by Lynn Barendsen
Recently, I had the privilege to gather (virtually) with the Civic Collaboratory (link), a national group of civic and social innovators. We represent a variety of domains (education, advocacy, the arts, technology and more) and are positioned across the political spectrum. Many of us spend our days grappling with the tough questions of our day: how do we go about bridging the gaps that divide our country; what is the place of civic dialogue and social cohesion when we believe there are still deep injustices to rectify; how can we develop a shared language when we have fundamentally different truths?
I don’t have all the answers to these difficult questions, but I firmly believe we need to keep wrestling with our responses. In that spirit, I wanted to highlight some important initiatives and opportunities
Read Pearce Goodwin’s editorial (link) to learn more about a two-day event creating thousands of conversations between Americans with differing opinions. The initiative is called “America Talks” and you can sign up yourself to participate by clicking here.
Watch the new documentary Our Towns (link), based on James and Deborah Fallows’ book, Our Towns: 100,000 Mile Journey into the Heart of America to learn about hundreds of local restorative initiatives around the country. Both the documentary and the book illustrate how community and the building of a common language can help us to navigate our differences.
Focus on our future leaders by exploring one of many student-focused civic initiatives, such as Student Voice (link), Kidizenship (link), or the Millennial Action Project (link).
And if you haven’t already, please have a look at our recent blog series on Good Citizenship by clicking the button below: