The city of Stockton police department has embarked on a number of initiatives in the hopes of building trust between them and the communities they work for. With initial funding from the Department of Justice, the department began truth-and-reconciliation processes, including workshops, departmental reforms, public apologies, and community conversations. Actual reconciliation is hard to measure, and yet their efforts to atone for their part in historic and systemic racism have shown positive results.

Several groups across the country are bridging the partisan divide by using civility and conversation to build bipartisanship and trust. The Frank P. Zeidler Center for Public Discussion helps members of the community and police talk. CivilPolitics.org offers evidence-based techniques to improve dialogue. And, the Millennial Action Project works with hundreds of young lawmakers across 27 state legislatures.

Fueled by xenophobia, many countries around the world are refusing refugees at the border. But Canadian hockey moms, poker buddies, and neighbors are personally resettling Syrians, one family at a time.

Personal connections contribute to more productive discourse, reducing polarization and divisiveness. Outreach projects such as those led by the Better Angels nonprofit and KUOW-FM in Seattle encourage conversations between individuals with differing political points of view. KUOW has run several “Ask A…” programs, including “Ask a Muslim” and “Ask a police officer,” which focus on building conservations. The Better Angels program, which includes workshops centered on discourse, has spread nationwide.

The University of Chicago and Eureka College are teaming up to bring together college students from urban and rural Illinois to discuss political differences. As part of Bridging the Divide, community leaders from both settings have led tours of homeless shelters, job training sites, and immigration centers.

A Better Angels workshop helped eight liberals and eight conservatives talk with each other about divisive issues, such as immigration and LGBTQ rights. At a time when political partisanship is at record highs in the United States, the workshop left some feeling hopeful. Participants reflected on stereotypes and asked each other questions through a structured discussion format.

A very special 15-person book club in Battle Creek, Michigan is using the book club format to discuss hard topics like race. The conversations steer profound, intimate, and personal, and many members testify to how much it has changed them. In addition to having read 68 books, the group also performs social justice work such as donating to the Equal Justice Initiative, rolling bandages for doctors in the DRC, and donating food and goods to local pantries.

At Cambridge Street Upper School, teachers, many of whom are white, meet regularly to discuss their own implicit biases and how they play out in a school in which 60 percent of students identify as black, Latino, or multiracial. "Cultural proficiency is no longer a separate thing we do once a month. It's at the center of what we do," the principal said.

Immigrants are increasingly settling in the United States, but their cultural adjustments present economic and social challenges. Different states have started welcoming initiatives to aid in foreigners in their transition. Welcoming Tennessee has organized community gatherings and public talks, and has publicized how immigrants can contribute to their new neighborhoods.

A grassroots organization called Soft Landing Missoula (SLM) is a community effort to bring refugees to Montana. It was started by two women who met on opposite sides of a protest, but, through consistent and respectful conversation, have learned to respect each other's views and form a meaningful friendship. SLM puts that principle into practice by sitting down with the mayor, city council members and the county commission to work with the International Rescue League to start a process that helps migrants settle into Montana. They consider conversation to be the most important tool in overcoming bias.

After an incident where a Latino teen was hurled into the ground by white teenagers, and they put a noose around his neck, Tamara Parson jumped into action. She started by organizing town halls with panels made up of people of color. Then that led to the creation of the Diversity Coalition of Knox County. Later, she teamed up with her pastor and created a six week long course titled Overcoming Racism. "It got people thinking about what experience minorities had here. It brought a spotlight to a lot of the diversity that already existed in our community.”

Amid divisive free speech discussions on campus, students across the country formed BridgeUSA, a group dedicated to the 'transpartisanship' movement. Student representatives are trained to facilitate constructive discussions with members of all political parties on campus. John Sarrouf, who trains students, noted, "The question shouldn’t be 'freedom of speech vs. safe spaces … but how do we create the context for people to engage each other [who have differences]?"

Many groups have formed to reduce political polarization by applying active listening and respectful communication skills. Mission Valley Rises is a small community led group in Montana that hosts events where Republicans and Democrats come together and outline community issues and brainstorm effective responses. Better Angels is a national group that holds citizen-led workshops where, using marriage counseling techniques, people are taught, not to change their own beliefs, but how to respectfully disagree so they can work together to effectively solve common problems.

While many politicians use political polarization to their advantage, communities across the world are finding that talking through the divide can actually have an impact on how someone votes. Polls conducted before and after community dialogue sessions show that perspectives of many of those participating changed, and in Ireland, many think this strategy is what resulted in the legalization of abortion.

Genk, Belgium is a prime example of how Slovakia can transition to a post-industrial and greener future. The city "bet on innovation and creativity" to bring back jobs and persuade youth to remain in the area. Genk built a center for green energy research, invested in startups within the field of green economics, supported art installations and focused on providing classes and retraining to help miners switch careers.