Braver Angels is leading the nation’s largest cross-partisan, volunteer-led movement to bridge the partisan divide for the good of our democratic republic. As we are in an election year, Braver Angels is bringing together “We the People” to find a hopeful alternative to toxic politics.

Linda Beck is a national volunteer with Braver Angels. After the 2016 presidential election, she discovered the organization and wanted to be more involved.

“Braver angels were actually founded after the 2016 election, by three friends… looked at, the state of the political divide and said, let's see if we can bring people together. And so, they ran it as an experiment. And did the first red, what was called a red, blue workshop, where they brought, ten Trump supporters and ten Clinton supporters together and, and just had them in a room. And interestingly, one of those three people is a marriage counselor. And so, the red, blue workshop, which we still offer today, is founded on marriage counseling principles. And they had such great success that the organization has taken off. “And now we have more than I think that last count was maybe around 13,000 members, across all 50 states, “said Beck.

Bill Madway is the Blue Pennsylvania Co-coordinator. He realized there was a need for liberals and conservatives to come together and effectively communicate to better the political system.

“The way to get people to work together is for them to listen to each other, form relationships, and find that common ground, and then we can. You know, find ways to solve problems. But you know, so over the years, I continue to go to programs here and there. And then when I heard about this opportunity, they were looking for a new co-chair. In Pennsylvania. I put my hand up and, you know, they offered me the position. So, I'm really excited about it. It's a great organization and with a great mission, “said Madway.

Melissa Gizzi is the Red Co-chair of Braver Angels Lower Susquehanna Alliance that was founded in 2021 in Lancaster County.

“We started out in Lancaster County, and before we knew it, we had people calling us from some of the surrounding counties who wanted to take part in our programs. So, in 2022, we expanded to include Dauphin, Cumberland, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties. And we don't intend to expand beyond that. But we offer a variety of programs at the local level, workshops, and also special opportunities for members of bravery and angels to get together and talk to each other about controversial issues, “said Gizzi.

Something that came up a lot during the conversation was language being used to build trust within the organization.

We simply believe that we can get further if we get people to listen to each other. And so in doing that, sometimes people inadvertently use words that might turn off someone of a different color. So a blue might say something and use a word that. Then a red would just say, oh, I'm not even going to listen to that person or vice versa. And so we carefully talk about language and making sure that, that we're using language. And it's not like there's language police. I don't want to make it sound like that. It's just, I teach communications, and so I know that that, that is an important part in communicating with other people. If we want to be heard, we have to talk in a way that others will hear us and want to listen, “said Beck.

 

 

 

 

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