“We’re trying to capture people’s kindness again, and the ability to ‘agree to disagree,'” says Laurie Crocker, who is leading TableTalk 2023 for the Central Florida Foundation.
The idea behind TableTalk (cffound.org/engaging-community) feels almost radical in our age of noxious political discourse. On Oct. 19, everyday Central Floridians will get together — around literal tables — for small group discussions about the region and what we can do to improve it. Anyone can host a table, and anyone can participate. The ideal number for each table will be six to 10 people and discussions will last between 60 and 90 minutes, according to the Central Florida Foundation.
When the conversations are over, participants can take a short survey about their experiences. The foundation also wants to put the talks into action, so it will invite proposals for microgrants worth up to $2,000.
“A lot of people might look at that and say, ‘You can’t make real change with that amount,’ but we think very differently,” Crocker told Orlando Weekly. “It’s less intimidating doing it this way, getting a little spark from a small grant, and it often gives people the confidence to go, well, maybe they can apply for this bigger grant.”
Past grantees include the Victim Service Center of Central Florida, Muslim Women’s Organization, DeLand Pride and the Orlando Day Nursery Association. Local city and community organizations have received grants as well. In 2021, the foundation provided a grant to the city of Eatonville. With the grant, Eatonville set up a phone booth where people could record messages giving feedback on what they wanted to see change in the city.
The nonprofit SkyBuilders 4 All also received a grant in 2021. The organization provides free books to children, but wasn’t distributing as many as it would have liked. Because transportation can be an issue for the people they serve, participants at TableTalk suggested they bring books to families rather than the other way around.
“So sometimes TableTalk really is like, ‘Hey, we’ve been working on this problem for years and years and years,'” Crocker said. “‘We need different voices to see, what should we be doing differently to make it more successful?'”
Books have become their own fraught topic in Florida, with bans spreading in schools under the state’s law allowing parents to object to material they deem “inappropriate.” Asked if the Central Florida Foundation would provide a grant for a program that, say, got banned books to students, Sandi Vidal, Vice President of Community Strategies and Initiatives, said it would depend on the proposal.
“Certainly, we don’t believe in book bans at the foundation,” Vidal told Orlando Weekly.
Getting people together for discussions and sourcing solutions directly from the community in this way has its roots in the Midwest. The Chicago Community Trust (cct.org) had a history of bringing together civic leaders, nonprofits and donors together for dinners in the 1990s and 2000s. The discussions were productive, so the organization decided to open the talks up to everybody. In 2014, the trust held its first On the Table event to increase civic dialogue and discuss hard topics like race relations.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation was impressed. It decided to help expand On the Table. In 2017, it invested $2 million to bring the effort to 10 cities. Since then, more than two dozen cities have jumped on board.
The Central Florida Foundation was not among the organizations to receive support from the Knight Foundation. But they, too, were impressed with the initiative. In 2019, the organization hosted its first TableTalk. More than 3,000 people participated that year.
Then COVID-19 hit. TableTalk went on, virtually, in 2020, and was held as a hybrid event in 2021. The Central Florida Foundation skipped 2022. But this year, TableTalk is getting back to its roots with a fully in-person event.
In the past, TableTalk has relied on more open-ended discussions for how people can change the region. This year, they’re concentrating on five so-called “thrive focus areas.” The areas are economic stability, health care, livability, education, and community and social connection.
The results of TableTalk’s surveys will be shared with the public and local leaders. Vidal says they’ll write a letter to Central Florida’s mayors and other leaders in the community, such as CEOs of the region’s hospitals. “It’s really focused on being positive and not saying, ‘here’s all the things that everybody is complaining are wrong with the community,’ but ‘here’s some ideas for things that have been sparked out of these conversations.'”
The Central Florida Foundation has recruited local businesses to be superhosts for the event and provide multiple tables. They include Hollerbach’s German Restaurant in Sanford and 90.7 WMFE in east Orlando. The goal is to fill 500 tables. According to their website, the current count is 93.
Crocker says there are advantages to signing up now, even with TableTalk still a few months away. The foundation is going to send out prompts to prepare people for the experience, including journaling activities and videos from others who are participating.
Crocker says there’s a lot of good going on in Central Florida. “We’re a functional community,” Crocker said. “We really are. We just don’t see it that often because we are inundated with negativity.”
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