Guidelines
What we take on, and what we all agree to.
These are written down ahead of time and they apply the same way to everyone. If we cannot take an issue, the reason will be one of the things on this page, and we will put it in writing.
Who can sponsor
A sponsoring organization is a group that serves a shared public interest in Cornwall and answers to a board, a membership, or a congregation.
Yes: the Town of Cornwall and Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson boards, departments and committees; the Cornwall Central School District, its board and its committees; the Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce; churches, synagogues and other faith communities; civic, service and volunteer groups; neighborhood and homeowner associations; local nonprofits; parent and student organizations; business associations.
No: political parties and party committees, candidate campaigns, political action committees, and groups whose main purpose is electing or defeating candidates. Also not an individual on their own, without an organization.
That last one is about the job an organization does, not about anybody’s politics. A party committee exists to win elections, which is honest work and a different job from this one. Anyone who belongs to any party is welcome to bring an issue forward and welcome in any collab.
What makes a good topic
A good topic is a problem or issue a definable group of people actually shares. It is still open, with a real decision or direction left to settle. It is specific enough that you can describe what a good ending looks like. And the people who could act on the answer would come if we asked.
We cannot take on a dispute about one permit, one assessment, one enforcement action, one employee or one decision. Those have their own processes and we are not an appeal of them. We cannot take on anything in active litigation, or a complaint about a named person or business, or a campaign objective or ballot question. We will not relitigate something already settled unless something real has changed.
And we will not run a workshop that already knows its answer. If the goal is to get a collab to sign off on a conclusion somebody brought in with them, that is not a Collab. The Cornwall Collaboratory will have full discretion in deciding which problems or issues make for a viable and productive workshop.
What we all agree to
These get read out loud at the start of every workshop, and everybody says yes to them.
- Question the argument, not the motive. Take an idea apart as hard as you like. Do not tell anyone what they secretly want or assume what people think.
- Say what your stake is. Everybody has one. Saying it out loud at the start is what makes it fine.
- Leave room for others. The loudest voice in the room is usually not representative of the majority. The facilitator will interrupt, and it is nothing personal.
- Bring the number or say you do not have it. “I don’t know” is a good answer and a useful one.
- No campaigning. No candidates, no parties, no fundraising, in the collaboratory or on the board.
- Work toward what we came for. You do not have to like the outcome. You do have to work toward the goal you signed up for.
- Assume this becomes public. The written summary is published. Depending on what the sponsor decides, the evening itself may be filmed or livestreamed as well.
- It is okay to disagree. If the collab does not end with an action plan, we write down why, and that is a real result. Nobody gets talked into a tidy ending.
When and where
Wednesday evenings, 6:00 to 8:00, at the Storm King Theater, 2 Idlewild Avenue, Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. Two hours is the standard length. Issues that genuinely need a half day or a full day can have one, and if a Wednesday evening does not work for the people who need to be there, we will agree on another time.
If you want to take part, but something about the time, the place or the format makes that hard, tell us on the form or write to us at info@cornwallcollab.com.
Recording and sharing
What gets filmed, livestreamed or shared afterward is the sponsoring organization’s decision. Some sponsors will want the whole evening live. Some will want it recorded and cut down to the parts that matter. Some will want it closed so people speak freely, and share only the written summary.
When a workshop involves Town or Village government, or when the outcome would touch the whole community, we encourage sponsors strongly to open it up and stream it. People have a right to watch work being done on their behalf. But that call belongs to the sponsor, not to us.
Either way, the written summary and the proposed plan get published here. That one does not change.
When we cannot take something on
We will say so in writing, and the reason will be something on this page.
A workshop can also be stopped by the facilitator if what we agreed to stops holding. If that happens we will say so plainly, and why.
Small print
Cornwall comes first: The Cornwall Collaboratory is free to this community. Cornwall issues always have first claim on the calendar, and paid work never takes a date away from a Cornwall Collab.
For organizations outside Cornwall: Groups based elsewhere can hire Jason Burnham to facilitate, and can rent the Storm King Theater separately, to run their own sessions. Those are ordinary commercial arrangements with no connection to anything on this site. Email us to learn more about our paid services at info@cornwallcollab.com.