Program helps bridge political divides by connecting people through personal stories

Recognizing the Stranger is a faith-based program that provides support and mentorship to immigrant leaders with the goal of building bridges between immigrant and nonimmigrant communities. The initiative has helped immigrants in the church organize "know your rights" events, advocate for expanded tax credits for undocumented workers, and roll out parish ID cards amid a rise in deportations.

Botswanans have deprioritized deeply held tribal identities, created a national identity, and found societal stability by using the practice of randomly assigning civil servants to different parts of the country. Sending the over 120,000 civil servants to work away from friends and family, immersed in a new culture, has led to intercultural exchanges, new friendships, and even many marriages that resulted in children whose parents belong to different tribes. Increasing contact across tribal groups led to thousands of new personal relationships, which reduced prejudices and created a shared national culture.

The Institute of Desirable Futures runs workshops designed to promote “the art of disagreement,” such as the Night of Controversies, a series of sessions in Paris that drew more than 600 people. Participants debate topics ranging from border security and climate change to AI and biometrics, with the goal of finding common ground and learning to communicate through disagreement.

Braver Angels brings together people across the political spectrum to find common ground on polarizing political issues. Participants in Ohio, where the group started, said the practice of listening to other perspectives is a stepping stone to solving some of the country’s most divisive concerns.

High school junior Ezra Beinart founded an initiative that invites Palestinians to speak with young American Jews via video chat. The goal of the project, which has hosted six speakers so far, is to introduce Jewish teenagers to perspectives on Israel-Palestine that they may not be exposed to within their communities.

Canvassers with Down Home North Carolina approach conversations with voters not as an opportunity to promote their cause or ideology, but as a chance to learn about voters' personal experiences and how those experiences shape their approach to political issues. The strategy, called deep canvassing, is based on active listening and nonjudgmental discussion and was found in one study to be more effective than traditional canvassing in winning over rural swing voters.

Organizers with Down Home North Carolina use deep canvassing, a door-knocking strategy based on active listening and in-depth, nonjudgmental conversation, to spark political discussions with voters who are often left out of the democratic process. Canvassers are trained to center issues of race and class to build solidarity across demographics and recorded high levels of support from voters in 82% of conversations surveyed between November 2021 and January 2022.

In order to cut carbon emissions in France, President Emmanuel Macron created an assembly of 150 randomly selected citizens. The citizens "convention on climate" met and deliberated for months before releasing 149 proposals on how the government should address climate change. Although only 10 made it into law without being altered, and 36 others were included form, the final legislation was one of the most comprehensive passed in the history of the country. The recommendations also garnered conversations and inspired the creation of other assemblies.

When city planners rushed early in the pandemic to close streets to automobile traffic in order to give residents a safe space to roam outdoors, they ended up learning lessons entirely apart from their original goals rooted in public health and traffic safety. In Durham, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Oakland, community groups pushed back at the cities' initial failures to consider the opinions of communities of color whose neighborhoods were affected by the changes. The pushback led to collaborations and modified plans that redefined the problems at issue and the ways to address them.

The First Nation–Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative is a nationwide initiative to foster positive relationships, empowering First Nation and municipal leaders to talk as equals. There have been hundreds of requests and 15 pairs completed the program. The goal is to foster joint economic development, but it also initiated discussions about the impact of colonization and ensures First Nations are represented in decision-making. Pairs have cooperated on infrastructure projects, such as highway expansions and solar farms, and have a renewed sense of being connected.