PLEASE NOTE: This is not a free event. Admission for dinner and the program is $15 for students, $25 for adults, and $45 for couples. Registration is required.

Dinner: 6 p.m. • Program: 6:30 p.m.

In an age of crippling political divisiveness, Allan Katz has a plan. Gather people with opposing viewpoints in a comfortable setting. Share a meal. And rationally, respectfully talk out the most pressing issues of the day.

Katz, a University of Missouri-Kansas City professor and former U.S. ambassador to Portugal, has helped make it work in Florida and California. Now, he introduces the initiative he co-founded — The Village Square — to Kansas City, moderating a discussion among national and local decision-makers that touches on issues ranging from tax incentives to immigration and addresses the cost of impasse arising from incivility.

Participating with Katz: former U.S. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, current Leon County (Florida) Commissioner Bryan Desloge, second vice president of the National Association of Counties and Village Square board member, and recently retired Truman Medical Centers CEO John Bluford.