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the importance of space creation too. Ultimately, the space created for dialogue I describe as

Metasphere should be welcoming and continuously value input and participant contribution.

The literature references two activities that lead to effective environments and public places

conducive to convening civic and deliberative dialogue groups. Forming a supportive environment

for dialogues about race, aided members of the dialogue groups in quickly moving the discourse

and exchange of stories and experiences in a place of intimacy that supported personal risk taking

and vulnerability; described as norming and storming (Tuckman, 1965). During the dialogues on

implicit bias held in Albany NY, participants and facilitators co-created a space where participants

were comfortable exchanging ideas and points of view and reacting candidly about how and what

they were feeling and experiencing with regard to comments made during the dialogue. At times

there was considerable tension and disagreement among and between participants which could be

described a strong, emotional, argumentative and passionate, or seen as the group storming phase.

In this regard, the space for dialogue consisted of the physical qualities of the meeting

place, and the non-physical aspects of comfort and safety felt by participants in the dialogue

meeting rooms. The physical qualities of public space and ones felt sense of comfort contributed

greatly to the level of participation by attendees and their willingness to remain engaged and return

for future dialogue sessions. Young’s (2011) characterization of public space is apropos to the

public race dialogues: “by definition a public space is a place accessible to anyone, where anyone

can participate and witness, in entering the public one always risks encounters with those who are

different, those who identify with different groups and have different opinions or different forms

of life” (p. 240). When the dialogue in the second CC session focused on race, the venue location

seemed a source of tension for two White, female participants. For one White female participant

the thought of being seen entering or leaving certain dialogue venues in particular neighborhoods

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