History

Our Center was formed in 2000 in response to a felt need to engage our community in a conversation about the rapidly changing world in which we live.  Peter Haslund and Lessie Nixon, working with the local United Nations Association and the League of Women Voters, concluded that an expanded coalition of groups would be better able to develop community-wide programs as compared with any single group.   Hence, our birth name: The Coalition for Global Dialogue.  Our first program, hosted at Santa Barbara City College, focused on “A Culture of Peace:  the UN in Transition.”

We were incorporated in 2010 as the Center for Global Dialogue, and that name has stuck with us.  We continue to reach out to other non-profit groups in our area that share our commitment to helping our community learn about global affairs in keeping with our mission.

Over the years, we have produced public programs at such venues as Santa Barbara City College, the University Club, and the Faulkner Gallery at the Santa Barbara Public Library.   We are committed to a non-partisan exploration of significant global issues for the purpose of helping members of our larger community understand how these issues affect them.  We have explored issues ranging from the concept of pre-emptive war to a comparison of international systems of incarceration.  

After 17 years of operation, our philosophic commitment remains the same as when we began.  We acknowledge that we are a part of the larger global village, we focus on issues of global significance, and we are pledged to listen carefully and to conduct our dialogues with civility.

"The Center for Global Dialogue serves as a catalyst
for nonpartisan discussion of challenging global issues in order to promote
active membership in global civil society."