Steps To Run Your Own Cohort
Find a co-lead
Reach out to people in your network who are excited about building a sustained learning community. Go out for coffee and see if you connect with each other and care about similar social issues. If they aren’t the right match, do they know someone else to connect you to? The most important thing is that you both are passionate about building this ship together and will put in the time to make it happen.
Ideally you represent a different segment of the community. Especially when doing work related to race, it can help maximize the diversity of your group if you are from different racial and or ethnic backgrounds. The same holds for gender and religion.
At the same time, if you are coming from different parts of the community or have very different backgrounds, you will need to create time and space to get to know each other as people, build trust, and learn about each other. A partnership doesn’t magically form unless you’re already good friends. Think of your partnership as a microcosm for the diverse community you are building. Meeting regularly helped a lot. We met monthly, but you could meet more or less frequently depending on your schedules.
Reach out to people in your network who are excited about building a sustained learning community. Go out for coffee and see if you connect with each other and care about similar social issues. If they aren’t the right match, do they know someone else to connect you to? The most important thing is that you both are passionate about building this ship together and will put in the time to make it happen.
Ideally you represent a different segment of the community. Especially when doing work related to race, it can help maximize the diversity of your group if you are from different racial and or ethnic backgrounds. The same holds for gender and religion.
At the same time, if you are coming from different parts of the community or have very different backgrounds, you will need to create time and space to get to know each other as people, build trust, and learn about each other. A partnership doesn’t magically form unless you’re already good friends. Think of your partnership as a microcosm for the diverse community you are building. Meeting regularly helped a lot. We met monthly, but you could meet more or less frequently depending on your schedules.
Pick a challenging community topic you want to tackle for six months
What issues keep you up at night? What do you wish you could learn more about with other thoughtful young people? You want a thorny issue and one that may make people uncomfortable. That’s the point. With an issue like race in America, it can make people so uncomfortable that they avoid the topic completely, which can stunt open and honest dialogue.
In earlier Minyan of Thinkers cohorts we decided on a topic through consensus. And there’s merit to that approach. Everyone feels like they have a say in the direction of the group. But it’s harder to recruit people to join when they don’t know the topic or text in advance. It also means there is more of a scramble to design the content for the cohort. It worked better to plan more ahead of time then find people who were excited about our vision.
A helpful part of the process was seeking input from peers in the community about topics they care about. What is THEIR big issue, and why do they care? Having a full list made it easier to think about what topic to focus on for the year.
It is good to pick a topic you have some knowledge about. You may be more familiar with scholarship related to the topic or have a sense of the kind of issues that might bubble up during your cohort experience.
What issues keep you up at night? What do you wish you could learn more about with other thoughtful young people? You want a thorny issue and one that may make people uncomfortable. That’s the point. With an issue like race in America, it can make people so uncomfortable that they avoid the topic completely, which can stunt open and honest dialogue.
In earlier Minyan of Thinkers cohorts we decided on a topic through consensus. And there’s merit to that approach. Everyone feels like they have a say in the direction of the group. But it’s harder to recruit people to join when they don’t know the topic or text in advance. It also means there is more of a scramble to design the content for the cohort. It worked better to plan more ahead of time then find people who were excited about our vision.
A helpful part of the process was seeking input from peers in the community about topics they care about. What is THEIR big issue, and why do they care? Having a full list made it easier to think about what topic to focus on for the year.
It is good to pick a topic you have some knowledge about. You may be more familiar with scholarship related to the topic or have a sense of the kind of issues that might bubble up during your cohort experience.
Design a curriculum
The quality of the discussions you have is rooted in the quality of the articles or book chapters you choose. Usually less is more. Rather than overloading the group with tons of material, consider picking a small number of pieces that provide alternative perspectives. Ideally you don’t want just one voice. This year, we chose to read chapters from a single book by Carol Anderson. In some ways that worked very well because it was manageable, and the book was packed with well-researched facts. On the other hand, it felt like people sometimes craved an alternate perspective.
The texts are ideally fact-based. For example, our first intra-Jewish cohort on intermarriage and conversion reviewed the National Jewish Population Survey of 2001 and two research articles on the topic with differing views on intermarriage. The subsequent intra-Jewish cohort discussing on Jewish identity read several different scholarly articles, including the Pew demographic study on Jewish Americans and a more qualitative, multi-dimensional approach to Jewish identity from NYU professor Bethamie Horowitz.
The other important consideration for the text(s) you choose is: are they compelling and interesting? We want things that will challenge how we think and that aren’t boring. No snoozers. If you fall asleep reading it, others will too. Historical narratives or ethnographic studies may be nice complements to large-scale demographic studies or research studies with more quantitative metrics.
The quality of the discussions you have is rooted in the quality of the articles or book chapters you choose. Usually less is more. Rather than overloading the group with tons of material, consider picking a small number of pieces that provide alternative perspectives. Ideally you don’t want just one voice. This year, we chose to read chapters from a single book by Carol Anderson. In some ways that worked very well because it was manageable, and the book was packed with well-researched facts. On the other hand, it felt like people sometimes craved an alternate perspective.
The texts are ideally fact-based. For example, our first intra-Jewish cohort on intermarriage and conversion reviewed the National Jewish Population Survey of 2001 and two research articles on the topic with differing views on intermarriage. The subsequent intra-Jewish cohort discussing on Jewish identity read several different scholarly articles, including the Pew demographic study on Jewish Americans and a more qualitative, multi-dimensional approach to Jewish identity from NYU professor Bethamie Horowitz.
The other important consideration for the text(s) you choose is: are they compelling and interesting? We want things that will challenge how we think and that aren’t boring. No snoozers. If you fall asleep reading it, others will too. Historical narratives or ethnographic studies may be nice complements to large-scale demographic studies or research studies with more quantitative metrics.
Recruit and select your cohort members
There are two approaches that seemed to work well. First, one-on-one coffee chats with thoughtful, intellectually curious young people is a great way to build personal relationships with people who will be excited to join your community. Find out what their story is, what they care about, and what a community like the one you’re building could add to their lives. What would they want to bring to the group based on their unique skills, talents, and interests? Doing slightly broader sweeps of your network through listservs, group emails, social media, etc. can be a great way to connect to people who are probably like you and think deeply about things you care about.
Having support from an institutional partner can make a big difference here. This year, after the election, Sixth & I included a blurb about our Connect cohort in their Sixth and Spiritual email blast to a large swath of young people in the Sixth & I community.
The application should be super easy to complete. We used Google Forms so we could have an Excel file of all the responses that was easy to view. That made the application review and selection process less arduous for us.
Selection can be very difficult, especially when the applicant pool is strong and people are craving community in a time of such political volatility. Ideally you want to offer everyone who doesn’t become part of your cohort some other opportunity to stay engaged. Everyone should win in some way.
There are two approaches that seemed to work well. First, one-on-one coffee chats with thoughtful, intellectually curious young people is a great way to build personal relationships with people who will be excited to join your community. Find out what their story is, what they care about, and what a community like the one you’re building could add to their lives. What would they want to bring to the group based on their unique skills, talents, and interests? Doing slightly broader sweeps of your network through listservs, group emails, social media, etc. can be a great way to connect to people who are probably like you and think deeply about things you care about.
Having support from an institutional partner can make a big difference here. This year, after the election, Sixth & I included a blurb about our Connect cohort in their Sixth and Spiritual email blast to a large swath of young people in the Sixth & I community.
The application should be super easy to complete. We used Google Forms so we could have an Excel file of all the responses that was easy to view. That made the application review and selection process less arduous for us.
Selection can be very difficult, especially when the applicant pool is strong and people are craving community in a time of such political volatility. Ideally you want to offer everyone who doesn’t become part of your cohort some other opportunity to stay engaged. Everyone should win in some way.
Lock down a venue and caterer
Ideally you want a neutral space that’s also quiet. In past cohorts we have done restaurants or public spaces, and they are just too loud and too open to have the kind of conversations you want to promote in these communities. Sixth & I was perfect for us, because it gave us access to a private classroom. You don’t want a partisan space that alienates some people. Also for space, you usually get what you pay for. Cheap spaces are often not as nice as other spaces, but it may come down to what you can afford. As for the room setup, we decided not to have a big conference table, and instead put chairs in one big circle circle. That worked out well for us, and it felt personal and intimate. Having to eat with plates on our lap wasn’t ideal, but it didn’t seem to slow us down. The other thing that was helpful was having name tags for all of our sessions.
This won’t come as a shock to anyone, but food matters. You want good, healthy, tasty food that people actually want to eat. We chose to allocate a sizeable portion of our budget to high-quality dinners every month. That helped build our community, nourish people for challenging conversations, and incentivize people to show up on a Sunday evening. Take food allergies into account. You want to maximize what everyone can eat. We also wanted a caterer that aligned with our values as a community. We tried a few different vendors this year but landed on a fantastic caterer recommended by someone in our cohort.
Ideally you want a neutral space that’s also quiet. In past cohorts we have done restaurants or public spaces, and they are just too loud and too open to have the kind of conversations you want to promote in these communities. Sixth & I was perfect for us, because it gave us access to a private classroom. You don’t want a partisan space that alienates some people. Also for space, you usually get what you pay for. Cheap spaces are often not as nice as other spaces, but it may come down to what you can afford. As for the room setup, we decided not to have a big conference table, and instead put chairs in one big circle circle. That worked out well for us, and it felt personal and intimate. Having to eat with plates on our lap wasn’t ideal, but it didn’t seem to slow us down. The other thing that was helpful was having name tags for all of our sessions.
This won’t come as a shock to anyone, but food matters. You want good, healthy, tasty food that people actually want to eat. We chose to allocate a sizeable portion of our budget to high-quality dinners every month. That helped build our community, nourish people for challenging conversations, and incentivize people to show up on a Sunday evening. Take food allergies into account. You want to maximize what everyone can eat. We also wanted a caterer that aligned with our values as a community. We tried a few different vendors this year but landed on a fantastic caterer recommended by someone in our cohort.
Craft facilitated sessions with community-building components and discussion
It helped a lot to have a kick-off session where the sole purpose was to get to know each other. We did some light-hearted icebreaking activities and reviewed what was to come. That combination seemed to work for us this year. Our kick-off session was in December, and our first discussion of the text was in January.
It helped to have the co-leads facilitate the first session before we passed the baton to other pairs, who volunteered to facilitate other sessions. We set the tone and modeled a style of facilitation then put the reigns in the hands of our capable peers. To help support our peer facilitators, we sent out guidelines and met with them virtually to brainstorm ideas for their session. That helped make sure we were all on the same page. Part of the challenge as co-leads was letting go and realizing that our vision may be different from that of the peer facilitators. Trust them. They are amazing. And they may try things you didn’t even think of.
When facilitating a session, build in some warming or community-building activities in the beginning. Something related to the content and that requires movement and interaction is good. Our peers said they liked getting to know people in smaller groups to create more connections within the community. We ratcheted that up midway through our cohort, and that seemed to work well for all of us.
For the substantive discussion of the text, we and our peers created discussion guides with about 10 rich and provocative questions for the group to chew on. Sometimes we only got through three to five of those questions, but it helped to have a few more on hand. Vetting them with your co-facilitator is critical, and may (it often did) spark some interesting pre-session discussion among the facilitators. After each peer-facilitated session, we gave the facilitators a shout out, sent them a thank you email, and did a short debrief to get their thoughts on how it went.
It helped a lot to have a kick-off session where the sole purpose was to get to know each other. We did some light-hearted icebreaking activities and reviewed what was to come. That combination seemed to work for us this year. Our kick-off session was in December, and our first discussion of the text was in January.
It helped to have the co-leads facilitate the first session before we passed the baton to other pairs, who volunteered to facilitate other sessions. We set the tone and modeled a style of facilitation then put the reigns in the hands of our capable peers. To help support our peer facilitators, we sent out guidelines and met with them virtually to brainstorm ideas for their session. That helped make sure we were all on the same page. Part of the challenge as co-leads was letting go and realizing that our vision may be different from that of the peer facilitators. Trust them. They are amazing. And they may try things you didn’t even think of.
When facilitating a session, build in some warming or community-building activities in the beginning. Something related to the content and that requires movement and interaction is good. Our peers said they liked getting to know people in smaller groups to create more connections within the community. We ratcheted that up midway through our cohort, and that seemed to work well for all of us.
For the substantive discussion of the text, we and our peers created discussion guides with about 10 rich and provocative questions for the group to chew on. Sometimes we only got through three to five of those questions, but it helped to have a few more on hand. Vetting them with your co-facilitator is critical, and may (it often did) spark some interesting pre-session discussion among the facilitators. After each peer-facilitated session, we gave the facilitators a shout out, sent them a thank you email, and did a short debrief to get their thoughts on how it went.
Check in with your participants
One of the best things we did this year was one-on-one check-ins with each participant. The mode of communication — email, phone, or face to face — varied depending on the person and his/her availability. They had very positive things to say but also had a lot of constructive feedback for us. Don’t take anything personally. Just take in the feedback, make modifications, and make it better. Having a continuous-improvement mindset is key, because it’s not about major transformations but rather slow, steady tweaks to enhance the participant experience.
The biggest change we made based on participant feedback was adding more small-group time at the start of each session and building more time for people to step away from the text and talk about the discussion topic as it relates to their personal, social, and professional lives.
One of the best things we did this year was one-on-one check-ins with each participant. The mode of communication — email, phone, or face to face — varied depending on the person and his/her availability. They had very positive things to say but also had a lot of constructive feedback for us. Don’t take anything personally. Just take in the feedback, make modifications, and make it better. Having a continuous-improvement mindset is key, because it’s not about major transformations but rather slow, steady tweaks to enhance the participant experience.
The biggest change we made based on participant feedback was adding more small-group time at the start of each session and building more time for people to step away from the text and talk about the discussion topic as it relates to their personal, social, and professional lives.
Document your experience for the group and for the larger community
This is likely going to be a positive, even transformative experience for participants. You want to capture it for them, for yourself, and for other young people trying to find their voice on challenging topics. We had people write very brief reflections and invested a lot of time into creating a video to capture our experience. Previous cohorts had more writing built into the sessions, but the video was a more compelling way of capturing the experience.
We also administered an exit survey which helped us understand what people took away from the experience. The combination of binary questions (True/False) and open-response questions made the survey short but informative.
***
That’s it! It’s a lot of effort but can be an amazing experience. It’s empowering to lead a group committed to creating a more just and equal society. And you have the mistakes and successes of previous cohorts to learn from. If you want to learn more, contact us, and we’d love to chat with you.
This is likely going to be a positive, even transformative experience for participants. You want to capture it for them, for yourself, and for other young people trying to find their voice on challenging topics. We had people write very brief reflections and invested a lot of time into creating a video to capture our experience. Previous cohorts had more writing built into the sessions, but the video was a more compelling way of capturing the experience.
We also administered an exit survey which helped us understand what people took away from the experience. The combination of binary questions (True/False) and open-response questions made the survey short but informative.
***
That’s it! It’s a lot of effort but can be an amazing experience. It’s empowering to lead a group committed to creating a more just and equal society. And you have the mistakes and successes of previous cohorts to learn from. If you want to learn more, contact us, and we’d love to chat with you.
