Our field-building efforts have utilized a variety of approaches from basic exposure to our ideas through short presentations to half- and full-day trainings and a variety of follow-up support activities. While the recommendations from our research form the foundation of our trainings and presentations, we tailor each to the specific audience and context.

For instance, in Wisconsin we recently did a workshop for about eighty mayors and village presidents. We worked with them to identify key challenges to local governments in Wisconsin and how they could engage the public more effectively in the many difficult policy and fiscal decisions faced by cities, towns and villages across the state.

In another example, a new cross-issue coalition in North Carolina--Blueprint NC--is working to engage organizations and individuals in a very important upcoming tax reform debate at the state level. In addition to core elements of our training, we added some exercises on talking about taxes and about the likely upcoming tax reform scenarios.

As we have taken our work to the field, our efforts have focused on a number of key audiences. We've trained national, state and local level groups. We've worked with environmental groups, human service coalitions, arts groups, budget and tax advocates, elected officials, public sector unions, children's advocates, and public servants. Our target audiences fall into a number of categories:

• Issue Advocates  those who seek to understand and reframe the role of government within the context of a particular issue debate or challenge --environmental, education, human services, arts, unions, fiscal policy, land use, etc.
• Existing and Emerging Cross-Issue Coalitions who seek our support and training as they try to reframe the overarching debates in their state about the role of government, civic engagement, taxes, and budget priorities. Typically these coalitions have been drawn to our work because they see the underlying negative attitudes toward government as a "meta" challenge they all face together--no matter what their particular policy orientation.
• Elected Officials and Public Administrators We have been very interested in working with elected officials because of the unique challenges and opportunities they face in reframing the debate about government and its role. We find this group -- particularly the local elected officials and state agency managers -- to be quite hungry for a new way to "engage" their constituents in the "work" of government and to help change the conversation toward one that is focused on pragmatic, non-partisan problem solving.
• Civic Leaders With a primary focus on Colorado, we are investigating how our work can support the efforts of civic-minded business leadership as they look to rebuild a more supported and effective public sector as a "partner" with business in creating state and community quality of life.