On today’s episode of Around the Table, I’m in conversation with Lennon Flowers, Executive Director of The Dinner Party Labs, and Reverend Jennifer Bailey, Executive Director of the Faith Matters Network, where we talk about two innovative dinner dialogue initiatives that have deeply inspired me: The Dinner Party and The People’s Supper. This is part one of a two part episode, and next time, in part 2, we’ll be hearing more about The People’s Supper from K Scarry, the Director of Partnerships for The Dinner Party Labs.
The Dinner Party Labs takes the experiences and subjects that are hardest to talk about, and uses them as the starting point to help people make connections, build trust, and form relationships that matter. Its flagship program, The Dinner Party is a platform where 20-, 30-, and early-40-somethings who’ve experienced a major loss can connect to one another. They train a network of peer hosts, connecting them to 12-15 folks nearby who share a similar age and loss experience. The People’s Supper began as a collaborative project led by Lennon and Jennifer, in the wake of the 2016 US election, to cultivate connection and community among people of different identities and perspectives through shared meals and dialogue. The People’s Supper creates tools, resources, and storytelling content that folks can apply and adapt to their own communities, and offers trainings, one-on-one coaching and partnerships.
Lennon Flowers is co-founder & Executive Director of The Dinner Party Labs She is an Ashoka Fellow, whose work has been featured on OnBeing with Krista Tippett, NPR’s Morning Edition, CNN, CBS This Morning, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications.
Reverend Jen Bailey is an ordained minister, public theologian, and a leader in the multi-faith movement for justice. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Faith Matters Network, Co-Founder of the People’s Supper, and author of To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss and Radical Hope (Chalice Press 2021). Rev. Bailey is ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. You can follow her on Instagram @revjenbailey.
BIOS
Reverend Jen Bailey is an ordained minister, public theologian, and a leader in the multi-faith movement for justice. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Faith Matters Network, Co-Founder of the People’s Supper, and author of To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss and Radical Hope (Chalice Press 2021). Rev. Bailey is ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Follow her at @revjenbailey.
Lennon Flowers is co-founder & Executive Director of The Dinner Party Labs which takes the experiences and subjects that are hardest to talk about, and uses them as the starting point to help people make connections, build trust, and form relationships that matter. Its flagship program, The Dinner Party, is a platform where 20-, 30-, and early-40-somethings who’ve experienced a major loss can connect to one another. She is an Ashoka Fellow, whose work has been featured on OnBeing with Krista Tippett, NPR’s Morning Edition, CNN, CBS This Morning, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications.
Transcript available here.
Resources:
Guidebooks:
The People’s Supper Guidebooks
A guidebook for civic leaders
We acknowledge and respect the lək̓wəŋən peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
Around the Table is grateful for the support of a Faculty Fellowship Award from the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society and an Internal Research Grant Award from the University of Victoria. We also appreciate the generous in-kind contributions from community partners, Vancouver Community College and Sharing Farm Society. Podcast editing is provided by New Leonard Media. Music is by Oleksii Kaplunskyi.
Around the Table 