To Build a Bridge

Being Right-of-Center in the era of social justice has become unpopular and suppressive. All too often, the right wing is labeled as prejudiced, hateful and uneducated conductors of national misinformation. This unfortunately discourages many from openly sharing their outlook which is a direct contradiction to this country’s constitution. I am sitting down with Shoshana Weissmann of RStreet Institute, Stephanie Slade of Reason Magazine, Jeremy Garson and Michelle Dickson of Bridge Alliance to discuss the modern American polarized experience and what the right wing is really trying to accomplish.

In 2017, the Bridge Alliance awarded a Bridge Action Grant to some of our member organizations. We are checking in with them to see how the grant supported their organization’s efforts, in what ways it helped, and what they are up to now. Join us as we explore the ripples of achievement that the Bridge Action Grant made in the democracy reform space. A small drop can produce waves. This episode features Liz Joyner, founder, and CEO of The Village Square. She shares with us how the grant supported their work and how it has helped them expand and grow their organization’s reach. The Village Square grows vibrant civil discourse across the partisan divide by building relationships across political, cultural, racial and religious divides among citizens inside their community and has expanded to six cities across America.

Democracy Beyond Elections is a collaborative, national campaign dedicated to transformative democracy rooted in community led decision making. DBE believes it is not enough to get the right person elected or to know that those closest to the issues are closest to the solutions — we must act on this knowledge and put real decision making power in community hands.DBE works to equip community-members often ignored, pushed out, or marginalized by our current democratic systems with the tools, resources, and opportunities to deeply engage in democratic processes. Today, we’re sitting down with DBE leader, Elizabeth Crews to discuss best practices for engaging with underserved communities to increase civic engagement.

In 2017, Bridge Alliance awarded more than $525,000 in Bridge Action Grants to two dozen Bridge Alliance member organizations to enable our member organizations to better collaborate on ways to fix political processes on the local, state and national levels. We recently got the opportunity to catch up with Layla Zaidane of the Millennial Action Project to talk about their Future Leaders Summit and how their work has grown since receiving their grant.

Building bridges in this country requires inclusion and relationship building with all groups, even those we may have a complex history with, like the Muslim community. America Indivisible's Lida Azim sits down with Shakira to discuss genuine ways in which we can reach out to Muslims in our community to build the relationships needed to mend fences. Please email [email protected] for links to any resources mentioned.The following resources are mentioned in this episode:Toolkit for Mobilizing to Support American MuslimsResources for further reading about Islam and American MuslimsMuslims in America Policy Poll 2020

We all know the logistics of collaborating with other organizations in the democracy field. But is there a holistic approach to collaboration? Can an understanding of human nature rand behavior patterns help us create a synergetic environment within our organizations, communities and society as a whole? Human Behaviorist, Historian and Collaboration Expert, Robert Porter Lynch, gives us 5 key tools to fostering a synergetic and collaborative environment in this incredibly diverse world we live in! Listen below!