Building community is on the menu
Big Table Pittsburgh seeks to forge human connections
On a Wednesday in mid-April, hundreds of people in the Pittsburgh region will gather in clusters of eight to a dozen individuals to share a meal and talk.
But food won’t be the dominant focus of these meetings that will take place in restaurants, private homes and other venues on April 17.
The organizers of Big Table Pittsburgh say the first-time event is about using conversation to build community and forge human connections in an increasingly divided and fragmented society.
“Not that one conversation is going to change it, but if people don’t connect, it’s only going to get worse,” said Aradhna Oliphant, president and chief executive of Leadership Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that is sponsoring Big Table.
The idea evolved from discussions among Leadership Pittsburgh staff and its vast alumni network following the June shooting death of Rankin teenager Antwon Rose II and the October massacre of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.
Downtown-based Leadership Pittsburgh offers programs in leadership development and civic engagement and has more than 2,400 graduates.
Its past participants “wanted to know what role we might play” in strengthening the Pittsburgh community after the recent tragedies,
Ms. Oliphant said.
So the organization turned to the Big Table model developed by the Columbus Foundation in Columbus, Ohio, to bring people together for meaningful conversations “in a very small, non threatening way,” she said.
The event aims to have at least 100 hosts sign on to hold breakfasts, lunches or dinners throughout the day at sites ranging from homes and restaurants to offices, churches, synagogues, libraries and other community gathering spots.
Each host is encouraged to invite friends and family as well as several individuals they don’t know to increase the diversity of thought around the table.
“We want people to think expansively,” Ms. Oliphant said.
The menu can be as modest as a shared bag of chips, she said, while some groups will likely assemble wellplanned buffets, potlucks or picnics.
Hosts can use conversation starters suggested by Big Table such as the following: “What can we do in the community to build more kindness?” or “what are our community’s strengths?” The hosts are asked to keep the discussion going for about 90 minutes.
After the event, hosts and their guests will complete surveys about the conversation and Leadership Pittsburgh will share that input with Mayor Bill Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and possibly other civic organizations so they can “get a sense of what’s on the minds of people,” Ms. Oliphant said.
During the conversations, participants will be encouraged to use social media to share their thoughts with the hashtag #BigTablePGH.
Bank of America and United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania have signed on as major supporters who will encourage individuals and organizations to host and attend Big Table Pittsburgh.
Among those already signed on as hosts for Big Table Pittsburgh are Mr. Peduto, Mr. Fitzgerald, city Councilman Bruce Kraus, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Catholic Charities, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Highmark, and law firms K&L Gates and Buchanan Ingersoll.
Douglas Kridler, president and chief executive of the Columbus Foundation, said the three Big Table events produced in that city “have been exhilarating communitybuilding festivals.”
“To a person, those that participate find the more diverse the points of view and backgrounds of participants, the more enriching and educational the experience. It’s a joyous and fulfilling city takeover,” he said.
Among the benefits of holding such gatherings for small groups at a variety of venues, he said, is the “extraordinary potential to bind and unify outside of stadiums and arenas that are cost-wise out of reach for many.”
Organized events designed to promote conversation have happened before in the Pittsburgh region.
For the past decade, the nonprofit Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise has held an annual lunch, Inclusive Voices, where local leaders in government, the arts, business, science, philanthropy and other fields volunteer to lead informal conversations on current topics for tables of eight participants.
The 11th annual Inclusive Voices is scheduled for April 5.
For five days in October, the Jefferson Regional Foundation and Jefferson Community Collaborative convened Around the Table South, during which more than 1,000 individuals came together over meals held along the Route 51-Elizabeth corridor and in the lower Mon Valley.
“It wasn’t about what the Jefferson Regional Foundation could do; it was about what the people at the table could do,” said Mary PhanGruber, executive director of the foundation.
Some critical issues that surfaced in those conversations were flooding in the city’s southern suburbs and how to help integrate growing numbers of immigrants, refugees and other new residents into local communities, she said.
The foundation is analyzing survey results from Around the Table South to determine priority issues among the participants, and its board has authorized mini-grants to be awarded to local nonprofits that come up with plans to act on ideas generated by the conversations.
Around the Table South was inspired by a community engagement model developed by the Chicago Community Trust.
“We know food is a powerful gathering tool, and people feel more relaxed over a meal,” Ms. Phan-Gruber said. “It’s amazing what one meal and one conversation can launch.”
For more information on Big Table Pittsburgh, go to www.lpinc.org/bigtable.
“We know food is a powerful gathering tool, and people feel more relaxed over a meal. It’s amazing what one meal and one conversation can launch.” — Mary Phan-Gruber, executive director of Jefferson Regional Foundation