UniEcoBudget Working Group

I’m Susan Partnow, from Seattle, born and raised in Los Angeles.  For the past 20 years, I’ve been working to create grassroots networks that work collaboratively, inclusively and with a commitment to nonviolence, justice and sustainability, from the founding of Families for Peace to the co-creation of Conversation Cafes and Let's Talk America.  I am the founder of Global Citizen Journey. In my professional life, I’m an organizational development and training consultant as well as a certified mediator.  I love working with clients to transform conflict to foster creative change and helping large groups of diverse people enter into meaningful conversation, using cutting edge techniques such as Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry, and World Café. I work primarily in the public and non-profit sector, helping teams and individuals improve the quality and effectiveness of their work life, from conflict resolution to stress/time management, public speaking and meeting skills to managing change initiatives and planning retreats.  I’ve served on the steering committee of the National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation.  I’ve been a teacher and speech pathologist and received my M.A. in Communication Disorders from Northwestern University, BA from University of California at Berkeley. I’m a certified trainer with The Compassionate Listening Project.  Most essentially, I’m  passionately committed to social transformation, peacemaking and community building with a deep belief that we can and must 'listen our way to wholeness' and find our essential humanity through connection and dialogue. My proudest moments come as MO2 (mother of two): Jessica (26) and Tyler (22), who are great compassionate listeners, wise global citizens and citizen diplomats.