Letter to forum participants

Hello,

We’re delighted that you’ve signed up for the first forum in our series “Ready for Next Time?: Rethinking the Shore After Sandy.”

We wanted to let you know a little bit more about the event … and to ask you a favor.

You’ll receive an email from us before the weekend with a copy of the discussion framework for the session, so you can review it ahead of time. The framework will sketch three different approaches for dealing with the lessons of the storm. One we call: Rebuild and Prepare. Another: Rethink and Adapt. The third is: Restore and Recede.

Skimming that document before the event will, we hope, get your juices flowing a bit and make for a better dialogue that night.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

We’ll have several pre-forum activities available to you. We will be taping what we call Two-Minute Testimonies. You can look into the camera and say whatever you want about the storm and its aftermath. Tell a story, give an opinion, make a request of the powers that be. We’ll use the testimonies on WHYY-FM and NewsWorks.org.

We’ll also have a “Wailing Wall” where people can post public opinions about how the storm’s aftermath has been handled.

We’ll also be inviting haikus and “six word summaries” of the storm and post-storm issues, for use on WHYY and NewsWorks.org.

The forum itself will begin at 7, with an introductory program. Then we’ll break up into smaller discussion groups, led by professional moderators from the Penn Project for Civic Engagement for the bulk of the evening.

We think it’ll be fun and meaningful. Which leads me to the favor …

We’d like to have as big a group as possible. So, if you can think of a friend, relative or acquaintance who visits or has a place at the Shore who cares about these issues, please feel free – in fact, encouraged – to invite that person or persons. We’d love to have a real cross-section of Philly-area Shore lovers, from Seaside down to LBI, Ocean City and Cape May.

If you have any questions about the forum, please feel free to call me at 215-351-2386. And listen for and read our continuing coverage of the Sandy recovery on WHYY-FM and NewsWorks.org. If you’re a Twitter person, follow us @newsworkswhyy and follow our Sandy reporter, Tracey Samuelson, @tdsamuelson.

Chris Satullo

Vice president, news and civic dialogue

WHYY