analyzed with AI-based tools –– all with the goal of offering local community members, media and leaders a new window into the issues important to the community.

In Madison, conversations frequently return to community experiences and concerns regarding education. With our new school board, Madison has an incredible opportunity to ensure our educational opportunities are equitably accessible to all. So far, conversations have touched on everything from white flight, classroom size, racism and racial equity, mental health resources, and policing in schools. These conversations are difficult, but LVN hopes to be a forum for community members to connect across boundaries through the sharing of personal stories.

Kathy Cramer, will lead a listening session, to share some of the stories about education recorded over the past several months. School Board member and City-County Education Committee Chair, Ananda Mirilli, will close the event by discussing the necessity of programs like LVN to ensure that the voices of those most impacted are driving the policy solutions in education.

We'll be highlighting educational issues that have surfaced in the conversations we've hosted in Madison this year. You can hear a story about the power of listening from a young black man who works in an after school program at a Madison middle school or another story about class size and teacher effectiveness from a Sun Prairie High School Teacher, among many others. Click here to hear these stories in their own words.