At the National Conference on Citizenship this month, a quiet but significant shift took center stage. Braver Angels, known across the country for its deep work in depolarization and dialogue, publicly launched a new initiative: Citizen-Led Solutions (CLS). It marked more than just a program announcement. It signaled a strategic evolution—from bridging divides to building the civic muscle of democracy.

“We are in a very difficult time,” said David Eisner (Braver Angels Co-chair, Southeast PA), opening the session. “It’s not just the violence or polarization. It’s a sense of being stuck. Of not knowing what steps to take. Citizens feel alienated… convinced the people making decisions don’t care.”

That’s the moment CLS is designed to meet—not with more partisanship or technocratic fixes, but by equipping everyday people to solve real problems together.

A New Civic Chapter for Braver Angels

Citizen-Led Solutions builds on a decade of experience at Braver Angels in bridging political and cultural divides. But it pushes the work into a new, generative phase.

CLS is not a debate or a dialogue. It’s a structured cycle of citizen action:

• Foster Relationships – Build trust across difference

• Forge Common Ground – Deliberate toward shared solutions

• Follow Through – Implement and reflect together

“We’re flipping the script,” Eisner said. “Not waiting for experts or politicians to fix things. Not disqualifying people because of their opinions. But saying: citizens can take ownership. We can make our communities what we want them to be.”

Maury Giles, Braver Angels’ newly appointed CEO, closed the session with a powerful vision. Reflecting on recent tragedy and unrest, he said:

“Fragility is not failure. It’s the first stage of resilience. Every civic renaissance in American history started as something fragile. Ordinary citizens, doing extraordinary things.”

CLS is a way to operationalize that renaissance. Already, pilot projects are showing results: a California town mired in conflict over homelessness began working toward a shared housing solution after CLS-inspired deliberation. Across the country, citizens are stepping into co-creator roles, not just as voters or spectators, but as decision-makers.

Grounded in Partnership, Ready to Scale

This evolution isn’t happening in a vacuum. The launch event featured leaders from across the civic renewal field:

• Vinay Orekondy, Co-Founder of Better Together America, emphasized the need to connect the thousands of groups already doing citizen-led work. “This isn’t just an American challenge. Polarization is global. But so is the hunger for connection,” he said. “We’re working to link the ecosystem together—to turn isolated efforts into a movement.”

• Jillian Youngblood, Executive Director of Civic Genius, called attention to the civic skills people already have. “Running a Girl Scout troop, negotiating with a school—these are civic muscles. Most Americans are not extremists. They’re capable, and they want to contribute.”

• Valerie Lemmie, Senior Advisor at the Kettering Foundation, reminded the audience that citizenship is a daily act, not just a legal status. “Citizenship means doing the work to make your community better,” she said. “It’s time we create spaces for public judgment and collective action again. Democracy begins at the neighborhood scale.”

Each of them reflected a broader truth: we don’t need to invent a new civic culture—we need to recognize, link, and equip the one that’s already emerging.

From Bridge-Building to Problem-Solving

A striking theme emerged in the session: bridging is vital, but it must be connected to action. “Agency comes from solving problems together,” noted Orekondy. “Not just talking about differences.”

The CLS model reflects that shift. By embedding deliberation inside a cycle of trust-building and implementation, it lets citizens experience tangible wins, not just better conversations.

And critically, it avoids the common pitfall of professionalization. As Giles put it:

“Institutions must support citizens, not replace them. Fragility is a reason to invest, not to dismiss.”

A Signal to the Ecosystem

For those working across the Thriving Together ecosystem, the launch of CLS is a call to attention. It brings together bridging, belonging, civic capacity, and the local imperative—all core themes of our shared work. It also presents a real opportunity for synergy: co-learning, amplification, collaboration, and culture-shifting around the idea that democracy can be citizen-led again.

We’ll be following this effort closely and lifting up local stories from communities putting CLS into practice. The invitation is open.

Democracy doesn’t need saving. It needs citizens who are ready to build.

Get Involved with Thriving Together US
Join the effort to build a transpartisan movement of movements for civic renewal and democratic flourishing.

• Subscribe on Substack

• Follow IMIP on LinkedIn

• Join the Generate Democracy! LinkedIn Group

• Request to join the Google Group for movement leaders

• Learn more at Mediators Foundation

Designing a Bigger “We”: Civic Studies & Civic Innovation Huddle (Aug 18, 2025)

“All People, All Places Thriving—No Exceptions” isn’t a slogan; it’s a systems-design brief, an ethos, and a bold statement of shared purpose. It asks us to move past performative unity and actually build the stuff of a bigger “We”—easy ways to join in, practices that bridge differences, and public work that changes conditions close to home. From classrooms to congregations, city halls to service clubs, this vision treats people and professionals as co-creators, not consumers. It also points to a repeatable-at-every-level network—local hubs connected to state and national collaborators—so belonging turns into action and dialogue turns into co‑governance.

Why this Huddle Mattered

We explored how Civic Studies and citizen professionalism spread across institutions and communities, renewing a story of democracy as a way of life. The session mixed catalytic ideas (Boyte, Marri) with practical weaving across sectors (faith, higher ed, service, mediation, journalism, community development).

Quick Summary

• Start with simple ways to join. Make it easy for people and groups to begin—and connect those starts to work that has visible results.

• Belonging comes first. Relationships open the door; shared work cements new beliefs and skills.

• Scale by repeating what works. Link local hubs → state cross‑sector networks → national learning and coordination.

• Use all four strategies. Bridge, Build, Block, and Belong—each one supports the other three.

• Professionals as partners. Shift from expert delivery to guiding, coaching, and co-creating with communities.

What Happened in the Huddle

We didn’t meet to admire the problem. We met to trade playbooks. Around the (virtual) room were organizers, educators, faith leaders, public innovators, and a few stubborn optimists. The opening question landed like a tuning fork: How do we turn enthusiasm into durable civic capacity?

Early on, someone named the gap we all feel: lots of people want to work across differences, but clear, trusted opportunities are hard to find. Heads nodded. That set the tone for a practical session—less theory, more “what do we build next?”

“If we can get the right ways to start and move between efforts, we don’t need to educate people one at a time. We create chances to move through the ecosystem—so anyone in one program can easily connect to the next.”

Washington State shared a vivid picture of what that looks like on the ground. Start with potlucks and story circles. Listen until a shared question shows up—How can we help each other? Then take the next right step together. The magic wasn’t a fancy curriculum; it was relationship-first organizing that quickly shifted into co‑creation.

“We brought people together and listened until the question surfaced: ‘How can we help each other? What can we build together?’ The point is connection—then giving people the tools to co‑create.”

Across the hour, two anchors kept resurfacing:

• Dialogue tied to consequences. Conversation matters most when it leads to work with real stakes—fixing a park, reimagining a school policy, running a neighborhood listening drive.

• Group‑to‑group organizing. People show up as members of groups—congregations, clubs, classes, unions, teams. Design for groups to meet, deliberate, and act as groups, instead of treating everyone as a solo project.

“Most folks take cues from the groups they’re part of. We’ve got to move beyond individual skill-building to group‑to‑group interaction—deliberation and action between groups.”

Another simple but powerful reframing landed too: don’t recruit—energize. People aren’t prospects; they’re partners. Name the sparks that already exist and add oxygen.

“Don’t treat people as prospects for our thing. Energize the sparks already present—name what’s working locally and build from there.”

Three Through‑Lines

1) From deliberation to co‑creation (public work)

Add work with consequence to discussion. Treat careers and campuses as civic sites. Shift professionals from experts on top to coaches, lifting volunteers as co‑leaders. Translate dialogue into doing.

2) Belonging through purpose, agency, and on‑ramps

People join where they can matter. Build on‑ramps for first contact, lanes for learning/practice, and worksites for co‑created fixes. Belonging grows when momentum feels winnable and shared.

3) Many doors into the same house (group‑to‑group bridges)

Start with groups as groups—faith networks, service clubs, cultural orgs, campuses. Convene bundles, not just individuals. Bridge groups → share skills → co‑create projects.

Moments to Remember

• Civic action spotlight: A shift toward citizen‑led civic action (e.g., Braver Angels) aligning with National Conference on Citizenship visibility.

• Ball State’s push: Faculty cohort and statewide strategy to embed civic learning—schools as the last universal civic space.

• Civic hubs as scaffolding: Repeatable arc from first contact to co‑creation (e.g., Skagit County).

• Supply‑side challenge: High appetite for purpose; too few visible opportunities—solve the supply problem with on‑ramps and a shared signal board.

Frameworks at a Glance

Thriving Together, Vital Conditions, and Belonging & Civic Muscle

• Thriving Together is the north star: all people and all places thriving—no exceptions. It orients strategy toward long‑term investment and shared prosperity.

• Vital Conditions are the durable basics every community needs for people to flourish—humane housing, meaningful work and wealth, lifelong learning, reliable transportation and mobility, a healthy natural world, safe neighborhoods, and more.

• Belonging & Civic Muscle are the engine room: the skills, relationships, norms, and power with one another that let people shape their future. The field note that keeps proving true: belonging comes before belief.

Seven Elements of Civic Life (a practical playbook)

Trust • Learning • Building • Aspirations • Truth • Working & Working Out • Reinvention
Use these seven elements as a dashboard. They help residents, institutions, and funders see where things are strong, where they’re thin, and what to try next—from early trust-building to joint work and continuous adaptation.

The 4 B’s of Generative Engagement

Bridge • Build • Block • Belong
A balanced response to a stressed democracy:

• Bridge across differences with curiosity and skill.

• Build civic infrastructure and real chances to act.

• Block anti‑democratic harms and disinformation.

• Belong by growing a larger We where dignity and agency are non‑negotiable.
  Design rule: let each “B” strengthen the other three so you don’t over‑index on just one.

What It Looked Like (Story Beats)

Citizen professionalism, not expert‑only delivery. Stories from campus and community showed professionals acting as guides—coaching inquiry, facilitating deliberation, and opening doors to public work. Students and residents practiced portable skills: listening across difference, framing public problems, making group decisions, and following through.

Washington’s hub pattern. In Skagit County, the early moves were humble—shared meals, listening sessions, small wins. The hinge moment came when people started asking each other questions of mutual aid: What can we do together next? That’s when a “gathering” became a civic hub.

Universities as civic labs. “Third Way Civics” at Ball State surfaced as a working blueprint: primary‑source inquiry, faculty as guides, and community‑connected projects. Translation: campuses can graduate bridge‑builders and problem‑solvers, not just content experts.

Service clubs as pathways. Rotaract/Rotary offered a practical bridge from youth leadership into lifelong civic participation—tying campus dialogue to year‑round service and, eventually, co‑governance.

“People want to be on a winning team—to make a difference and matter. Purpose plus visible progress is what keeps them coming back.”

What’s Forming: Fractal Forum + a Network of State Networks

• Fractal Forum (alpha): Lightweight, recurring backbone conversations. Shared “signal board” showing open on‑ramps, replicable practices, and quick‑copy templates.

• Network of State Networks: Each state weaves its own every‑kind‑of‑hub ecosystem (campuses, congregations, mediation centers, service clubs, neighborhood associations), with common language and shared learning.

House Language used across TTUS: 4B stance (Build, Bridge, Block, Belong) + Seven Elements of Civic Life (trust, learning, aspirations, truth, building, working‑out, reinvention) + Vital Conditions framing.

Washington State as a Living Lab

Paths to Understanding is coordinating a statewide weave: interfaith partners, service clubs, nonprofits, cultural orgs, and campuses. The playbook:

1. First‑contact experiences (welcoming, humanizing).

2. Skill‑building mini‑labs (listening, power‑mapping, convening).

3. Co‑created projects that upgrade local civic infrastructure (e.g., civic welcome practices in public spaces).

This becomes a reusable civic hub architecture for other states.

Credits

Thanks to contributors and participants named in the transcript and chat: Harry Boyte, Anand R. Marri, Sterling Speirn, Monte Roulier, David Eisner, Bobby Milstein, Terry Kyllo, Prabha Shankar Narayan, Danielle Reiff, Zachary Weaver, DG (NAFCM), and others.

Resources from the Chat (click to explore)

Organizations & Programs

• Center for Public Deliberation (Colorado State University):

https://cpd.colostate.edu/

• Family Leadership Training Institute (Colorado):

https://fltiofcolorado.colostate.edu/

• Faith 250 (multi‑faith public leadership):

Research & Journalism

• Gallup — Confidence in National Institutions May Have Local Roots: https://news.gallup.com/poll/692621/confidence-national-institutions-may-local-roots.aspx

• Muncie named a 2020 All‑America City (Ball State context): https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2020/08/muncie-named-a-2020-all-america-city/

Events & Networks

• Weave Education Group — conversation on the purpose of education: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/_gxxbYzbTW26lZaCK87adw

Signal from the chat: There’s a deep appetite to connect across differences and work on shared local goals. Our job is to make the routes obvious, trusted, and rewarding.

How It Fits Together

The Thriving Together Civic Innovation Network (TTCIN) is a “repeatable‑at‑every‑level” design: local hubs as the base unit → state cross‑sector problem‑solving networks → a national learning and coordination layer. Local hubs create first experiences and shared projects. States align resources across sectors. The national layer weaves, studies, and spreads what works. A companion League of Movements keeps strategy aligned across the broader democracy ecosystem so Bridging, Building, Blocking, and Belonging reinforce one another instead of competing.

Why it matters: When starting points are everywhere and progress is visible, people stay engaged. When dialogue leads to consequence, trust grows. When groups meet as groups, legitimacy deepens. When local patterns repeat up the chain, we scale without losing local texture.

Practical Next Steps

1. Host a low‑barrier “first experience.” Potluck, listening circle, or service project—end with one concrete, shared next step.

2. Map local assets using the Seven Elements; choose one element to strengthen now.

3. Design group‑to‑group encounters. Bring congregations, clubs, or classes together around a shared problem.

4. Apply the 4 B’s to one initiative—show how you’ll Bridge, what you’ll Build, what you’ll appropriately Block, and how you’ll grow Belonging.

5. Connect upward. Share lessons to your state network; pull support, stories, and tools from the national layer.

Conclusion: Turning Belonging into Public Work

Treat “All People, All Places Thriving—No Exceptions” as the design spec for civic life:

• Make starting points ubiquitous and credible.

• Make dialogue consequential.

• Organize group‑to‑group.

• Let each of the 4 B’s strengthen the other three.

When we do, people don’t just attend meetings—they co‑create the commons. That’s how a bigger We gets built, block by block, bridge by bridge.

Appendix: Quick Reference

Selected Links (from the chat)

• Center for Public Deliberation (CSU):

https://cpd.colostate.edu/

• Family Leadership Training Institute (CO):

https://fltiofcolorado.colostate.edu/

• Faith 250:

• Gallup on local roots of confidence: https://news.gallup.com/poll/692621/confidence-national-institutions-may-local-roots.aspx

• Muncie—All‑America City: https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2020/08/muncie-named-a-2020-all-america-city/

• Weave Education Group — registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/_gxxbYzbTW26lZaCK87adw

In advance of the conference, Thriving Together US (TTUS) hosted a full-day pre-conference dialogue to explore what it would take to build a democracy where everyone can thrive. While 22CI has been using Block/Bridge/Build as a guiding framework, the TTUS gathering introduced a complementary element to the framework: Belonging. We asked what it would take to build a movement based on Belonging Without Othering? This idea quickly became the focus of the day: Can we foster a sense of belonging powerful enough to hold our complexities—without creating new lines of exclusion?

The Power of Belonging

Before we can talk about the risks of false belonging, we need to acknowledge the deep, human power of the real thing. Belonging is the glue of movements, the emotional and social current that binds people together. Whether for better or worse, it gives people a sense of meaning, identity, and safety.

Nowhere is this more visible than in the emotional infrastructure of the MAGA movement:

"You go to a Trump rally, and it's not just politics—it's a cookout, a party, a church service. People are fed, emotionally and socially. That's what we're up against. They've created a community that feels tight... it's not about policies—it's about feeling like you're part of something." —Rich Logis (founder of Leaving MAGA)

This sense of belonging can’t be dismissed as irrational or fringe. It is real, and it is potent. The question isn’t whether belonging is powerful—it’s how that power is used.

False Belonging vs. True Community

Belonging can be built in ways that are generous, or ways that are exclusionary. One of the most common—and dangerous—forms of false belonging is when identity is forged through opposition. People are invited to belong not because of who they are, but because of who they are not.

This dynamic is at play across the political spectrum. In the MAGA movement, it often sounds like: “We’re the real Americans—they’re trying to replace us.” But the left is not immune. Progressive movements, too, have struggled with litmus tests and purity standards: particular language expectations, unspoken rules about who gets to speak, and quick judgments about who’s in or out.

As Rich Logis shared:

"Some of the folks who end up in MAGA didn’t start there. They felt like they couldn’t say what they were thinking in their own communities, that they were being judged or called out. And eventually they found a place where they didn’t feel ashamed. I’ve had people say, ‘At least over there, I don’t have to walk on eggshells.’"

In a society already saturated with disconnection, these cycles of rejection feed off each other. We feel rejected, so we reject back. We simplify. We draw lines. And in doing so, we mistake clarity for community.

This leads to the second common tactic of false belonging: the promise of certainty over nuance.

"They want certainty. They're not looking for nuance. When someone offers a clear story—even if it's wrong—it can feel better than being invisible. Belonging, even through opposition, is still belonging." —Aaron (Southern Poverty Law Center)

False belonging often trades complexity for coherence. It offers stories that are easy to grasp, emotionally satisfying, and immune to contradiction. But those stories are also brittle—and dangerous.

So the question becomes: How do we build belonging that’s just as powerful, without turning people into enemies or flattening our truths?

Belonging as the Terrain and the Goal

Belonging isn’t just a feeling. It’s a civic practice. It shows up in the stories we tell, the questions we ask, and the spaces we create. In the Thriving Together framework, belonging is both the compass and the destination—a commitment to building a world where everyone can thrive, with no one left out.

The graphic below outlines the vital conditions for well-being and justice, and at its heart is a powerful idea: Belonging and Civic Muscle are both the foundation and the result of a thriving society. Every other condition—like humane housing, meaningful work, and lifelong learning—is shaped and sustained by the strength of our civic relationships.

This vision of belonging demands more than representation—it asks us to create communities where all people, in all places, feel they truly matter.

"We have to give people something to move toward, not just away from. That's what creates pull. Not fear, but possibility." —Jane (Rippel Foundation)

This forward-looking vision is at the heart of the Thriving Together ethos. Belonging is not just a means to an end—it is the end. It's the glue that holds a pluralistic democracy together, and the compass that points us toward the future we want.

"We don't just need better critiques—we need better dreams. Something that makes people want to opt in." —Duncan

Tools for Creating Belonging in Complexity

Earlier, we named how false belonging often relies on oversimplification. It gives people emotionally satisfying clarity by reducing complexity and replacing nuance with absolutes. But here’s the truth: the world is complex. Our challenges are wicked problems—entangled, contradictory, and often unresolved. If we're going to meet reality honestly, we have to learn how to create belonging in the midst of ambiguity.

That doesn’t mean people have to feel lost. Emotional safety and groundedness are still possible—if we know how to build them. At the pre-convening, two key strategies emerged:

1. Grounded containers for complexity.
Facilitation matters. We can create brave, bounded spaces that don’t demand agreement, but do invite mutual respect. These containers work best when they are clearly held—naming the purpose, expectations, and practices that help people feel anchored, even when things are uncertain.

"People can handle ambiguity when the space feels grounded, when there's clarity about how we're engaging." —Jane

2. Questions that invite people into shared purpose.
Instead of answers that divide, we can offer questions that pull people forward—questions that suggest we need each other to find the way. These "pull questions" open space for diverse perspectives and make it clear that everyone's contribution matters.

"It's not just about being invited to the table. It's about actually feeling like you're needed there—like the space doesn't work without you." —Brianna

Belonging in complexity isn’t about softening the edges of truth—it’s about making space for all of us to explore it together. In doing so, we build a different kind of clarity: one rooted not in certainty, but in shared courage.

Building the Bigger "We"

The Thriving Together framework and the Block/Bridge/Build model are are complementary. When Belonging is placed at the center, these strategies become more than tactics. They become the infrastructure for a new civic culture.

In an age where authoritarian strategies thrive on clarity, fear, and false community, we can offer something deeper: a future that welcomes complexity, nourishes connection, and insists that democracy is not just about systems—it's about us.

"We need to build a bigger 'We.' One that includes everyone and has a place for everyone."

That kind of "We" doesn’t just emerge. It has to be created—carefully, intentionally, together.

Get Involved with Thriving Together US
Join the effort to build a transpartisan movement of movements for civic renewal and democratic flourishing.

• Subscribe on Substack

• Follow IMIP on LinkedIn

• Join the Generate Democracy! LinkedIn Group

• Request to join the Google Group for movement leaders

• Learn more at Mediators Foundation

“What a treat to read the new Thriving Together Starter Series (by Duncan Autrey) on the Thriving Together US Substack. Your new posts are consistently clear and compelling. Truly a delight to read; and they are helping to establish the substack itself as an accessible space where folks can explore many facets of this rising movement. It takes special talent to convey these concepts so clearly, and you make it seem easy.” ~Bobby Milstein // The Rippel Foundation & ReThink Health (www.rippel.org)

Thriving Together US Substack

Thriving Together Starter Series (Thriving Together US Substack) Each piece explores a different doorway into the movement—read one or all, in any order.

• What Does It Mean to Thrive Together?

• How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement?

• What Happens When We Build, Bridge, Block—and Belong?

• Why Belonging and Civic Muscle Are the Real Superpowers

• Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate

“Echoing Bobby's applause and sentiments! Thanks for being great partners!” ~Monte Roulier // President Community Initiatives (www.communityinitiatives.com)

Thriving Together US

"The Thriving Together movement includes anyone who is curious about exploring better ways to thrive together." ~Kristina Becvar We are "Building" the new Thriving Together socio-political-governance systems while the current systems are "Breaking".

By Walt Roberts

Listen to this 21 minute NotebookLM Audio "Deep Dive"

A NotebookLM (AI Generated) Audio Deep Dive Briefing Report: The Inter-Movement Impact Project, the Movement to Thrive Together, and the Thriving Together US Initiative. This is an excellent "Explainer" dialogue that makes complex and confusing things very clear. Feel free to share this with others!

Movement to Thrive Together Hub & June 23rd Webinar

The movement to thrive together is real.

We are beginning to track progress within the movement and where it is taking hold. Through qualitative and quantitative data, we can better understand the state of thriving, vital conditions, and stewardship—and learn where the greatest opportunities for action lie.

And through shared reflection, we can design better strategies that are tailored to community needs and support equitable and thriving futures. Join a ReThink Health Toolbox webinar on June 23 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern for a first look at a beta version of a new data hub designed to help changemakers navigate and track their efforts to create thriving, equitable communities.

During the webinar, we'll share an overview of the hub and discuss how the hub is intended to be a resource for changemakers to see the future they are looking to create, understand the steps to get there, and collaborate with others to take meaningful action. We’ll talk with local leaders about how they are using vital conditions to assess their systems change efforts. And we’ll have an open discussion about how the hub may be useful to your work, and what more you might want to see in future iterations. LEARN MORE and REGISTER

Check out our new Movement to Thrive Together Hub, an innovative beta online resource developed in partnership with the Institute for People, Place and Possibility (IP3). And join our upcoming ReThink Health Toolbox Webinar to explore the Hub and discover how it can help you think differently about and track your systems change efforts.

The Hub features stories of inspiration and new ways of measuring equitable, place-based systems change. It shares and celebrates the work of stewards around the country, bringing together curated data and resources to explore the growing movement to thrive together and expand your vision of what’s possible. Explore the Movement to Thrive Together Hub

Join us on June 23 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET for a first look at the Hub. We’ll explore the Hub’s data and insights and discuss what future iterations of the Hub could look like to better support stewards. Additionally, local leaders will share how they are using this approach to assess their systems change efforts. LEARN MORE and REGISTER

Otto Scharmer reminds us that when systems collapse, people rise. Perhaps even more accurately, when systems break, people rise together in community. History shows that this is precisely how meaningful change occurs: people see something good, something life-affirming and joyful, and they begin to copy it, spreading renewal from small circles outward. At this critical moment, our deepest longing for connection, wholeness, and love can only be realized together, in community. Our common future depends on it. Join fellow stewards in a rising movement to thrive together: www.thriving.us. ~Monte Roulier

NotebookLM Generated Briefing Report: The Inter-Movement Impact Project, the Movement to Thrive Together, and the Thriving Together US Initiative

1. Briefing at a Glance

This report dissects the strategic evolution and synergistic convergence of the Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP), the broader Movement to Thrive Together, and the newly launched Thriving Together US (TTUS) Initiative. It uncovers a sophisticated, multi-layered approach to addressing systemic societal breakdown and fostering a more cohesive, generative democratic future.

• The Crisis of Fragmentation: Our socio-political-economic systems face a "severe breakdown" marked by fragmentation, polarization, systemic inequities, and the erosion of democratic norms. Despite billions invested and thousands of organizations, siloed efforts undermine collective impact, necessitating a shift from "fission-powered" division to "fusion-powered" collaboration.

• Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP):

• Generate Democracy! Community:

• The Movement to Thrive Together (Rippel Foundation, Bobby Milstein):

• The Thriving Together US Initiative (TTUS):

• The 4 B Model (Bridge, Block, Build, Belong):

• Key Elements of the TTUS Initiative:

• Rachel Kleinfeld's Strategy #4 Interplay:

2. Deep Dive Briefing Report: Forging Cohesion in a Fractured Landscape

The Inter-Movement Impact Project, the Movement to Thrive Together, and the Thriving Together US Initiative

The current socio-political-economic landscape is characterized by a "severe breakdown". This systemic crisis manifests as pervasive fragmentation, intense polarization, deep-seated inequities, and the erosion of democratic norms and institutions. Despite the vast ecosystem of democracy-strengthening organizations—estimated at over 10,000 in the U.S. alone—their efforts often remain siloed, hindering their collective influence and impact. This pervasive fragmentation is, as one participant noted, a "meta problem" that undermines even well-intentioned progress. In response to this critical challenge, a concerted effort is underway to shift from a "fission-powered" politics of division to a "fusion-powered" approach that generates sustained, clean democratic energy.

The Genesis of Synergy: IMIP, Thriving Together US Initiative, and the Movement to Thrive Together

At the heart of this transformative endeavor is the Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP), co-founded by Walt Roberts. IMIP's origins trace back through a rich history of engagement with systems thinking, the transformative work of Buckminster Fuller ("Revolution by design and invention"), and participation in diverse social movements like the Transpartisan Alliance, Occupy, and the Coffee Party. IMIP's core mission is to "catalyze and advance Rachel Kleinfeld's Strategy #4":

"Build a Broad-based, Multistranded, Pro-democracy Movement around a Positive Vision Concretized in Locally Rooted Action".

IMIP functions not as a traditional large NGO, but as an "inter-movement ‘operating system’" designed to foster cohesion through intentional design and connectivity across the fragmented democracy ecosystem.

Integral to IMIP's structure is the Thriving Together US. This initiative provides vital community spaces—including a monthly forum and a LinkedIn group—specifically designed to connect individuals across socio-ideological divides. It seeks to cultivate a network of "systems savvy connectors, stewards, influencers, messengers and change agents" who embody a "transpartisan citizen" engagement and "we are in this together" mindset. Emma Addams, Co-Executive Director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, lauded IMIP's work, stating,

"This is the brilliance of IMIP. Walt and Caleb are doing extraordinary work connecting the connectors and doing it with warmth, generosity, and inclusion. I love seeing all the new people popping up on calls. I have this sense I can’t yet articulate that you are preparing us collectively for something big (or probably many things)".

A significant accelerant in IMIP's strategy is its partnership with the Movement to Thrive Together, led by Bobby Milstein of the Rippel Foundation. The "Thriving Together" ethos and framework, extensively developed by the Rippel Foundation, emerged in 2020 as a "Springboard for Equitable Recovery and Resilience in Communities Across America," with Milstein as its lead editor. Its central vision is simple yet profound: "All people and all places thriving – no exceptions".

This framework's utility in making generative change is multifaceted. It operates as a "powerful tool for advancing generative inter-movement systems change" by offering a unifying narrative that aligns diverse efforts without imposing rigid structures. It fosters cohesion through "nexus" organizing based on clear interdependencies. The framework embodies a systems-oriented approach to social change, capable of generating "breakthrough change" amidst societal "severe breakdown". Bobby Milstein elaborates on its purpose: "how do we together make systems that are sort of built to thrive together, and how do we be better stewards of those systems".

The "Thriving Together" framework is built upon three core, interdependent elements:

• Shared Stewardship: This concept, "grounded in love and healing," calls for a collective responsibility in stewarding the conditions for thriving, shifting from traditional leadership to a shared sense of ownership for the common good.

• Vital Conditions: These are the essential properties of places and institutions necessary for all people to reach their full potential. They encompass areas like humane housing, lifelong learning, access to basic needs, meaningful work, a thriving natural world, and reliable transportation.

• Belonging & Civic Muscle: Positioned as the "linchpin" of the entire framework, this element emphasizes the critical role of inclusion, social support, and the capacity for collective action and democratic engagement. It's about fostering a sense of shared community and the ability to work together to solve problems and shape the future.

“The Inter-Movement Impact Project brings together a broad network of pro-democracy leaders, civic health reformers, social justice advocates, and bridgers. They use the Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions as a bridging framework to deepen collaborative learning and action. In an era where democratic institutions, norms, and processes face serious challenges, this network is lifting up and evolving next-generation participatory approaches to problem-solving. The National Civic League’s “Healthy Democracy Ecosystem” project, for instance, has mapped more than 10,000 organizations that champion a healthier democracy. As Harry Boyte—a pioneer of democracy as a way of life and Springboard contributor—observes in NCR’s Return of the Citizen, there is a need and a yearning to revitalize citizen-centered problem-solving. Kristen Hansen, Executive Director of the Civic Health Project, offers hope, pointing to America’s active and growing Bridge Building movement – hundreds of local bridge building organizations that are rejecting the toxic culture of polarization and embrace growing constructive relationships across lines of difference. Revitalizing citizen-centered democracy and civic life is indispensable to a thriving community…… “ ~Monte Roulier

The Thriving Together US Initiative: Forging a Cohesive Movement

Leveraging this powerful framework, IMIP launched the Thriving Together US Initiative (TTUS) in late 2024. Its ambitious mission is to "Forge a much more Cohesive, Powerful and Impactful Transpartisan ‘Thriving Together’ Democracy & Civic Health Movement of Movements Ecosystem in 2025, 2026". TTUS is deliberately "building the new system amidst the breakdown of the existing system", an iterative, emergent, and generative construct.

A key strategic framework within the TTUS Initiative for making generative change is the 4 B Model: Bridge, Block, Build, and Belong. This framework provides a comprehensive response to the "chronic and acute BREAKING our socio-political system is going through now".

• BRIDGE: This dimension focuses on bridging divides, values, visions, strategies, and endeavors to find common ground and embrace an "in this together" mentality, fostering depolarization and mutual respect.

• BLOCK: This entails actively blocking the advance of political violence, disinformation profiteering, toxic polarization, authoritarianism, and other anti-democracy movements.

• BUILD: This refers to proactively building a 'thriving together' democracy as a way of life, a higher performing political system, a more robust civic engagement, and thriving communities.

• BELONG: This crucial element emphasizes fostering "belonging without othering". It recognizes that true collective impact requires attending to the fundamental human need for connection and valuing within a shared effort.

These four dimensions are not separate, but "natural and interdependent dynamics in complex systems change endeavors". The approach posits that effective generative change requires "blends of doing all of it all the time," fostering "bridging while blocking" and "building while bridging" to avoid destructive "othering".

The TTUS Initiative encompasses several interconnected elements designed to accelerate this cohesive movement:

• TTUS Future Forum / Connected Convenings: This biennial construct, first conceived in mid-late 2024, aims to build cohesion and collaborative impact at scale. It functions as a "forum of many forums," layering dedicated IMIP forums and pre/post-convening calls onto major existing events like the American Democracy Summit (ADS), 22nd Century Initiative (22CI) Conference, and EarthX to foster generative dialogue and continuity. Connecting the conveners of these major conferences is identified as a key leverage point for inter-movement cohesion. The initiative plans a major multi-hosted "Thriving Together Future" democracy & civic health 'movement of many movements' summit in the December 7-14, 2026 window, potentially tied to America's 250th anniversary.

• TTUS Substack & Vox-Mesh Innovation Diffusion Communications Meshwork: The newly launched TTUS Substack serves as a cornerstone of the movement's communication strategy. It is part of the broader TTUS Vox-Mesh system, an "AI Powered ‘Gen-Con Diffusion’ Communications and Community Building" platform. This system utilizes various platforms—including LinkedIn, Google Groups, and the forthcoming thriving-together.us website—to amplify successful practices, narratives, and guiding visions throughout the network. It supports "Adaptive Narrative Intelligence" to shape the movement's narrative and counter disinformation, recognizing that storytelling is vital for driving change and engagement.

• Gen-Sys: AI-Powered Generative Work System: A cutting-edge component of TTUS, Gen-Sys leverages AI for knowledge management, communication, and organizing. The vision includes an "AI-powered 'Thriving Together Matrix'" to integrate resources and knowledge, supporting nexus organizing and cohesion at scale. This system underpins the concept of "AI-Native Generative Movement Fusion," positioning IMIP to lead in integrating AI into the core DNA of movement building.

Rachel Kleinfeld's Strategy #4 and its Interplay with Thriving Together

The synergy between Rachel Kleinfeld's Strategy #4 and the Thriving Together framework is a linchpin of the TTUS Initiative. Kleinfeld's strategy calls to

"Build a Broad-based, Multistranded, Pro-democracy Movement around a Positive Vision Concretized in Locally Rooted Action".

The "Positive Vision" aspect of this strategy is directly embodied by the Thriving Together ethos: "All people and all places thriving – no exceptions". As Walt Roberts articulated,

"Having a shared vision and framework and ethos of thriving together gives us the thing that we can rally around, a vision that we can share easily and that can be worded in many different ways".

This aspirational vision provides a common language and shared purpose, essential for unifying diverse movements.

The "Concretized in Locally Rooted Action" component of Strategy #4 deeply resonates with the place-based focus of the Thriving Together framework. This manifests through the development of "Civic Democracy Hubs"—a "widespread national network of deep local nodes"—and a focus on the "Belonging & Civic Muscle" vital condition, strengthening civic life at the grassroots. By applying shared stewardship principles to these local efforts, individuals and groups actively contribute to democratic renewal. As Bobby Milstein articulated, this work is about stewarding systems "built to thrive together". The Thriving Together framework's adaptability ensures local relevance while maintaining a unifying coherence for the broader movement.

Listen to this TTUS Notebook Audio Overview and read about IMIP, the Movement to Thrive Together and the Thriving Together US Initiative. Feel free to share this with others!

3. Concluding Summation: The Nexus of Thriving Together for Democratic Renewal

In a period marked by profound systemic "breaking," the confluence of the Inter-Movement Impact Project, the Movement to Thrive Together, and the Thriving Together US Initiative offers a compelling rallying point for democratic renewal. The challenges facing society—fragmentation, polarization, and systemic inequities—are fundamentally interconnected. This necessitates a "nexus" approach where solutions are equally interconnected and synergistic.

The "Thriving Together" vision, with its universal appeal of "All people and all places thriving – no exceptions," provides the shared aspirational framework needed to unite diverse actors. Its emphasis on Shared Stewardship, Vital Conditions, and especially Belonging & Civic Muscle, provides the practical and relational scaffolding for this collective endeavor. By translating abstract ideals into "locally rooted action", the framework becomes a tangible force for change.

The 4 B model—BUILD, BLOCK, BRIDGE, and BELONG—offers a sophisticated, generative response to the current socio-political "BREAKING". It recognizes the critical interdependency of these actions, transforming what might appear as competing strategies into complementary dynamics essential for systemic change. This integrated approach allows the movement to simultaneously defend against immediate threats while actively constructing a more robust, inclusive democracy.

Ultimately, the vision of a transpartisan "Thriving Together" democracy and civic renewal movement of many movements holds the promise of generating the "breakthrough change so urgently needed". By fostering cohesion, amplifying innovation through platforms like the TTUS Substack and Vox-Mesh, and intentionally designing connected convenings, this initiative aims to create a truly resilient, inclusive, and vibrant democratic future for the United States. This work, rooted in a deep understanding of complex systems and generative change, represents a critical pathway forward in a turbulent era.

Communities Rising: Thriving Together in a Divided World

By Monte Roulier

Every January for the past five years, community partners with the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH) Collaborative Action Network (Network) have gathered in a majestic corner of Northwest Washington to connect, grow, and set direction. This regional collaborative of 247 cross-sector partner organizations, including the eight Tribal Nations of the Salish Sea, has embraced “whole person/whole community” approaches to transforming community health and well-being.

People with lived experiences of homelessness, addiction, poverty, and racial discrimination guide the design and implementation of solutions. Faith-based organizations are modeling love in action by adopting, reintegrating, and learning from formerly incarcerated individuals who are now visible leaders and entrepreneurs. Together, Network partners are embracing a new narrative of who they are becoming as a community.

Becoming was this year’s theme for the network convening, which fell during the week of January 20th—MLK Day and the start of a new administration. The historic coincidence highlighted the divided nation’s contested narratives of who we’ve been, who we are, and who we are becoming. Across the U.S., some celebrated the inauguration as a re-making of America, while others watched in despair and saw it as a breaking of America. Back in the North Sound, with a network composed of many groups and interests that fell in the new administration’s crosshairs, the sharp rhetoric and early executive actions added weight to the questions around becoming.

While the gathering began on a somber note, an unusual yet energized calm settled over the room as the day progressed. Guided by artists and tribal and faith leaders, those gathered began to shift their perspective on this fraught time. Music, dialogue, stories, and art pierced hearts, reminding partners of their collective resilience, achievements, and shared power. They were neither helpless nor hostage to this challenging moment. The Network partners doubled down on their commitment to one another. In the North Sound, what is taking shape is both a response and an alternative to the dehumanizing, zero-sum culture wars of recent years. It is a story of a regional community growing belonging and strengthening civic muscle to solve real problems. They are “positive deviants” in an under-reported story of communities rising and thriving together.

All People, All Places – No Exceptions

This convening held special significance as it marked the pending retirement of Liz Baxter, the fearless Executive Director of the North Sound ACH, the backbone organization of the Network. The renowned john a. powell of the Othering & Belonging Institute came to honor Liz and recognize how the Network has become a national exemplar. In his remarks, powell noted how the strategy of “belonging through othering”—uniting by demonizing others—has repeatedly produced devastating results, including Rwanda’s horrific civil war. His message underscored how, especially in times of uncertainty, exclusionary approaches can dangerously distort unity and fuel destructive outcomes. It was a fitting reflection for a convening held during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as King himself reminded us that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” The North Sound partners embody this truth, showing that real belonging emerges not through division but from shared commitment to one another.

The Network was sparked through Washington State’s Accountable Communities of Health funding, intended to transform Medicaid. North Sound ACH was among the first to choose the less-traveled path. By 2019, North Sound ACH and their network partners began shifting from a primary focus on healthcare coordination and delivery toward radically expanding their community partnerships and broadening their vision of whole community well-being. This expanded vision laid the foundation for a more holistic approach—one focused not just on urgent services during crises, but on cultivating long-term conditions for communities to thrive.

When COVID struck in early 2020, exposing the fragility of many existing systems, it underscored a crucial lesson: urgent responses alone cannot sustain lasting well-being. The Network’s integrated, community-driven model proved its value. Liz and Darrell Hillaire, Lummi Nation Elder, and executive director of the Children of the Setting Sun Productions, joined other leading non-governmental organizations and community voices from across the country to shape the “Thriving Together Springboard,” tapping into lived experience to navigate the compounding challenges of a pandemic, economic collapse, and deepening racial and social inequities.

The Springboard articulated a compelling vision and practical pathways to help communities navigate through crises and emerge with greater resilience, equity, and direction. Its crowdsourced wisdom was both holistic and pragmatic, converting failures of broken systems into sustained, shared renewal. It offered a decidedly trans partisan approach, uniting people around one guiding principle: All people and places thriving together —no exceptions. The Springboard introduced seven interconnected Vital Conditions essential for holistic well-being and justice. The Vital Conditions framework has been key to reinforcing the unifying, measurable expectation that every person and place can thrive—no exceptions.

Dynamics of Thriving Together

North Sound ACH and its network partners were among the earliest adopters of the Vital Conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos—a comprehensive strategy to establish the Vital Conditions, through shared stewardship, powered by belonging and civic muscle. This approach sees community as a place that confers dignity, expands opportunity, and unlocks human potential. Urgent services alone cannot create lasting well-being. The answer lies in moving beyond short-term crisis response toward long-term investments in the conditions communities need to thrive. Doing so requires an honest look at the historical legacies that shape our communities—the barriers that have excluded some, as well as the pathways that have opened opportunities for others.

We all need the same Vital Conditions to thrive…

➔ No matter who we are or where we live, we all need the same vital conditions to reach our full potential. This non-hierarchical framework centers community and shared agency, diverging from other frameworks that place the individual at the core and reinforce independence over interdependence.

➔ When vital conditions are disrupted or denied, people struggle and suffer, which drives up the need for urgent services. If these urgent services become permanent stand-ins for long-term investments, we spiral into an “adversity economy” that traps human potential. The bottom line is that we cannot “urgent service” our way to thriving.

Our country and communities were not designed for everyone to thrive…

➔ The balance between who is thriving and who is struggling or suffering often reflects inherited legacies—past decisions, investments, and norms passed down through generations.

➔ Today’s deep racial and social inequities are direct results of unjust legacies – legacies of dehumanization, exclusion, trauma, and systemic injustice. These forces continue to trap human potential.

How do we move from systems never intended for everyone to thrive to systems that honor every person’s potential? It begins with everyday people and organizations committing to something larger than themselves, acting as stewards of the common good. Together, stewards work to ensure that everyone, without exception, has the vital conditions they need to flourish.

Community stewards work together to ensure everyone has the vital conditions to thrive…

Our country and communities also have powerful examples of just legacies—those that confer dignity, expand opportunity, remove barriers, and unlock human potential. We possess the capacity to create new legacies for well-being and justice, aligned with our founding ideals.

➔ Stewards are people and organizations who collaborate to secure the vital conditions everyone needs to thrive together, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering.

➔ Stewards are most effective when they grow belonging—a sense of connection and being valued—and build civic muscle, the collective power to work across differences for the common good. In doing so, they create enduring legacies of well-being for current and future generations.

The North Sound ACH and Network have done more than simply adopt the Thriving Together approach—they’ve brought it vividly to life. Its common language, values, metrics, and theory of change resonated across partner organizations, strengthening their resolve to advance a just, inclusive culture and the conditions that enable everyone to thrive. As a collective, the network’s partners combine their considerable assets, influence, and leadership to create new legacies for living together. Above all, the Network has modeled what it looks like for a regional community to intentionally grow belonging and civic muscle.

Growing Belonging & Civic Muscle

Belonging and civic muscle is the heart of the Vital Conditions framework. It is the key to boosting all the other vital conditions, functioning both as a means (tools that help us achieve better health, resilience, and justice) and as an end in itself (worth pursuing for its own sake). A consensus study from National Academies affirms that we are wired for connection and contribution. Belonging is more than being seen or included; it also means having the power to shape one’s community. As john a. powell reminds us, “At the core of belonging is the act of co-creation.” When people feel connected and valued, they are more likely to contribute, which deepens that sense of belonging. This creates a virtuous cycle.

The Network has nurtured this cycle by intentionally connecting through respectful relationships, starting first with the eight tribes. This foundational work opened doors for bridging across differences, inviting partners to embark on a tribal and equity learning journey, and deeply acknowledging past harms—broken treaties, stolen lands, culture-erasing boarding schools, and more. Partners like Children of the Setting Sun Productions model mending through storytelling to promote collective healing, demonstrating how vulnerability and empathy can nurture belonging.

As new organizations like Paths to Understanding join the Network, they intentionally focus on bridging differences by creating spaces for meaningful dialogue, exemplified by the Potluck Project and Let’s Go Together initiatives. Faith-based groups connect by leveraging relational and spiritual strengths, supporting individuals suffering and recovering from addiction and reintegrating formerly incarcerated people who are now contributing their lived experiences as leaders in co-creating innovative approaches to prevention, recovery, and reentry. The team at Underground Ministries anchors reentry work, while Kevin and Danielle Riley, a clergy couple with lived experience, help spearhead efforts to free people from poverty and addiction.

To sustain and strengthen these relationships, the North Sound ACH and Network have made significant investments in evolving their shared power—creating the collaborative infrastructure necessary to hold brave spaces for transformative conversations through creating shared language and intentional onboarding. Monthly learning sessions, annual convenings, and communities of practice provide continuous opportunities for weaving mutual interests, co-creating actionable solutions, and growing collective leadership. These intentional spaces foster a shared language and commitment, reinforcing the values and habits that enable belonging and civic muscle to flourish.

That’s why sharing space at the North Sound ACH network convening this January became such a source of strength, resilience, and hope. Among the hundreds gathered were people who had experienced profound lows and risen again. This was not a time to cave to fear or worst instincts. As Liz said, “We can lead with suspicion, or fear, or anger. And we can choose to lead with love even when those other emotions or experiences want to crowd out love.” This was a time to double down on love, commit to one another, and commit to who they were Becoming: a place where all belong and thrive together.

But how does a community cultivate belonging and civic muscle in practice? What does it look like to embed these principles into everyday life? The answer lies in specific collective habits, practices, and capacities—individual, interpersonal, and collective—that build the foundation for a thriving, resilient community.

The Habits and Practices of Belonging & Civic Muscle

No single formula exists for growing belonging and civic muscle. Each community must discover its own approach based on context, history, and assets. Yet certain patterns consistently emerge—personal, interpersonal, and collective habits, practices and capacities.

Belonging Practices

(1) Making Space for CONNECTING With Others

Connection & Engagement | Connection & Vulnerability | Self-Reflection & Nature

Humans are wired for social connection. “Connectedness is a biological imperative,” explains Dr. Bonnie Badenoch, a leader in relational neuroscience. Our shared human experiences shape our sense of meaning and purpose. Yet rising isolation damages personal and collective well-being, as U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy emphasizes.

• Regularly participate in social groups or volunteer activities, deepening genuine engagement and presence.

• Cultivate close relationships with friends or family, allowing authentic expression of joy, grief, gratitude, and vulnerability.

• Spend time in solitude, exploring mindfulness practices, embodied activities, or nature. Consider learning local flora and fauna to deepen your sense of belonging.

(2) Extending Space for BRIDGING Across Differences

Dialogue & Understanding | Expanding Social Circles | Cultural Humility

Bridging involves forming meaningful connections across divides—political, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and cultural. It nurtures mutual respect and understanding, creating friendships and insights often unavailable within homogeneous groups. While connection is natural, our brains can push us away from difference and discomfort.

• Create and join dialogues with people who hold different perspectives, engaging with genuine curiosity, empathy, and kindness.

• Expand your social circles through community groups, events, faith communities, or informal gatherings.

• Practice cultural humility and curiosity, openly learning about other cultures through conversations, art, and personal relationships.

(3) Holding Space for MENDING Our Woundedness

Difficult Conversations | Solidarity & Support | Inner Healing

Mending recognizes our wounds from personal experiences and systemic injustices. Whether consciously or not, these wounds affect how we relate, feel, and act. Mending involves both internal reflection and outward engagement, creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and accepted.

• Hold space for challenging conversations. Listen deeply and extend understanding and empathy.

• Show up in solidarity for community members who face injustice, oppression, or marginalization.

• Dedicate time and emotional space to your healing journey, utilizing tools and resources available for personal and collective growth.

Civic Muscle Capacities

(1) WEAVING Our Mutual Interests

Shared Language | Community Dialogue & Vision | Consensus & Leadership

Weaving aligns individual stories and aspirations into collective narratives, building shared priorities and actionable visions. It illuminates common challenges and opportunities, clarifies roles, and fosters distributive leadership, engaging everyone’s unique influence.

• Facilitate community dialogues to build trust, establish a shared vision, and shape collective narratives.

• Agree upon a common language or framework to anchor collaborative efforts.

• Build consensus on shared priorities, approaches, and leadership roles, possibly through agreements or charters.

(2) CO-CREATING Transformative Solutions

Lived Experience | Multi-Solving Strategies | Action Planning & Advocacy

Co-creation actively includes those most directly impacted, merging lived and learned experiences to develop inclusive, relevant solutions. Effective approaches often address multiple issues simultaneously, moving beyond immediate crises toward lasting change.

• Center lived experiences alongside technical expertise when identifying challenges and developing solutions.

• Design strategies that solve multiple, intersecting problems, prioritizing the needs of those experiencing greatest hardship.

• Build a strong case for change, using compelling narratives alongside clear, actionable strategies.

(3) EVOLVING Collaborative Infrastructure

Gatherings for Learning Together | Communication & Data Tech | Leadership Development

Expanding civic muscle requires building up collaborative infrastructure—the shared gathering spaces, communication platforms, data and measurement systems, and leadership development pathways that support inclusive and sustained civic action. These shared capacities strengthen collaboration across sectors and initiatives. They also open the door to harvesting collective civic intelligence through a more holistic lens.

• Regularly create opportunities for collective learning and action to build relationships across sectors and initiatives.

• Leverage technology intentionally to facilitate communication, coordinate community action, and measure progress.

• Grow leadership development pathways so more community members are prepared to lead.

“I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the possibility and wholeness in it.”—adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

At its core, all this work—strengthening civic muscle and nurturing belonging—is about a desire for wholeness. As adrienne maree brown emphasizes, wholeness is communal as much as personal, emerging from care, connection, and collective action. Ultimately, it is about reclaiming a sense of belonging, contribution, and shared purpose within communities.

Signals from a Movement for Thriving Together

North Sound ACH and partner Network are not alone. The Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions framework have been embraced by scores of social impact initiatives, investors, journalists, state-wide efforts, foundations, federal agencies, and universities. The widespread appeal stems from their power to help us re-discover our shared humanity and to find new paths forward. Perhaps because they inherently center community, grounding vital conditions in place, they resonate with countless communities across the nation, from California to West Virginia. These communities use this values-rich, bridging framework to forge a way forward, together. Here are just a few other noteworthy “positive deviants” forging an alternative path in a time of division and widespread paralysis.

Imagine Fox Cities

In Wisconsin’s Fox Cities region, a traditional collection of civic leaders flipped the script on planning for the future. They shared power by inviting a wide spectrum of community members to help reimagine and co-create the future with their great-grandchildren in mind. Major corporations, such as Kimberly Clark, joined a reinvigorated network of neighborhood associations and churches in creative bridging and belonging activities. These efforts aimed to address loneliness and dehumanizing politics, revitalizing the arts and music landscape to showcase an outdoor cultural landscape to reflect the rich diverse perspectives that were nearly invisible; and changing the way anchor institutions (hospitals, health departments and foundations) define, measure and invest in success. Thriving became their shared north star, supported by a community-wide measurement platform organized around the Vital Conditions and accessible to everyone.

Inland Empire Vital Conditions Network

In California’s Inland Empire, one of the fastest growing and most diverse regions in the country, a broad alliance of networks called the IE Vital Conditions Network is bringing together hundreds of grassroots leaders, nonprofits, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders. Their mission is to align policy, investment, and philanthropic efforts with the vital conditions. A consortium of Southern California hospital systems already uses these principles to guide assessments, priorities, and investments. Meanwhile, a “journalism innovation hub” is quickly garnering national attention by developing a solution-focused journalism ecosystem—including 280 radio stations—centered on the vital conditions. Their goal is to engage nearly five million residents in meaningful, solutions-oriented reporting that can help revive healthy democratic norms and values.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) of the Northwest Region

CHCs serve on the front lines of caring for community members who often bear the heaviest burdens of social and racial inequities. The CHC movement traces back to 1965 and was initially guided by civil rights leaders like Dr. Jack Geiger, drawing inspiration from holistic, community-centered approaches developed under apartheid South Africa. In 2023, CHCs from across five Northwestern states engaged in an Innovation Lab that used the vital conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos to co-create new practices, tools, and metrics. These resources aim to strengthen CHC stewardship of organizational and system changes, fostering thriving at both patient and organizational levels and reimagining partnerships that support vital conditions for everyone.

Thriving Together Democracy

The Inter-Movement Impact Project brings together a broad network of pro-democracy leaders, civic health reformers, social justice advocates, and bridgers. They use the Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions as a bridging framework to deepen collaborative learning and action. In an era where democratic institutions, norms, and processes face serious challenges, this network is lifting up and evolving next-generation participatory approaches to problem-solving. The National Civic League’s “Healthy Democracy Ecosystem” project, for instance, has mapped more than 10,000 organizations that champion a healthier democracy. As Harry Boyte—a pioneer of democracy as a way of life and Springboard contributor—observes in NCR’s Return of the Citizen, there is a need and a yearning to revitalize citizen-centered problem-solving. Kristen Hansen, Executive Director of the Civic Health Project, offers hope, pointing to America’s active and growing Bridge Building movement – hundreds of local bridge building organizations that are rejecting the toxic culture of polarization and embrace growing constructive relationships across lines of difference. Revitalizing citizen-centered democracy and civic life is indispensable to a thriving community.

These stories are not just inspiring examples; they are signals of a deeper shift, backed by many organizations that are building infrastructure so others can join in. Indeed, the momentum is growing. Platforms like Thriving.us, Stewards Rising, and the Community Commons help stewards connect, share knowledge, and spread innovations. As part of this larger effort, the Rippel Foundation’s ReThink Health initiative, in partnership with the Institute for People, Place, and Possibility (IP3), is tracking and documenting the movement’s evolution through a forthcoming State of the Movement hub. Together, these spaces and tools are among the essential Thriving Together infrastructure that will offer a clearer picture of the growing momentum, making it easier for communities and changemakers to see and learn from each other, find tools and resources to support collaborative action, and provide the data and stories to catalyze change and shape a new narrative together.

Becoming…

Today’s widespread sense of uncertainty and division can feel overwhelming, even paralyzing. The bruising 2024 election deepened a culture war fueled by disinformation that seeks to divide and dehumanize. Yet as David Brooks notes, profound cultural transformations often happen quietly—sparked by small groups of people whose better way of living becomes an example for others to follow. The North Sound ACH and their network partners, along with other community-centered efforts, are “positive deviants” who show us what is possible. Intentionally countercultural in the best possible way, they choose compassion, generosity, and connectedness, cultivating a hopeful alternative to division. These communities become examples for the rest of us, pursuing a path toward belonging and civic muscle, even in difficult times.

Otto Scharmer reminds us that when systems collapse, people rise. Perhaps even more accurately, when systems break, people rise together in community. History shows that this is precisely how meaningful change occurs: people see something good, something life-affirming and joyful, and they begin to copy it, spreading renewal from small circles outward. At this critical moment, our deepest longing for connection, wholeness, and love can only be realized together, in community. Our common future depends on it.

Join fellow stewards in a rising movement to thrive together: www.thriving.us.

Monte Roulier is President of Community Initiatives Network (CI), a network dedicated to advancing communities marked by a sense of belonging, stewardship, and willingness to act for the common good. Monte and the CI team helped convene hundreds of leading non-governmental organizations and community voices from across the country to shape the Thriving Together Springboard. He is a co-founder and chair of Institute for People Place and Possibility (IP3) and serves on the board of the National Civic League.

Special Thanks to CI Senior Associates, Stacy Wegley (photographs) and David Persky (content and research).

Across the Thriving Together US community, one core belief animates our work: all people, in all places, matter—and all perspectives belong. As we build toward a thriving democracy rooted in belonging and civic muscle, we’ve continually returned to a fundamental question: how do we include those who don’t already feel included? How do we reach people who feel alienated by the language, frames, or formats of bridge-building work? And how do we cultivate authentic connection across ideological, cultural, and geographic divides—especially with communities that may view our efforts with skepticism or distrust?

As Bobby Milstein put it, “The draw to authoritarianism is often an unsatisfied thirst to belong... you just need to build the belonging without othering, which is based on human values and interdependence.”

The Practitioner Mobilization for Democracy (PMD) is one of the spaces wrestling with these questions in real time.

Insights from the June 5 PMD Forum on political outreach, civic trust, and real-world depolarization

On June 5, the Practitioner Mobilization for Democracy (PMD) hosted a special forum focused on a pressing challenge: how do we expand our reach beyond the familiar circles of the bridge-building and facilitation world? How do we connect with people who might never show up to a depolarization workshop—but whose voices are vital to the health of our democracy?

The June forum featured a training by mediator and facilitator Ryan Nakade, whose years of hands-on work in politically charged environments offered fresh perspective. Ryan's experiences with CURE-PNW—a regional de-escalation project stretching from Portland to Olympia—helped surface strategies that anyone can apply to expand the field of who we engage, and how.

What emerged was not just a set of tools, but a shift in posture. An invitation to reach across difference, on others’ terms and turf.

From the Streets to the Synagogue to the Subculture

Ryan's work with CURE-PNW focused on preventing political violence and building long-term resilience to extremism. The team recruited and trained what he called "credible messengers"—trusted community insiders from all walks of life: anarchists and pastors, Black Panthers and gunsmiths, journalists and militia members.

They didn’t find these people through email lists or public invitations. They found them by showing up: at school board blowups, street protests, political rallies, bars, tattoo parlors, even dating apps. “Conflict hunting,” Ryan called it—intentionally entering high-conflict spaces to listen, build rapport, and plant seeds.

"I realized the people who most need bridge-building will never walk into a room labeled as such. So we had to meet them where they are."

Techniques with Edge and Empathy

Throughout the presentation, several practical outreach approaches emerged that practitioners can adopt:

• Empathy Booths at farmers markets and bars—offering cookies, coffee, and conversation without an agenda.

• "Political Peacocking"—wearing attention-grabbing apparel to spark unexpected dialogues.

• Subcultural Embedding—building trust at gun ranges, MMA gyms, and church picnics, not panels or policy roundtables.

• Training as Trojan Horse—delivering communication and de-escalation skills tailored to local culture and language.

These weren’t one-off workshops. They were community-specific engagements designed to shift norms, create new relationships, and ripple outward.

“Bridge-building doesn’t have to look like a circle of chairs and sticky notes. Sometimes it looks like a BBQ, a sermon, or a clean-up day.”

Navigating the Real Tensions: Inclusion Without Capitulation

Engaging across lines of difference isn't just about having good intentions. It's a live tension at the heart of any movement that hopes to be truly transpartisan.

One of the biggest challenges identified in the PMD Forum—and echoed in broader strategy discussions across Thriving Together and the pro-democracy field—is how to connect with people who are not already inclined to join bridging conversations. This includes many people on the political right, especially those disillusioned with mainstream institutions, but also people across the spectrum who feel alienated or skeptical of structured dialogue spaces.

This isn’t simply a matter of left reaching right. It’s a matter of building civic relationships across every form of siloed identity—geographic, ideological, cultural, generational. As Ryan modeled, the key lies in approaching others on their own terms, and with deep respect for their agency.

At the same time, this work raises principled questions: How do we ensure that inclusion doesn’t mean enabling harm? How do we differentiate between creating space for dissent and legitimizing anti-democratic ideas? These are not abstract dilemmas. They show up in every decision about language, partnerships, invitations, and events.

Conversation Starters for Bridging Across Difference
These questions, shared by Ryan Nakade during the forum, are designed to open space rather than win arguments:
– “What brings you here today?”
– “What do you wish others understood about your view?”
– “How do you decide what sources to trust?”
– “What’s at stake for you in this?”
Download the full cheat sheet (PDF)

Walter Roberts named the dilemma clearly: “When is bridging cover for that which is... bad actor stuff, and when is bridging exactly what we need to thrive together?”

Many in the PMD space are experimenting with a "both/and" orientation. We can build wide bridges of interdependence while still blocking harmful forces. We can name our values clearly—including opposition to authoritarianism—while staying open to conversation. And we can recognize that not all roles are the same: some people will focus on bridging, others on building alternative civic infrastructure, others on naming and resisting extremism. The task is to coordinate across those approaches with integrity.

Reimagining Inclusion: Who’s Not in the Room?

The PMD Forum's breakout discussions extended the challenge: Who's missing from our efforts? Where do they gather? And how can we show up on their turf—without leading with bridge-builder jargon?

Participants named groups like rural conservatives, disaffected independents, movement skeptics, and ideologically coded communities who are wary of any initiative that feels performative or partisan. They explored practical ways to connect: go where trust already exists, partner with libraries or Rotary clubs, create third spaces not tied to red or blue. David Eisner put it succinctly: “It starts with showing up in evangelical spaces—it doesn’t start with inviting evangelicals to come to our spaces.”

The message was clear: inclusion isn’t about inviting people to our table. It’s about entering theirs.

A Civic Invitation

For the Thriving Together and OmniWin communities, this work is more than a case study. It’s a mirror. If we want a democracy that includes all people in all places, we have to be willing to meet them where they are—not just where we feel safe.

It means showing up without assumptions. Listening without needing agreement. And experimenting with forms of dialogue that may never use the word "dialogue."

This isn’t just about reaching out—it’s about reweaving civic life. That means engaging in spaces that may feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable, and co-creating democratic culture from the ground up. As one forum participant reminded us:

"Every action has ripple effects. The question is: are we designing for positive ripples?"

Let’s take that seriously. Let’s go beyond the bubble.

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That’s not just a nice-to-have. It’s a condition for thriving.

In the Thriving Together framework, belonging is paired with something equally vital: civic muscle. Together, these two create the cultural and relational foundation for any meaningful system shift.

This essay is about why they matter—and how to grow them.

🤲 What Is Belonging, Really?

Belonging isn’t just about inclusion or welcome. It’s about ownership. About being part of something and knowing you help shape it.

Walt Roberts puts it this way:

“You may not belong like you belong to a neighborhood. But you belong to the mission. You belong to that future.”

Belonging is what turns observers into participants. It’s what helps people say, “This isn’t just theirs. This is ours.”

💪 What Do We Mean by Civic Muscle?

Civic muscle is our collective ability to work across differences, tackle tough problems, and build shared futures. It’s a kind of community capacity—and like physical muscle, it gets stronger with use.

From mutual aid to civic assemblies, from local journalism to participatory budgeting, civic muscle shows up whenever people practice democracy in everyday life.

“It’s the engine of long-term well-being,” says Bobby Milstein. “Without it, even the best-designed policies fall short.”

🌱 Vital Conditions: The Roots of Well-Being

Belonging and civic muscle are one of the seven Vital Conditions that underpin the Thriving Together framework. These are the conditions every person and community needs to thrive:

• Basic Needs for Health and Safety

• Lifelong Learning

• Meaningful Work and Wealth

• Humane Housing

• Reliable Transportation

• A Healthy Natural Environment

• Belonging and Civic Muscle

You can’t trade one for another. Each is essential—and interconnected. But belonging and civic muscle are often what unlock the others.

They’re the how behind the what.

🛠 How Communities Are Building Belonging

Across the Thriving Together ecosystem, communities are finding new ways to foster belonging:

• In the Braver Angels pilot, diverse groups of Americans came together not just to talk, but to work toward local problem-solving together.

• In North Sound, WA, the Accountable Communities of Health initiative uses the Vital Conditions to guide trust-based funding and community-led solutions.

• In the Nexus Forums, leaders shared how narrative, relationship, and rhythm shape deeper change than programs alone ever could.

Each of these efforts looks different. But they share a core belief: people are not passive recipients of change. They are co-creators.

🔄 Belonging Is a Practice, Not a Program

You don’t download belonging. You build it.

You build it by asking better questions. By noticing who’s missing. By making it easier to participate, to contribute, to feel seen and respected. And by inviting people into the work of shaping what comes next.

That’s where civic muscle grows—through doing.

“Helping hands, holding hands, hands together—that’s the active part of belonging,” said Walt in a recent conversation. “It’s not just that I fit here. It’s that I help make it real.”

This post is part of our “Thriving Together” starter series:

1. ✅ What Does It Mean to Thrive Together?

2. ✅ How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement?

3. ✅ What Happens When We Build, Bridge, Block—and Belong?

4. ✅ Why Belonging and Civic Muscle Are the Real Superpowers (You’re here.)

5. ✅ Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate

Each piece explores a different doorway into the movement—read one or all, in any order.

This isn’t a crisis—it’s a crossroads. And the more clearly we can name what we’re up against, the better we can move through it.

This essay is about the friction points: the real barriers that slow us down, and the strategic tensions we need to navigate—not solve, but live wisely with—as we keep building this together.

🧱 Barrier #1: Complexity Can Be Paralyzing

We’re not short on frameworks. Or reports. Or data. What we’re often short on is navigability.

“People don’t always know where to enter,” one Forum participant shared. “It can feel like there’s a forest of good ideas, but no clear paths.”

That’s a solvable problem—but it takes empathy. Making the work more legible doesn’t mean making it simplistic. It means designing with humans in mind.

🔥 Barrier #2: Burnout Is Real

A lot of us are tired. Organizing through overlapping crises takes a toll, especially for those holding frontline or identity-specific burdens. The emotional labor of bridging, resisting, or constantly stepping into leadership adds up.

We don’t overcome burnout with hustle. We overcome it with rhythm. With mutual care. With containers that honor the limits of human energy—and create room for rest and return.

🧩 Barrier #3: Fragmentation and Mistrust

Many of us are working on overlapping goals—but in isolation. Old divides (ideological, sectoral, cultural) make it harder to collaborate, even when we want to.

That’s why spaces like the Nexus Forum and the IMIP field circles exist: to help leaders encounter each other differently—not as competitors or critics, but as co-stewards.

⚖️ Strategic Tension: Urgency vs. Infrastructure

We feel the pressure. Our democracy is strained. Harm is happening. There’s no time to waste.

And yet, building civic infrastructure—relationships, trust, rhythm, governance—takes time. These aren’t competing needs. But they do pull on different parts of us.

How do we stay agile without being reactive? How do we build deeply without stalling?

🌊 Strategic Tension: Invitation vs. Overwhelm

One of the most beautiful things about this movement is how many people want in. But open doors create real questions:

• How do we welcome without diluting?

• How do we scale without losing integrity?

• What pathways exist for people who are ready—but not yet connected?

We’re not gatekeeping. We’re garden tending—making sure people have a place to land and something meaningful to contribute.

🔍 Strategic Tension: Flexibility vs. Focus

This isn’t a single-issue movement. It’s a meshwork. But with so many doors, there’s a risk of getting lost in the house.

That’s why shared frameworks like Build, Bridge, Block, Belong matter. They offer a backbone—not a cage, but a compass.

We don’t all need to do the same thing. But we do need to know how we fit into something shared.

💬 Questions That Keep Us Honest

Throughout the Nexus Forums, certain questions came up again and again—not as problems to solve, but as invitations to align:

• What’s emerging in the bridge, block, and build spaces—and how do they relate?

• What role does belonging play in this moment of democratic strain?

• How do we help people see themselves as generative citizens, not just consumers of systems?

• What does it look like to lead from context—not control?

These aren’t rhetorical. They’re relational. And asking them together is how we move forward.

🛤 We’re Not Lost—We’re Evolving

If these barriers and tensions feel familiar, that’s not failure. That’s emergence. That’s what it looks like when something real is taking shape.

We’re not trying to build a perfect movement. We’re trying to build a resilient one.

One that knows how to wrestle with tensions. One that invites stewardship, not saviorism. One that builds in a way that belongs to everyone who shows up to help.

We hope this Substack has given you a sense of what’s possible—and reminded you that you’re not alone in the work.

This post is part of our “Thriving Together” starter series:

1. ✅ What Does It Mean to Thrive Together?

2. ✅ How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement?

3. ✅ What Happens When We Build, Bridge, Block—and Belong?

4. ✅ Why Belonging and Civic Muscle Are the Real Superpowers

5. ✅ Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate (You’re here.)

Each piece explores a different doorway into the movement—read one or all, in any order.

We call it Build, Bridge, Block, and Belong. And lately, we’ve started calling it something else too:
👐 Hands-On. Hands-Off. Hands-Across. Helping Hands.

This isn’t a slogan—it’s a way to understand the different kinds of civic energy we need to meet the moment we’re in.

🧱 Hands-On: Building What’s Next

Building means rolling up our sleeves. It’s the work of constructing better systems, creating community-based solutions, and experimenting toward the future we want.

In a hands-on democracy, people are co-designing local policies, running deliberative assemblies, advancing electoral reforms, building bridges between governments and grassroots groups. It’s about creating—boldly and together.

From the rise of civic hubs to the wave of local democracy labs, this energy is alive and growing.

✋ Hands-Off: Blocking Harm and Protecting Rights

Blocking is just as essential. It’s the work of protest, legal defense, and resistance. It’s standing in the way of what harms people or threatens democracy.

Hands-off doesn’t mean disengaged. It means strategic refusal—the act of saying no to dehumanization, authoritarianism, or unjust power. This energy fuels movements like 50+1, youth-led voting rights coalitions, and watchdog journalism.

“Blocking is the energy of accountability,” says Walt Roberts. “It creates the boundaries that allow everything else to take root.”

🤝 Hands-Across: Bridging Divides with Purpose

Bridging is what helps us find common ground, rebuild trust, and work across difference. It’s not soft or shallow—it’s courageous, connective work.

Hands-across energy shows up in things like depolarization efforts, interfaith collaboration, cross-partisan dialogue, and narrative shift campaigns.

But as many in the field have noted: bridging only matters when it leads to building something together. Otherwise, it’s one hand clapping.

🙌 Helping Hands: Belonging as Shared Stewardship

The fourth dimension is less about tactics and more about how we show up: with a spirit of helping hands.

Belonging isn’t just about feeling welcomed—it’s about seeing yourself as a steward of the whole. It’s knowing this democracy, this community, this moment—it belongs to you. And you belong to it.

“You are the whole of it,” Walt reminds us. “You belong to the mission. You belong to the future we’re all working toward.”

🌀 Four Kinds of Civic Energy—One Shared Movement

None of these stand alone. You can’t build without boundaries. You can’t bridge without boldness. And you can’t sustain change without a deep sense of shared belonging.

That’s why this framework isn’t about choosing one role. It’s about learning to see the full spectrum of civic action—and to appreciate the people and organizations working in each zone.

“This is a different kind of movement,” Duncan Autrey says. “It’s not about scale first. It’s about emergence, invitation, alignment.”

And when people see where their hands fit in, something shifts. A sense of isolation turns into a sense of purpose. The work becomes ours.

This post is part of our “Thriving Together” starter series:

1. ✅ What Does It Mean to Thrive Together?

2. ✅ How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement?

3. ✅ What Happens When We Build, Bridge, Block—and Belong? (You’re here.)

4. ✅ Why Belonging and Civic Muscle Are the Real Superpowers

5. ✅ Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate

Each piece explores a different doorway into the movement—read one or all, in any order.

That’s how Thriving Together began. And it’s how the Intermovement Impact Project—or IMIP—began too.

Today, those two streams have converged into a shared effort to renew democracy and well-being from the ground up. But it’s worth stepping back for a moment to see how they got here.

From Framework to Fieldwork

Over the past six years, the “Thriving Together” framework—originally launched in response to the COVID-19 crisis—found its way into the hands of coalitions, health leaders, nonprofit networks, and local organizers across the country.

People didn’t just read it. They recognized themselves in it

You said:

Okay, so we have to write this with some touch on emergence and creating the space and the forum for people to come together.

ChatGPT said:

Perfect — that helps sharpen the tone. This isn’t just a story of diffusion; it’s a story of emergence — of holding space, listening across boundaries, and building trust before structure. Below is the revised version of Essay 2, now with the following layered in:

• ✨ The organic emergence of both Thriving Together and IMIP

• 🌀 The power of creating space over prescribing solutions

• 🌱 The role of forums, convenings, and connective tissue

• 🔗 Link to IMIP on LinkedIn

How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement?

Sometimes, a movement doesn’t begin with a blueprint.
It begins with a question. A conversation. A forum. A space where people bring what they’re already carrying—and begin to see themselves as part of something larger.

That’s how the Thriving Together movement began. And it’s how the Intermovement Impact Project (IMIP) came to life, too.

Today, those two streams have converged into a shared project of civic renewal—one that centers belonging, shared power, and long-term well-being. But this didn’t start as a campaign. It started as emergence.

A Framework that Found Its People

The Thriving Together framework began as a response to crisis—developed to help communities think beyond recovery and toward the conditions everyone needs to thrive. But it quickly became more than a document.

“We’ve studied movements, and we see the attributes and the characteristics,” said Becky Payne of the Rippel Foundation. “Movements are not centrally organized, by definition... We do not, as an organization, put ourselves in a position of owning or directing.”

That spirit—decentralized, invitational, cooperative—meant people could bring their own work into it. Across the country, community builders, health coalitions, and local networks began using the language of vital conditions to describe the change they were already working toward.

And that’s when things started to spread.

“It’s not just about admiring the framework,” said Bobby Milstein of Rippel. “It’s really a story about the pragmatic actions that say: when people organize around Thriving Together, they end up bringing a lot more people together.”

The Role of Convening: Making Space for the Movement to Emerge

At the same time, in parallel, the Intermovement Impact Project was taking root.

Launched as a response to democratic crisis and civic fragmentation, IMIP didn’t begin with a branded strategy. It began by hosting spaces—forums, listening sessions, pop-up convenings—where leaders from many different movements could encounter each other, learn, and begin weaving trust.

From climate organizers to structural reformers, racial justice leaders to civic educators, the IMIP network helped reveal something many of us already felt: we’re not separate silos. We’re a movement of movements.

“The job wasn’t to build something new from scratch,” said one forum participant. “It was to notice what was already rising—and make room for it to connect.”

Through efforts like the TTUS Nexus Forums, the IMIP community helped catalyze a shared civic table. Not to consolidate, but to cohere.

🟢 Follow IMIP on LinkedIn to stay connected.

From Round Barn to Meshwork

As Roxanne Medina-Fulcher described it, the Thriving Together movement works like a round barn:

“It doesn’t matter how you come into this body of work... There are definitely different doors and portals into the thriving framework.”

Whether your entry point is housing, belonging, elections, education, or the environment—the doors all lead to the same space: a commitment to the well-being of all people, in all places, without exception.

The TTUS Substack you’re reading now is one of those doors. But it's built around the civic dimension: the belief that democracy can still be a place of shared care and co-creation.

Holding the Center Without Owning It

There’s no master plan. No central gatekeeper. Just a growing meshwork of people, groups, and communities aligned around a shared ethic: thriving together.

“There is real movement,” said Bobby Milstein. “It’s just very hard for people to perceive that movement because we don’t have the apparatus to surface those stories and share them.”

That’s what this Substack is for: helping us name what’s happening, connect what’s working, and invite others to take their place in the story.

This post is part of our “Thriving Together” starter series:

1. ✅ What Does It Mean to Thrive Together?

2. ✅ How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement? (You’re here.)

3. ✅ What Happens When We Build, Bridge, Block—and Belong?

4. ✅ Why Belonging and Civic Muscle Are the Real Superpowers

5. ✅ Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate

Each piece explores a different doorway into the movement—read one or all, in any order.

Leveraging AI for Generative Information Systems and Movement Transformation

This report was generated by Perplexity Pro AI. Walt Roberts crafted the AI prompts, provided IMIP’s contextual ‘generative movement’ building perspective information, and the primary source materials in the form of multiple transcripts and Claude AI reports. Perplexity AI drew from related sources found on the web and citations are cited way down below.

This strategic briefing report synthesizes insights from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences panel "What Can Be Learned from International Perspectives on Autocracy and Democracy" with strategic findings from the American Democracy Summit 2025.

“The Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP) stands at the convergence of three revolutionary forces: the accelerating pace of AI technology, the urgent need for democratic renewal, and the emergence of generative approaches to complex systems change. IMIP's grounding in "generative" principles—from Generative Democracy to Generative Change Theory—positions it uniquely to help pioneer AI-Native Generative Movement Fusion for democracy renewal.

As the Big Signal Institute warns, "democracy doesn't have the luxury of operating at half-speed in an age of exponential technologies." IMIP's response transcends traditional AI adoption by creating a generative flywheel system that continuously maps, harvests, synthesizes, and amplifies movement intelligence while embodying the very principles of generative change it seeks to catalyze across the democracy ecosystem.” ~Perplexity AI’s take on IMIP and AI

What Can Be Learned from International Perspectives on Autocracy and Democracy? (The Video)

May 21, 2025 |

Online

What happens when the contours of a constitutional democracy start to change? What are the most important warning signs and red lines? How can we tell the difference, and what are the steps that can strengthen, rather than weaken, a society’s democratic trajectory when under stress? This conversation explored recent turns toward authoritarianism and other challenges for constitutional forms of government.

The slides referenced by Miguel Angel Lara Otaola during the webinar can be found here.

Click Here to watch the video

Generative Movement Building Strategic Briefing Report: International Perspectives on Democratic Defense

Synthesis of American Academy of Arts & Sciences Analysis and American Democracy Summit Strategic Findings

The United States has entered a period of competitive authoritarianism requiring immediate strategic response informed by international resistance experiences. This briefing synthesizes insights from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences panel "What Can Be Learned from International Perspectives on Autocracy and Democracy" with strategic findings from the American Democracy Summit 2025, providing actionable intelligence for the pro-democracy ecosystem.

I. Executive Overview

The United States faces an unprecedented assault on democratic institutions that has already transformed the country into what scholars classify as competitive authoritarianism—a system where opposition parties can still compete but the playing field is systematically tilted against them1. The first four months of the current administration have demonstrated an acceleration of authoritarian consolidation tactics that exceed the pace seen in most historical cases, including interwar Europe and contemporary democratic backsliding examples1.

Core Finding: Research demonstrates that combined institutional-grassroots resistance achieves a 52% success rate versus only 7.5% for institutional action alone, validating the necessity of coordinated "inside-outside" strategies1. This finding aligns with successful resistance movements in Poland, Brazil, and Romania, where professional organizations, civil society, and mass mobilization created effective coalitions against authoritarian capture.

Strategic Framework: The analysis reveals the need for implementing IMIP's "Four B's" approach—Building democratic alternatives, Blocking authoritarian overreach, Bridging across political divides, and ensuring everyone Belongs in the democratic process—through AI-enhanced generative movement fusion that amplifies coordination across the pro-democracy ecosystem2.

II. Critical Threat Analysis

A. Systematic Institutional Capture Patterns

The current administration has implemented a comprehensive strategy of institutional capture that follows established authoritarian playbooks while adapting to American conditions. Legal system weaponization includes over 260 legal challenges launched against opposition voices, manipulation of federal contracting power to enforce compliance, and systematic targeting of NGOs, universities, and media organizations1. The administration has demonstrated unprecedented brazenness in corruption, including a $400 million Qatar jet gift that signals open abandonment of ethical constraints1.

Information control mechanisms include attacks on independent media access and funding, systematic undermining of academic freedom, and promotion of disinformation to create alternative reality frameworks. The administration has pursued institutional paralysis through illegal firing of Inspector Generals across multiple agencies, dismantling of Federal Election Commission quorum, and gutting of cybersecurity infrastructure including CISA1.

Economic coercion tactics involve withdrawal of funding from democracy-supporting organizations, targeting of law firms representing opposition voices, and corporate pressure through regulatory manipulation. These patterns mirror successful authoritarian consolidation strategies observed in Hungary, Poland, and Latin American cases while occurring at unprecedented speed1.

B. Accelerated Timeline Dynamics

International experts note that current attacks happen faster than most historical examples, with the first four months demonstrating consolidation tactics that typically unfold over years1. This acceleration creates both increased urgency for resistance and compressed windows for effective intervention. The administration's approach differs from traditional authoritarianism by deliberately making government dysfunctional rather than more efficient, combining deliberate dysfunction with sharper instances of repression1.

Warning signs from global experience include discontent-driven authoritarian populism patterns across Latin America, Eastern European backsliding despite public support for democratic values, and the emergence of competitive authoritarianism characteristics already present in the US system3. The specific American context involves oligarchic elements seeking to make the state less functional, creating potential for political disequilibrium where different parts of the country pull away from unified governance1.

C. International Context and Comparative Analysis

Latin American cases demonstrate how local discontent creates openings for authoritarian populism, with each country experiencing unique triggers—gas exports in Bolivia, corruption in Venezuela, insecurity in El Salvador, and inequality in Mexico3. However, the underlying pattern remains consistent: perception that the system is unfair leads to popular support for leaders who promise to dismantle existing institutions while concentrating power3.

The systematic targeting patterns identified across cases include immigrant communities used as "trial runs" for broader authoritarian tactics, civil society organizations facing legal harassment through funding cuts and regulatory pressure, election infrastructure under systematic attack, and independent media experiencing chilling effects through legal intimidation and economic pressure1.

III. International Resistance Intelligence

A. Successful Defense Models

Poland's Professional Resistance demonstrates the power of coordinated institutional-civil society action. The "March of a Thousand Robes" in 2020 brought judges to the streets with massive public support, showing how professional class resistance combined with mass mobilization can create effective opposition1. International solidarity from European judges strengthened domestic resistance, eventually contributing to electoral victory over the authoritarian Law and Justice party. The current challenge involves rebuilding institutions after years of authoritarian damage1.

Brazil's Cross-Sector Coalition united business leaders, lawyers, labor unions, and social movements around rule of law as a shared baseline principle rather than requiring policy agreement1. The Brazilian Supreme Court took strong defensive actions using "militant democracy" principles, while mass mobilization in São Paulo brought together diverse sectors. This coalition successfully defeated Bolsonaro electorally and prevented coup attempts through sustained coordination across traditional boundaries1.

Romania's Repeated Success Pattern provides the most encouraging example, with five successful rejections of autocratic capture attempts over recent decades1. Each time the country approaches autocratic consolidation, massive public turnout either goes to the streets or polls to reject authoritarian candidates. The most recent election saw a far-right candidate lose by 10 points despite leading before the election, demonstrating the power of sustained democratic mobilization1.

B. Critical Success Factors

Timing emerges as crucial, with early action in first stages dramatically increasing success probability3. The research shows that once authoritarian leaders consolidate power, resistance becomes exponentially more difficult and costly. Coalition breadth proves essential, requiring cross-partisan professional organization engagement that transcends traditional political boundaries while maintaining shared commitment to democratic norms1.

International support appears necessary for all successful resistance movements, with no documented cases of successful democratic defense occurring without external backing1. This includes sustained international pressure, solidarity from global civil society networks, and financial and technical support from democratic allies. Legitimacy challenges that undermine populist claims to represent "the people" create critical vulnerabilities in authoritarian narratives3.

C. Cautionary Examples and Failure Patterns

Tunisia and Egypt demonstrate how initial democratic openings can fail due to lack of sustained international support and economic pressures that undermine democratic consolidation1. The international community's prioritization of other interests over democracy support contributed to current situations worse than under previous authoritarian regimes.

Iran's 45-year resistance shows both the persistence and costs of sustained opposition, with the women's movement demonstrating the power of civil resistance while highlighting the high personal costs and continued erosion of regime legitimacy1. Hungary and Poland illustrate how institutional capture can proceed despite public democratic support, emphasizing that democratic erosion is "murdered" rather than dying naturally through popular rejection1.

IV. Strategic Response Framework

A. Immediate Defense Priorities (0-6 months)

Legal and Institutional Resistance requires supporting coordinated state-level litigation, with 18+ successful challenges already demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach1. Defense of NGOs, universities, and media organizations under direct attack must be prioritized, along with protection of election officials and voting infrastructure from federal interference. Maintaining judicial independence through professional solidarity and public support represents a critical bulwark against complete institutional capture1.

Cross-Sector Coalition Building must engage the business community around rule of law and anti-corruption themes, mobilize professional associations as institutional defenders, activate faith communities through moral framing of democratic values, and coordinate veteran and military community resistance to unconstitutional orders1. These coalitions must focus on shared baseline principles rather than policy agreement, creating space for authentic conservative voices defending constitutional principles1.

International Solidarity Networks should connect with global democracy movements for mutual learning and support, develop relationships with international democracy funders and organizations, create exchange programs with successful resistance practitioners, and build diplomatic relationships supporting democratic renewal1. American resistance movements must overcome the tendency to "reinvent the wheel" by learning from successful practitioners in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and other regions1.

B. Medium-Term Infrastructure Development (6-24 months)

Electoral and Democratic Reform advancement includes passing ranked choice voting and open primary reforms in additional states and localities, implementing anti-corruption measures including campaign finance reform and ethics enforcement, advancing automatic voter registration and voting access improvements, and supporting independent redistricting and election security measures1. Alaska's ranked choice voting success demonstrates how these reforms can create bipartisan legislative caucuses and reduce polarization1.

Deliberative Democracy Scaling involves institutionalizing citizen assemblies in local and state government, integrating deliberative processes in schools and civic education, training facilitators and building deliberative democracy infrastructure, and researching and documenting best practices for replication1. New Hampshire's Citizens' Assembly produced bipartisan recommendations with 90% participant retention and positive Republican lawmaker engagement, while Lancaster, PA embedded citizen engagement through dedicated department with budget line items1.

Economic Democracy Integration connects democratic governance to economic opportunity and security, builds broad-based anti-corruption campaigns with concrete targets, develops economic policies supporting inclusive prosperity, and links democracy work to labor organizing and economic justice campaigns1. This approach addresses the fundamental discontent that creates openings for authoritarian populism while demonstrating democracy's capacity to deliver tangible benefits3.

C. Long-Term Democratic Renewal (2-10 years)

Constitutional and Structural Reform considerations include constitutional amendments strengthening democratic governance, structural changes in electoral systems and representation, comprehensive reform of campaign finance and lobbying systems, and strengthening checks and balances against authoritarian concentration of power1. These reforms must address the vulnerabilities that allowed current institutional capture while creating more resilient democratic structures.

Cultural and Educational Transformation requires shifting from partisan combat toward collaborative problem-solving norms, developing media and cultural strategies supporting democratic values, building social norms supporting civic engagement and democratic participation, and addressing historical exclusions to create genuinely inclusive democratic culture1. History education must be taught to enable communication across different personal paths while establishing common landmarks and references1.

V. Coalition Strategy and Authentic Messaging

A. Cross-Partisan Alliance Development

Authentic conservative voices defending constitutional principles provide crucial credibility for democratic defense efforts, moving beyond traditional partisan boundaries while avoiding false equivalencies1. Professional associations serve as institutional bulwarks with obligations that transcend political loyalty, while business community engagement focuses on rule of law concerns essential for commerce and fair competition1.

Veterans and military community resistance based on constitutional oaths rather than partisan loyalty provides credible messengers on national security threats from authoritarianism1. Faith communities organizing across denominational boundaries offer moral authority on protecting vulnerable populations and historical experience with social justice movements that reach across traditional political divides1.

B. Narrative Strategy Evolution

Moving beyond "save democracy" messaging requires connecting democratic governance to concrete benefits and daily life impacts rather than abstract constitutional principles1. Research shows that economic framing linking democratic erosion to kitchen-table economics, healthcare costs, and basic services proves more compelling than institutional analysis1.

Personal story emphasis featuring individual narratives of how authoritarianism affects families and communities, first-person accounts from those directly impacted by policy changes, and community leaders sharing local experiences provides authentic voices rather than political spokespersons1. Positive vision development through "Thriving Together" frameworks offers aspiration beyond resistance, inclusive democracy serving all communities, and hope and possibility rather than only fear and crisis1.

C. Authentic Messenger Identification

Cross-partisan Republican voices including leaders like Adam Kinzinger, Rusty Bowers, and Lisa Murkowski provide credible critique, while conservative organizations defending constitutional principles and Republican election officials protecting election integrity offer business leaders prioritizing rule of law over partisan advantage1.

Community leaders and local officials including mayors, city council members, local election officials, veterans, first responders, community service providers, faith leaders speaking from moral authority, and teachers, healthcare workers, and other trusted professionals provide grassroots credibility1. Directly affected communities experiencing deportations, discrimination, rights violations, educational restrictions, and economic impacts offer the most compelling testimonials1.

VI. Critical Leverage Points and Implementation

A. State and Local Democratic Innovation

Citizen assemblies and deliberative democracy experiments provide immediate alternatives to polarized politics while building democratic capacity from the ground up1. Municipal and county-level democracy reforms create laboratories for innovations that can eventually scale nationally, while transparent and responsive local government models demonstrate democracy's capacity to deliver effective governance1.

State-level litigation strategy shows early success with coordinated legal challenges against federal overreach, Democratic state attorneys general forming effective coalitions, strategic case selection with strong legal standing, and building precedents for constitutional limitations on executive power1. This approach leverages federalism as a check against authoritarian consolidation while protecting democratic institutions at subnational levels1.

B. Technology and Civic Innovation

Election security and modernization requires continued innovation while maintaining public trust, state-level cybersecurity partnerships filling federal voids, transparent ballot tracking and voter communication systems, and balancing efficiency with security and verifiability1. Information integrity efforts include media literacy programs and fact-checking initiatives, platform accountability for disinformation spread, support for independent journalism and local media, and counter-narrative development and strategic communication1.

Civic technology supporting citizen engagement and government transparency, participatory budgeting and digital democracy platforms, open data initiatives and government accountability tools, and bridging digital divides to ensure inclusive participation creates infrastructure for sustained democratic engagement1.

C. Economic and Anti-Corruption Strategy

High public support for transparency measures across partisan lines creates opportunities for broad-based anti-corruption campaigns with concrete targets1. Corruption scandals activate broader public engagement while business community concerns about rule of law and fair competition provide leverage through economic pressure and investment decisions1.

International examples show corruption eventually undermining authoritarian support, creating vulnerabilities that resistance movements can exploit1. Connecting democratic governance to economic opportunity and security while highlighting how corruption raises costs for ordinary families demonstrates democracy's practical benefits beyond abstract principles1.

VII. Critical Timeline and Electoral Windows

A. 2026 Midterm Elections as Threshold Moment

The 2026 midterm elections represent a critical threshold moment with potential to change Congressional dynamics and slow authoritarian consolidation1. These elections provide opportunities to test new coalition building and messaging strategies while building democratic infrastructure through state and local races. Candidate recruitment and training represents an urgent priority for creating authentic democratic leadership pipeline1.

Electoral reform advancement in states and localities during this period can create more favorable conditions for future democratic competition, while local ballot measures for democracy reforms and innovations provide lower-stakes opportunities to test new approaches and build capacity1.

B. Escalation Risks and Warning Signs

Immediate threats include suspension of habeas corpus already threatened by the administration, military deployment against civilian populations, use of "emergency powers" to bypass constitutional constraints, and foreign conflict as pretext for expanded executive authority1. Institutional capture acceleration involves complete capture of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Supreme Court cooperation with authoritarian constitutional interpretation, state-level democratic institutions under federal pressure, and corporate and media capitulation1.

Tipping points from international experience show authoritarian consolidation often accelerates rapidly after initial resistance periods, with 2-3 year windows for successful democratic defense1. Economic crisis or security threats can accelerate authoritarian consolidation while social division and polarization undermine resistance coalition unity1.

C. Strategic Timing Considerations

Immediate action imperatives include legal resistance to prevent irreversible institutional damage, coalition building across sectors before economic or security pressures increase, international solidarity building while global democratic alliances remain strong, and local democratic infrastructure development before federal interference1.

Medium-term preparation involves electoral reform advancement in states and localities, deliberative democracy institutionalization and scaling, economic organizing and anti-corruption campaigns, and leadership development and movement infrastructure building1. Long-term vision encompasses constitutional and structural democratic reforms, cultural shift toward collaborative problem-solving norms, international democratic renewal leadership, and economic models supporting inclusive prosperity1.

VIII. High Priority Action Recommendations

Immediate Actions (Next 30 days)

1. Professional Association Coordination: Legal, medical, and academic organizations must defend institutional integrity through coordinated resistance to political pressure, collective action by professional associations, and international professional solidarity and support1.
   

2. State-Level Litigation Support: Coordinate and fund constitutional challenges to federal overreach, building on the 18+ successful challenges already demonstrating effectiveness while creating precedents for constitutional limitations on executive power1.
   

3. International Learning Exchange: Connect with successful resistance practitioners globally, bringing in experts from Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and other regions to share tactical knowledge and strategic insights1.
   

4. Cross-Sector Coalition Formation: Build business, faith, veteran, and civil society alliances around shared commitment to democratic norms and constitutional processes rather than requiring policy agreement1.
   

Short-Term Priorities (3-6 months)

1. Local Democratic Innovation Scaling: Institutionalize citizen assemblies and participatory democracy in municipal and county government, creating laboratories for democratic renewal that can eventually scale nationally1.
   

2. Authentic Messaging Development: Create economic framing connecting democratic governance to kitchen-table issues, develop positive vision narratives beyond crisis response, and center voices of directly affected communities1.
   

3. Electoral Reform Advancement: Pass ranked choice voting and anti-corruption measures at state and local levels, building on successful examples like Alaska and Maine while creating momentum for broader reforms1.
   

4. Leadership Development Pipeline: Recruit and train diverse democratic leaders across sectors and communities, with succession planning and knowledge transfer systems supporting sustained movement capacity1.
   

Medium-Term Strategic Goals (6-24 months)

1. 2026 Electoral Preparation: Develop candidate recruitment, training, and infrastructure for midterm elections that could change Congressional dynamics and slow authoritarian consolidation1.
   

2. Deliberative Democracy Integration: Scale citizen assemblies and deliberative processes in civic education and community engagement, building democratic skills and collaborative problem-solving capacity1.
   

3. Economic Democracy Connection: Link democratic participation to economic opportunity and security, addressing fundamental discontent while demonstrating democracy's capacity to deliver tangible benefits1.
   

4. Cultural Transformation: Shift from partisan combat toward collaborative governance norms, supporting inclusive participation and democratic values across traditional political boundaries1.
   

IX. Success Metrics and Accountability Framework

Immediate Indicators

Legal resistance effectiveness measured by number of successful constitutional challenges to authoritarian overreach, professional association participation in institutional defense, and maintenance of judicial independence through public support and professional solidarity1. Coalition formation success tracked through cross-sector alliance development and sustainability, authentic conservative voice engagement, and international solidarity network growth1.

Medium-Term Benchmarks

Electoral reform implementation at state and local levels, deliberative democracy institutionalization and scaling across jurisdictions, economic messaging effectiveness and public engagement levels, and leadership pipeline development and diversification across communities1. Democratic infrastructure development including civic technology adoption, transparency and accountability system implementation, and citizen engagement platform utilization1.

Long-Term Democratic Renewal Measures

Constitutional and structural reform advancement, cultural shift toward collaborative governance measured through polling and behavioral indicators, inclusive economic prosperity integration connecting democratic participation to material benefits, and international democratic leadership and model development positioning the US as a global democracy renewal leader1.

Conclusion: This strategic briefing synthesizes international resistance intelligence with American democracy summit findings to provide actionable pathways for democratic defense and renewal. Success requires unprecedented coordination across traditional boundaries while maintaining tactical diversity and authentic community leadership. The window for effective action is compressed, but proven strategies and emerging innovations offer realistic hope for democratic renewal that transcends mere crisis response to build a thriving democracy for all Americans. The ultimate measure of success will not be preventing worst-case scenarios, though that remains essential, but creating a democracy that works for all Americans and demonstrates to the world that inclusive, responsive, and effective democratic governance remains not only possible but superior to authoritarian alternatives1.

Citations:

1. https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/70350450/cafb5927-f132-4c0a-b02a-47676005cf37/5-25-25_REPORT_ADS_COMPREHENSIVE_STRATEGIC-ANALYSIS.md

2. https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/70350450/5ebf7513-3a12-47e1-9e97-0eeed053a97a/5-31-25_PERPLEXITY_CONTEXT_Comprehensive-Context-Document-IMIP-s-AI-Native-Generative-Movement-Fusion-Model.md

3. https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/70350450/00ab17e2-2139-4c04-ae1d-6896befcf9ca/5-21-25_TRANSCRIPT_American-Academy-of-Arts-Sciences_What-Can-Be-Learned-from-International-Perspectives-on-Autocracy-and-Democracy.md

4. https://americandemocracysummit.org

5. https://lsa.umich.edu/content/dam/emerging-democracies-assets/emerging-democracies-docs/Democracy-and-Autocracy--18-1.pdf

6. https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/08/aba-democracy-summit-analyzes-actions/

7. https://purl.stanford.edu/jp517pr3185

8. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/democracy-playbook-2025/

9. https://ii.umich.edu/emerging-democracies/initiatives/democracy-and-autocracy.html

10. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/an-american-democracy-built-for-the-people-why-democracy-matters-and-how-to-make-it-work-for-the-21st-century/

11. https://www.idos-research.de/uploads/media/DP__21.2022_01.pdf

12. https://civilrights.org/resource/statement-of-the-leadership-conference-on-protecting-the-future-of-american-democracy/

13. https://cid.usc.edu/cid-democracy-summit

14. https://2021-2025.state.gov/bureau-of-democracy-human-rights-and-labor/the-summit-for-democracy/

15. https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/explore-engage/key-terms/autocracy-vs-democracy

16. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/global-challenges-to-democracy/international-dimensions-of-the-struggle-between-democracy-and-autocracy/824B8A7EC238CD3239BCA89851E52563

17. https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/03/autocracy-vs-democracy-climate-edition?lang=en¢er=global

18. https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2022/02/authoritarianism-here/

19. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/books/foreword-creating-another-wave-of-democracy/

20. https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/08/12/anne-applebaum-autocracy-inc/

21. https://www.defensepriorities.org/explainers/the-folly-of-a-democracy-based-grand-strategy/

22. https://korbel.du.edu/DDS

23. https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/nikole-hannah-jones-center-journalism-and-democracy-host-third-annual-democracy-summit

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

This powerful opening session sets the tone for American Democracy Summit 2025, diving into the precarious state of our union and the choices ahead.

Former FEC Chairs Ellen Weintraub and Trevor Potter will unpack the systemic failures undermining our elections—including unchecked money in politics, coordinated billionaire spending, and structural breakdowns at the FEC and Supreme Court—as well as the growing threats of politicization of our electoral process. A high-energy fireside chat with Amb. Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata of Society for the Rule of Law will dig into efforts to undermine existing systems of accountability and how we might work on these issues across ideological lines. And Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, CEO of RepresentUs, will close with a keynote that calls us to meet this moment with courage, imagination, and unity, recognizing that we are not alone, and that a government that is genuinely accountable to the people is worth standing up for.

• Our Elections: Threats and Challenges // Ellen Weintraub , Trevor Potter

• Defending Systems of Accountability // Norman Eisen , Gregg Nunziata

• Opening Address // Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno

• Our Call To Action //Anh-Linh Kearney , Ben Levinsohn

ADS Opening Plenary - America at a Crossroads (5/14/25)

https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/4c4fcae7-47a0-49d6-91bb-1b7d6a9caeb2

Executive Overview and Summary

The opening plenary of the American Democracy Summit 2025 set a powerful tone with the theme "We the Future," diving into the precarious state of American democracy and the critical choices ahead. The session brought together leading voices from across the democratic reform movement to address systemic failures undermining elections, threats to the rule of law, and the growing politicization of electoral processes.

Key highlights from the session included:

• FEC Crisis and Campaign Finance: Former FEC Chairs Ellen Weintraub and Trevor Potter exposed how the dismantling of the Federal Election Commission has enabled unprecedented corruption of campaign finance, including Elon Musk's $300 million coordination with the Trump campaign.

• Executive Overreach: The session revealed alarming patterns of executive orders attempting to control independent agencies, manipulate election procedures, and undermine judicial independence.

• Rule of Law Under Siege: Ambassador Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata discussed the systematic intimidation of judges and prosecutors, with over 150 court orders already issued against unconstitutional actions by the administration.

• Cross-Ideological Defense: Conservative voices like Nunziata emphasized that defending democracy requires coming together across partisan divides to protect constitutional principles, demonstrating that these are not partisan issues but foundational American values.

• Learning from Global Authoritarianism: CEO Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno drew powerful parallels between current U.S. trends and the authoritarian takeover she witnessed in Peru, warning that democracies often die through "a thousand small cuts" rather than sudden coups.

• Call to Movement Building: The session concluded with a powerful call to build a broad-based pro-democracy movement that both defends against immediate threats and reimagines a more responsive democratic system.

Throughout the plenary, speakers emphasized that while the current threats are unprecedented in modern American history, they also present an opportunity to build a more powerful cross-partisan movement for democratic renewal that addresses both acute authoritarian threats and chronic democratic dysfunction.

Opening Remarks: John DeVaan and Max Carver

The session opened with John DeVaan, Chair of the Board of RepresentUs, who set the tone by acknowledging the difficult moment for American democracy:

"We're convening at a very difficult time for democracy in the United States. Many people are afraid to speak out or support our collective efforts. That's why it's really important that we convene. We're the people who are going to refuse to lose our democracy."

DeVaan emphasized the power of collective courage, noting that "courage is contagious" and that the summit participants were there to "model the perseverance and courage we need."

Actor and activist Max Carver then took the stage as MC, sharing a personal perspective on the stakes:

"I'm 36. I'm recently engaged. We're in family planning, always wanted a family, and for the first time in my life, that's actually really scary. You see where things are going. It's not necessarily a check mark. It's a question mark."

Carver introduced the summit theme "We the Future" as a call for people across the country from all backgrounds to come together and shape America's path forward as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary.

Former FEC Chairs: Systemic Election Failures

Ellen Weintraub and Trevor Potter delivered a sobering analysis of the systematic dismantling of election oversight.

Weintraub revealed she had been illegally removed from her position at the FEC through a simple email from the president despite having no legal authority to fire her:

"I got a little email from the president, and he said, you're out. Nobody else is in... Presidents nominating Commissioners, the Senate has to confirm them. Doesn't say anything in the law about presidents firing Commissioners."

The illegal firing was part of what she described as "a systematic effort underway to silence opposition voices, to silence independent voices. They're going after independent agencies. They're going after independent voices in Academia and the media."

Potter emphasized that this was "clearly illegal" under current law, but the administration was "counting on the Supreme Court changing the law" and reversing its precedents.

The conversation exposed how two executive orders have further undermined election integrity:

1. An order requiring independent agencies like the FEC to clear regulations and court cases with the White House

2. An order attempting to change voter registration procedures by requiring physical proof of citizenship

Potter revealed that their organization successfully challenged the second order in court:

"We were in court Monday morning... we asked for a preliminary injunction... and the judge agreed with us. The judge wrote a masterful opinion of the Constitution, the views of the framers, history since then to make the point that the Constitution has zero role for the president in federal elections."

The most alarming revelation concerned the 2024 election's unprecedented campaign finance abuses:

"Elon Musk, one individual, the wealthiest person in the world, spent 300 million dollars plus... on behalf of the Trump campaign, much of it spent in key states... and spent in close coordination with the Trump campaign."

Weintraub explained how this violated campaign finance laws:

"The Supreme Court has upheld contribution limits to candidates, and those contribution limits are meaningless if somebody can coordinate directly with the campaign and spend hundreds of millions of dollars."

She contrasted today's corruption with Watergate:

"The FEC was organized in the wake of the Watergate Scandal, which involved about a million dollars. The country was scandalized... In this past election, there were six individual donors who each gave more than a hundred times that amount."

Potter closed by highlighting the complete failure of FEC enforcement, revealing that of 64 complaints filed against Trump and his committees, the FEC staff found 33 showed violations of law, but the commission investigated zero of them.

Senator Raphael Warnock Video Message

In a brief video message, Senator Raphael Warnock encouraged summit participants:

"These are indeed tough times. We're seeing devastating actions at every level of government impacting the kitchen table to Main Street and beyond. And while it may seem overwhelming, we cannot give in to despair. This is what the demagogues want."

He emphasized that "democracy cannot be outsourced" and reminded participants that "our country does not belong to the people in power. The power is in the people."

Rule of Law Fireside Chat: Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata

Ambassador Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata of the Society for the Rule of Law provided a cross-partisan perspective on defending democratic institutions.

Nunziata, representing a conservative viewpoint, emphasized why the rule of law transcends partisan divides:

"American democracy is impossible without the Constitution and the rule of law. Without these things, democracy is just a struggle for power between two mobs. It's our laws, our constitution that gives us a framework for our democracy."

Eisen highlighted the unprecedented legal pushback against executive overreach:

"There are now more than a hundred and fifty court orders stopping his unconstitutional and illegal activity... The Democracy Defenders Fund has been involved in about 60 legal matters, pushing back on Trump's illegality."

The conversation then turned to the intimidation of judicial officials. Nunziata described a "deliberate campaign to try to delegitimize the Judiciary, to try to intimidate the Judiciary" including:

• The arrest of a judge for managing her courtroom

• "Wanted posters" in the House of Representatives for federal judges

• Threats to impeach judges who rule against the president

• Administration officials calling judges "insurrectionists" or "enemies of the state"

Eisen noted they had organized over 150 retired judges to speak out against these tactics:

"We got over 150 judges appointed by Democrats appointed by Republicans federal state Coast to coast to speak out about the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan. She was indicted this week for simply controlling her courtroom."

He concluded with a message of resilience:

"Donald Trump wanted to dox and harass 6,000 FBI agents because they did nothing more than follow the law and prosecute January 6 violent insurrectionists. We got a court order saying, you can't do that... We're going to keep defending the rule of law."

Miles Taylor Video Message

Former Trump administration official Miles Taylor delivered a video message describing his personal experience with political retaliation:

"A month ago... the president of the United States issued an executive order directing federal agencies to investigate me personally. Now, I'm told by our legal team that this is the first time in the history of the United States that an individual private citizen has been targeted by presidential order for investigation because of their dissent."

Taylor warned of the chilling effect on free speech:

"We worry about this tactic being used to not just punish dissent, but to chill free speech all across our country by targeting people by criminalizing criticism."

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno Keynote

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, CEO of RepresentUs, delivered a powerful keynote drawing parallels between current U.S. trends and her experience with authoritarianism in Peru:

"When I was eight years old, my Peruvian and American family moved to Peru... In 1990, Peruvians voted for an unknown politician, a man called Alberto Fujimori, and over the following years, Fujimori built a criminal system of total control of the government."

She described how Fujimori gradually dismantled democracy:

"Early on, he had his intelligence service engage in surveillance of the opposition. He ran secret death squads... In 1992, Fujimori dissolved Congress and the courts saying that they were corrupt, they were obstructing his agenda and that we needed a new constitution. Many people supported him because it felt like he was bringing order to the chaos."

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno explained this pattern has become common globally:

"Fujimori was an early example of what has become a common path to dictator-like power all over the world. They don't come into office through military coup. They're democratically elected leaders who, through a thousand small cuts, hollow out democracy from within."

She then connected this to current events in the U.S.:

"President Donald Trump was democratically elected, but from the moment he took office, he and his network have been dismantling independent institutions from inspectors General offices to the Department of Justice and intimidating the courts."

However, she pivoted to emphasize the current moment also brings opportunity:

"People are starting to reawaken to the importance of core American Democratic ideals... These ideals are no longer something that you read about in history books. They're alive now that they're under assault in a way that they haven't been for a long time. And that's not a left versus right issue. It's an American issue."

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno stressed that simply defending the status quo is insufficient:

"In this moment of so much threat, we cannot just be calling for a return to the status quo as of January. Legalized corruption in the form of money in politics has meant that powerful interests have had far more sway in Washington than ordinary people."

She concluded with a message of hope drawn from her experience with Peru's eventual democratic transition:

"Change is always possible. You can't give up. And a government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Closing Call to Action

The session concluded with Anh-Linh Kearney and Ben Levinsohn from RepresentUs delivering a call to action:

"We're usually thousands of miles apart from each other in the different corners of our nation. But this week, we all get to be in the same building... Make a promise to yourselves and to each other that when you get up and walk out of here, you introduce yourself to the person that's here and say, 'How can we support each other? How can we do this together?'"

Conclusion, Summary and Implications

The ADS Opening Plenary painted a stark picture of democracy at a crossroads, with several key themes emerging:

Systematic Institutional Breakdown: From the FEC's paralysis to judicial intimidation, the session documented a comprehensive effort to dismantle the guardrails of democratic governance. The illegal firing of FEC commissioners, executive overreach, and judicial harassment represent a coordinated attempt to consolidate power beyond constitutional limits.

Money as a Corrupting Force: The revelation of Elon Musk's $300 million in coordinated spending highlights how the corruption of campaign finance has reached unprecedented levels, dwarfing the Watergate scandal that originally prompted campaign finance laws.

Cross-Partisan Imperative: Conservative voices like Gregg Nunziata emphasized that defending democratic institutions transcends partisan divides, with constitutional principles providing common ground for Americans across the political spectrum.

Global Democratic Erosion Patterns: Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's powerful comparison to Peru's slide into authoritarianism revealed how democracies typically don't die through sudden coups but through "a thousand small cuts" - a pattern now recognizable in the United States.

Resilience Through Legal Challenges: The 150+ court orders against unconstitutional actions demonstrate that institutional resistance remains potent, though under increasing pressure.

Movement Building Opportunity: Despite the gravity of the threats, speakers consistently emphasized that this moment presents an opportunity to build a more powerful pro-democracy movement that both defends against immediate threats and reimagines a more responsive democratic system.

The session underscored that this critical juncture requires both immediate defensive action to protect democratic institutions and a longer-term vision to address the underlying dysfunctions that have eroded faith in democracy. The American Democracy Summit's theme "We the Future" captures this dual imperative - protecting democracy now while reimagining and rebuilding it for future generations.

As Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno concluded, the struggle for a "government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno Keynote: Lessons from Global Democratic Erosion (ADS 2025)

https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d31457c5-f9fa-4955-aeca-6445bada1b96

Executive Overview and Summary

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's keynote address at the American Democracy Summit 2025 provided a powerful analysis of democratic erosion through the lens of her personal experience in Peru and her extensive global human rights work. As the newly appointed CEO of RepresentUs, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno offered unique insights that connected international patterns of authoritarian takeover to current developments in the United States.

Her address presented several crucial frameworks for understanding the current moment:

• The "Thousand Cuts" Model of Democratic Erosion: McFarland Sánchez-Moreno described how modern authoritarians typically come to power through democratic elections, then systematically hollow out democratic institutions rather than staging traditional coups.

• Personal Testimony from Peru: Drawing on her childhood experience in Peru during Alberto Fujimori's rise to power, she outlined how a democratically elected leader systematically dismantled democratic guardrails and established authoritarian control.

• Crisis as Opportunity: Despite the gravity of current threats, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno identified a unique opportunity to build a powerful cross-partisan pro-democracy movement as Americans reawaken to the importance of core democratic values.

• Beyond Status Quo Defense: She emphasized that simply defending pre-2025 democratic systems is insufficient, as chronic democratic dysfunction and "legalized corruption" have eroded public faith in democratic institutions.

• Movement Building Strategy: McFarland Sánchez-Moreno called for pro-democracy advocates to work across differences, think outside the box, and forge new alliances to build a more accountable governance system.

Her keynote integrated personal narrative, comparative international perspective, and strategic vision to provide a comprehensive framework for both understanding and responding to the current democratic crisis in America.

Personal Experience with Democratic Erosion in Peru

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno began her address by recounting her childhood experience in Peru during a period of political upheaval:

"When I was eight years old, my Peruvian and American family moved to Peru. It was a really difficult time. It was a time of internal war. It was a time of hyperinflation. Price of goods would go up a hundred times in one day."

She described how this environment of chaos and disillusionment created conditions for the rise of an authoritarian leader:

"Many Peruvians were feeling incredibly disillusioned with our political system. They felt their leaders were corrupt, were not listening to them. They were sick of existing parties. And in 1990, Peruvians voted for an unknown politician, a man called Alberto Fujimori."

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno then outlined Fujimori's methodical dismantling of democratic institutions:

• Intelligence Service Surveillance: "Early on, he had his intelligence service engage in surveillance of the opposition."

• Death Squads: "He ran secret death squads that massacred innocent civilians so that he could show results in the war."

• Dissolution of Democratic Institutions: "In 1992, Fujimori dissolved Congress and the courts saying that they were corrupt, they were obstructing his agenda and that we needed a new constitution."

• Judicial Control: "When his new Supreme Court ruled that he couldn't run for a third term, he removed three of the justices and ran for president anyway."

Crucially, she noted that many people initially supported these actions because "it felt like he was bringing order to the chaos." By 1997, when she moved to the United States, "it wasn't clear how the country was ever going to get out of it."

The Global Pattern of Democratic Erosion

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno expanded her analysis to identify Fujimori's approach as a template that has been replicated globally:

"Fujimori was an early example of what has become a common path to dictator-like power all over the world. They don't come into office through military coup. They're democratically elected leaders who, through a thousand small cuts, hollow out democracy from within."

This framework of "a thousand small cuts" provides a powerful analytical lens for understanding how democracies erode in the modern era—not through dramatic military coups, but through the gradual dismantling of democratic institutions, norms, and safeguards.

Parallel Developments in the United States

Drawing direct connections to current events in the United States, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno outlined alarming parallels:

"President Donald Trump was democratically elected, but from the moment he took office, he and his network have been dismantling independent institutions from inspectors General offices to the Department of Justice and intimidating the courts."

She detailed specific patterns of democratic erosion taking hold in America:

• Dismantling Independent Institutions: From inspectors general to the Department of Justice

• Judicial Intimidation: Threatening and attacking courts and judges

• Election System Weakening: Undermining the ability to hold free and fair elections

• Civil Society Attacks: Including forced disappearances targeting marginalized groups

• Corruption of Executive Power: "Exerting influence and control through fear and by effectively selling access to the presidency"

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno warned that "unchecked, the network now in power could fundamentally change the nature of the United States in the long term and entrench itself indefinitely."

Crisis as Democratic Opportunity

Despite the gravity of her analysis, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno pivoted to emphasize the unique opportunity presented by the current crisis:

"When I look at this landscape, I also see a moment of tremendous opportunity. Because people are starting to reawaken to the importance of core American Democratic ideals."

She observed that democratic principles "are no longer something that you read about in history books. They're alive now that they're under assault in a way that they haven't been for a long time. And that's not a left versus right issue. It's an American issue."

This reawakening creates space for "building the kind of powerful pro-democracy and anti-corruption movement that we need to yield large-scale reform nationally at the state level at local level."

Beyond Defending the Status Quo

Perhaps most significantly, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno cautioned against merely seeking a return to pre-2025 democratic conditions:

"In this moment of so much threat, we cannot just be calling for a return to the status quo as of January. Legalized corruption in the form of money in politics has meant that powerful interests have had far more sway in Washington than ordinary people."

She identified structural problems that had eroded faith in democracy before the current crisis:

"Our gerrymandered and uncompetitive election systems have made it hard for people to even make much of a difference in the ballot box. For many people, democracy simply hasn't delivered."

This analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the current moment, recognizing that addressing both acute authoritarian threats and chronic democratic dysfunction is necessary to rebuild public faith in democratic governance.

Movement Building Strategy

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno concluded with specific strategic guidance for building an effective pro-democracy movement:

• Cross-Movement Collaboration: "For this Summit, we very deliberately brought as broad as possible a cross-section of our movement together from both inside the Beltway and throughout the country. Grassroots and grass tops, structural reformers, litigators, and everybody in between."

• Working Across Differences: "Now, more than ever, we need to work across our differences. We need to push back and we need to craft that better Vision for what is possible that will bring others in and carry us through these dark times with power."

• New Alliances and Innovation: "This is a time for outside the box thinking and new alliances."

• Persistence Despite Challenges: "I've seen many brave, ordinary people, even in the worst and most challenging circumstances, persistently stand up for what is right. And that work makes all the difference."

Lessons from Peru's Democratic Recovery

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno provided hope by sharing how Peru ultimately overcame Fujimori's authoritarian regime:

"The Fujimori government I grew up under eventually came to an end after videos surfaced of his intelligence chief, giving piles of cash to the opposition, big media owners, business people, judges."

She described her personal involvement in holding the former dictator accountable:

"I was later involved in Fujimori's extradition from Chile to Peru to face trial. I was there in the courtroom in 2009, when he was convicted of crimes against humanity."

This experience taught her two critical lessons:

1. Change is Always Possible: "First, change is always possible, can't give up."

2. Democratic Maintenance is Ongoing: "A government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Aspirational Vision

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno closed with an aspirational vision for the pro-democracy movement:

"If we do our jobs well, I believe we can generate a decisive rejection of corrupt authoritarianism in this country, and we can create the space for the flowering of a new, truly Democratic culture."

This vision balances both defensive actions against immediate threats and proactive work to build more accountable and responsive democratic systems.

Conclusion, Summary and Implications

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's keynote provided a comprehensive framework for understanding and responding to the current democratic crisis in the United States. By drawing on her personal experience in Peru and extensive global human rights work, she offered unique insights that illuminate both the gravity of current threats and the potential for democratic renewal.

Several key implications emerge from her address:

• Pattern Recognition: Understanding the "thousand cuts" model of democratic erosion enables pro-democracy advocates to recognize and respond to authoritarian tactics earlier.

• Dual-Focus Strategy: Effective pro-democracy work must simultaneously defend against immediate authoritarian threats while addressing the chronic democratic dysfunctions that eroded public faith in democracy.

• Cross-Partisan Foundation: Democratic principles can unite Americans across political divides when framed as foundational American values rather than partisan positions.

• Movement Ecosystem: Building an effective pro-democracy coalition requires bringing together diverse approaches—from litigation to structural reform to grassroots organizing—under a shared vision.

• Sustained Commitment: Democratic maintenance requires perpetual vigilance and ongoing work, rather than a one-time victory.

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's comparative international perspective offers a sobering assessment of democratic vulnerability while also providing hope through examples of democratic resilience and recovery. Her emphasis on both democratic defense and democratic renewal provides a comprehensive strategic framework for the American Democracy Summit and the broader pro-democracy movement.

As she concluded: "A government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Speakers:

Max Carver

Actor / Writer / Producer

-

Jon DeVaan

Chairman of the Board

RepresentUs

Norman Eisen

Executive Chair

State Democracy Defenders Fund

Anh-Linh Kearney

Policy Analyst

RepresentUs

Ben Levinsohn

Mobilization Manager

RepresentUs

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno

CEO

RepresentUs

Gregg Nunziata

Executive Director

Society for the Rule of Law

Trevor Potter

Founder & President

Campaign Legal Center

Ellen Weintraub

Former Chair

Federal Election Commission

What happens when you gather 30+ local democracy builders in a room and ask them to bring their “half-baked potatoes”?

You get something extraordinary.

Starting May 1st, Better Together America (BTA) hosted its first Civic Hub Builders Convening in Denver — a milestone moment in the grassroots pro-democracy movement. What emerged was not just new tools and strategies, but a renewed sense of shared purpose. As one participant put it, “We came for frameworks — and stayed for the relationships.”

🧭 What Is a Civic Hub (and What Isn’t)?

A civic hub is not just another coalition or campaign. It’s a place-based, people-powered network rooted in the needs, strengths, and vision of its community.

What it is:

• Broad-based and collaborative

• Centered on belonging and civic capacity

• Nonpartisan but deeply values-driven

• A catalyst for real local solutions

What it’s not:

• Partisan or issue-exclusive

• Dominated by a single org or leader

• Prescriptive or one-size-fits-all

“We are building community power to solve problems — because current systems alone are no longer enough.”
— BTA Convening Slide Deck

🥔 The Half-Baked Potato Principle

A now-iconic metaphor from the gathering: bring a half-baked idea — not a finished program. Leave room for others to “finish cooking” with their own experience, insight, and creativity.

This principle reflects a core truth: co-creation builds trust, and trust builds durable democracy.

🫶 Relationships Are the Strategy

“The heart of movement building isn't knowledge — it's connection.”
— Vinay Orekondy, BTA & Grand Bargain Project

From opening night storytelling circles to breakout workshops, the Denver convening prioritized relationships. This is how civic muscle is built — not just by talking about democracy, but by practicing it together.

Participants reflected on the strategic tensions they’re navigating:

• Speed vs. diversity

• Government partnerships vs. grassroots purity

• Short-term wins vs. long-term capacity

BTA encouraged hub builders to embrace these tensions, not resolve them — to hold complexity with care.

🛠 Infrastructure for a “Bigger We”

Beyond inspiration, BTA shared concrete supports:

• A shared civic exchange platform for fundraising and visibility

• Website tools and templates for local hubs

• A learning network and peer cohorts launching this summer

These back-end systems matter. They make it easier for local hubs to connect, share, and scale — without sacrificing autonomy.

🌉 Why This Matters Nationally

As Mark Gerzon noted during the TTUS Nexus Forum:

“We have a lot of organizations, but we don’t have a lot of communities that are networked.”

Civic hubs offer a solution: connect the dots between national frameworks and local lived realities. If done well, they can become the foundational infrastructure for a healthy, participatory democracy.

📣 Want to Join the Movement?

🌍 Explore Better Together America
🤝 Connect with hub builders like Duncan Autrey (Omni-Win Project) & Vinay Orekondy (Grand Bargain Project)
🧑‍🍳 Got a half-baked idea? Share it with #BetterTogetherAmerica and we’ll amplify your work.

This is the long game. But it starts small. One hub. One conversation. One step toward a civic culture where all people, in all places, belong — no exceptions.

Tags: #CivicHubs #BetterTogetherAmerica #ThrivingTogether #Belonging #MovementBuilding #Democracy

The Thriving Together US Initiative is rooted in that question. It’s not a single organization, campaign, or ideology. It’s a growing ecosystem of people and groups who are building the civic and community conditions that make well-being possible—for everyone, without exception.

This Substack is one of the ways we’re stitching that ecosystem together.

A Civic Home for a Bigger “We”

The Thriving Together US Substack is meant to be a shared space for:

• Movement connection — spotlighting the work of local hubs, national networks, and movement builders advancing the Thriving Together ethos.

• Innovation diffusion — helping ideas that are working in one place get seen and shared by others.

• Personal alignment — offering readers a way to reflect, plug in, and take a stand for a future built on shared belonging and stewardship.

As Becky Payne of the Rippel Foundation shared in a recent gathering:

"This initiative provides a community where you can take some hope, take some possibility from—knowing you're joining with people who, in our collective, are touching all of the things that need to be tended to right now."

This isn’t about building a new organization. It’s about growing a sense of shared purpose that’s already spreading across the country—through neighborhoods, coalitions, collaboratives, congregations, and unlikely partnerships.

A Movement That’s Already in Motion

We’re often asked: Is this really a movement? The answer is yes—but like many movements, it’s not easy to see at first.

“I’m completely convinced that there is real movement,” says Bobby Milstein of the Rippel Foundation. “It’s just very hard for people to perceive that movement because we don’t have the apparatus to surface those stories and share them.”

That’s one thing this Substack will help do. Whether you’re brand new to this space or already leading work on the ground, we hope you’ll find stories here that affirm, inspire, and connect you.

Building Forward, Not Looking Back

We don’t pretend this is easy work. We’re living through real democratic and social breakdowns. But we’re not here to dwell on decline—we’re here to build what comes next.

As John Saunders reminded us recently, quoting Peter Block:

"We don’t have what we need to reconstruct the past. We have everything we need to construct a different future."

That’s the spirit behind Thriving Together: hopeful, grounded, forward-looking. A citizen-led effort to reweave civic life, not from scratch, but from the shared values and commitments that still live in every place across this country.

We hope you’ll join us in that work.

This post is part of our “Thriving Together” starter series:

• ✅ What Does It Mean to Thrive Together? (You’re here.)

• ✅ How Did a Simple Framework Become a Movement?

• ✅ What Happens When We Build, Bridge, Block—and Belong?

• ✅ Why Belonging and Civic Muscle Are the Real Superpowers

• ✅ Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate

Each piece explores a different doorway into the movement—read one or all, in any order.

Bill Shireman, co-author of In This Together: How Republicans, Democrats, Capitalists, and Activists Are Uniting to Tackle Climate Change and More, rejoined the Nexus space to reflect on this year’s EarthX. It was his first appearance in some time — and a welcome one.

Bill is the founder of Future 500, a long-standing organization committed to aligning business and social change through stakeholder engagement. He’s also a co-founder of In This Together America, a network working to defuse polarization and uplift practical civic solutions across the political spectrum.

“The quality of the event, the quality of the discussions was really high this year. I think the best ever,” Bill shared, noting the range of participants and depth of conversations.

This year’s EarthX brought together more than 65 speakers, including intergenerational leaders, energy entrepreneurs, and bridge-builders from across sectors. The gathering highlighted a philosophy Bill has increasingly championed: pro-activism — the idea that we can meet entrenched problems not by fighting harder, but by building forward together

.

🌍 EarthX: Convening Across Difference

EarthX has long been one of the largest environmental gatherings in the world, but what stood out this year was its emphasis on cross-partisan collaboration and civic engagement.

The conference hosted:

• Deep-dive sessions on energy, climate policy, and circular economy

• Youth-led programming through Rotaract and Sea to Sky Solutions

• Conversations on ecological sustainability and democratic resilience

• An emerging focus on “pro-activism” — a term Bill used to describe constructive, cross-ideological collaboration toward shared goals

“Pro-activism isn’t about fighting the other side,” Bill explained. “It’s about finding shared problems and building practical solutions across difference.”

This approach echoes the Thriving Together US framework of Bridging + Blocking + Building + Belonging — recognizing that thriving communities emerge when we link arms, not just raise fists.

🔍 Deeper Context: “Healing the Divide” and Solving Problems Together

To explore Bill's work more deeply, check out two rich podcast conversations hosted by Duncan Autrey, founder of the Omni-Win Project and host of the Fractal Friends podcast:

🎧 “Overcoming Political and Media Manipulation” – Omni-Win Project
🎧 “Healing the Political Divide” – Fractal Friends

In these conversations, Bill lays out a systems-based critique of political division and media incentives — and offers a hopeful vision for citizen-led solutions.

“70% of Americans are ready to work across differences to solve problems,” he notes. “But we’re trapped in a system that gives more voice to the 30% who want to fight.”

He calls this 70% the “problem solvers.” EarthX creates a stage for these people — from across sectors and ideologies — to get to work.

💡 Explore and Get Involved

🌐 EarthX – Annual convening and year-round platform
🧭 Future 500 – Building alliances between corporations and activists
✍️ In This Together America – A declaration of interdependence
📖 In This Together – Book by Bill Shireman & Trammell Crow

“From many, we are one — not in a melting pot, but a complex social fabric.”
— In This Together Declaration

“There’s a need to not just save journalism but to reconnect it to its democratic purpose.”
— Shia Levitt, News Ambassadors / Bridge Alliance

Across the Thriving Together ecosystem, many of us are sensing the same thing: the dominant media system—driven by polarization, sensationalism, and disconnection—is no longer working. At our May 5 Thriving Together US Nexus Forum, journalist and trainer Shia Levitt named what many were feeling: we need journalism that listens before it speaks.

Shia’s vision reflects an emerging shift in the field—away from journalism as passive reflection, and toward journalism as civic infrastructure: something that can strengthen democracy, restore trust, and build community power from the ground up.

🌀 From “Journalism As We Knew It” to a Civic Media Ecosystem

The image above—shared by Hearken—uses the “Two Loops” model of systems change to illustrate what’s happening. Originally developed by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze of the Berkana Institute and authors of “Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale,” this model reflects a deeper truth about how life changes: not through top-down mandates, but through networks, communities of practice, and emergent systems built on trust and shared purpose.

In this frame:

• “Journalism as we knew it” sits at the top of the loop—widely consumed but deeply distrusted.

• Meanwhile, new players are “hospicing” the old system while cultivating an emergent model grounded in participation, listening, and local trust.

As Shia put it:

“We’re asking communities what they need before prioritizing what to cover—instead of assuming we know what matters.”

This isn’t just a content strategy. It’s a deeper shift toward journalism as shared civic practice.

Learn about Hearken's work with democracy here.

✨ Complicating the Narrative: Journalism That Builds Belonging

A key tool in this new media ecosystem is a deceptively simple idea: complicate the narrative.

This phrase, coined by journalist and author Amanda Ripley author of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, is now a core strategy in the field of solutions journalism and conflict transformation. “Her 2018 essay lays out practices journalists can use to deepen empathy, reveal moral complexity, and surface questions that open hearts instead of hardening positions.

“When people encounter complexity, they become more curious and less closed off to new information. They listen, in other words.”
— Amanda Ripley

At the heart of this strategy are five powerful steps that help transform how we tell stories in times of division:

🔧 Five Ways to Complicate the Narrative

1. Amplify Contradictions
   Highlight nuance and contradiction in people's views—not to discredit them, but to reveal complexity. Let people contain multitudes.

2. Widen the Lens
   Connect individual stories to broader systemic dynamics. Zoom out to show patterns, context, and root causes—not just symptoms.

3. Ask Questions That Reveal Motivation
   Move beyond “gotcha” or binary framing. Ask: What’s at stake for you? What’s the question no one is asking?

4. Listen More (and Better)
   Practice "looping for understanding"—mirroring back what people say to confirm you’ve truly heard them. It builds trust and opens space.

5. Expose People to the ‘Other Tribe’ — Thoughtfully
   Facilitate exposure to differing views in non-threatening ways—through stories, dialogue, or convenings—with emotional safety and shared purpose.

These practices are now being used in newsrooms, community dialogue initiatives, and media trainings across the country. They’re also part of the DNA of initiatives like News Ambassadors, Hearken, and Spaceship Media.

Read Ripley's “22 Questions that ‘Complicate the Narrative’” here.

🔍 Highlighting the Innovators: Pioneers of the Emergent System

A few of the efforts leading this shift include:

🔸 News Ambassadors
Training young journalists in community listening, depolarization, and belonging-centered reporting.

🔸 Hearken
Helping newsrooms practice “public-powered journalism,” where community members guide coverage through questions and story co-creation.

🔸 Spaceship Media
Facilitating deep dialogue through media partnerships, helping audiences and reporters alike get underneath the story.

As Doug Oplinger reflected in the Forum, we are in a moment of “cross-reality tension.” Our media systems too often reflect that divide rather than help us navigate it.

“Forever, we have looked to journalism in America as something to shoot for... the way to help our countries be democracies. In the last three months, that’s all disappeared. We no longer have a role model.”
— Doug Oplinger, Your Voice Ohio

🧱 Journalism as Civic Infrastructure

The Thriving Together framework invites us to think of civic health as a system of Vital Conditions. Among them is Belonging and Civic Muscle—the capacity of people to shape their communities and feel seen doing it.

That is where journalism comes in. When media centers community stories, when it listens before speaking, when it helps people see each other more fully, it becomes part of the infrastructure that allows democracy to thrive.

We don’t just need to save journalism. We need to regenerate it.

📣 Read, Share, Join Us

We’re exploring this work more deeply across the Inter-Movement Impact Project. Join us:

🔗 Join Generate Democracy! on LinkedIn
📰 Follow Thriving Together US on Substack
📖 Read Amanda Ripley’s “Complicating the Narratives”
🌍 Learn about the Vital Conditions and Thriving Framework

Subscribe now

What stories, experiments, or models are you seeing in your community? Share below or tag a civic journalist who’s helping us see more clearly.

#SolutionsJournalism #CivicHealth #Belonging #ComplicatingTheNarrative #Journalism #Democracy #BridgeBlockBuild #IMIP #ThrivingTogetherUS #NewsAmbassadors #Hearken #PublicTrust #TwoLoops

Link to the Fulcrum Article:

https://thefulcrum.us/bridging-common-ground/civic-engagement-bridge-building

About The Fulcrum (Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter)

The Fulcrum is a platform where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives.

This piece was originally published on LinkedIn and is shared with permission.

Kristin Hansen is the Executive Director of Civic Health Project, a Co-Chair of More Perfect, a Co-Chair of the Council on Technology and Social Cohesion, and a keynote presentation coach at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

What I’m Thinking Now, as a Political Bridge-Builder and Democracy Reformer

By Kristin Hansen

Apr 25, 2025

Because I work in the cross-partisan democracy reform field, and especially because my work focuses on bridging America’s political and social divides, many colleagues, friends, and family members have asked me how I am thinking and feeling about our present moment.

Seven years ago, when I quit my job in the private sector to “defend democracy,” without really knowing yet what that meant, it felt important to be vocal about why I was upending my career and plunging into the professional unknown. I wanted to defend my decision (including to myself), while simultaneously offering validation to others around me who might feel similarly called.

As it turned out, it was important for me to speak out. A surprising number of people reached out to share that they, too, felt worried about our country. Many asked how I had mustered the will to pivot into cross-partisan democracy reform work. Many have followed and supported my work since, for which I’m grateful. Many have become more aware and active themselves, during the intervening years.

What I didn’t yet know, when making that leap, was that thousands and thousands of other Americans had preceded me in making courageous decisions to dedicate their time, talent, and treasure to defending democracy. I entered a field teeming with smart and caring fellow Americans of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs, seeking to improve the health of our relationships, communities, and country.

This democracy field keeps growing and is as robust, committed, and talented as ever. Yet any leader in our field would likely agree with me in telling you now, “We aren’t enough. We need you, too.” And we do, we need you.

Specifically, here are five things that I believe America needs from each and every one of you right now -- regardless of your political leaning, regardless of how you voted in November. We can all do this, together.

(1) Be awake. How are you feeling right now? Alarmed, disoriented, confused, elated? Pay attention: What are you feeling? Don’t dismiss or trivialize it. This is a serious time in our country, when many foundational ideas, values, and norms are being contested, all at once. Perhaps not since the civil rights era have we experienced this much domestic turbulence, on so many simultaneous fronts. This is not a drill, it’s real. Participate.

Read widely: Don’t limit yourself to one or two news sources. Now more than ever, consume news across the political spectrum, helped perhaps by AllSides, Tangle, RealClearPolitics, or GroundNews. In doing so, you will develop greater accuracy about what’s happening, greater empathy for different perspectives, and greater confidence that you understand this moment in our country.

Speak up: Spark conversation with people around you, about this moment and what it asks of us as Americans. Don’t shrug off what’s happening around you as “politics as usual.” It isn’t. Speaking up validates the feelings that others around you may be feeling, but minimizing or dismissing. And if they see things differently, even better. Ask questions, and seek to genuinely understand.

Show up: Even if you don’t feel an impulse to protest on the streets or at your local town hall meeting, even if you strongly disagree with the protesters and the voices of dissent, go anyway. Listen to what people are saying. Learn what they are worried about. Consider their perspectives. Which brings us to ...

(2) Be respectful. Last November, about 77 million Americans voted for Trump, and about 75 million Americans voted for Harris. Among nonvoters, analysis suggests that the preference split is similar. We don’t have to agree with how others voted, but we must respect each others’ right to vote, and we can be generous in considering the complex multitude of factors that inform voters’ decisions.

If you are someone who feels generally elated with how things have gone since the election, please listen with genuine curiosity to understand why millions of voters are expressing alarm right now. And if you are someone who feels genuinely alarmed, please reach out -- with all the curiosity and humility you can muster -- to inhabit the perspectives of those in your circles who are celebrating.

Somewhere in the middle of all this? Great. Be a bridge-builder. Connect and translate across those who are struggling to understand each other right now. Our social fabric is strengthened, serving as a bulwark against demonization, dehumanization, and violence, when we reinforce the stitches that connect us across lines of difference.

Cultivating mutual respect, across these differences, sets us up together to …

(3) Be patriotic. American patriotism doesn’t belong to Republicans, or to Democrats. It doesn’t belong to Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, or their supporters uniquely. Merriam-Webster defines patriotism as “love for or devotion to one’s country,” and based on this definition we can all choose to be patriots.

Ask yourself, what inspires your love or devotion to America? Is it a place, a value, or a vibe? Is it freedom, justice, or equality? What have you taken for granted? Conversely, what threatens this love and devotion? What would make you feel that you’ve suffered a loss of things you cherish? Are you willing to fight for these things? Which brings us to …

(4) Be courageous. Fighting for what you love may require nonviolent acts of bravery. Are you stirred by notions of due process, equality before the law, and norms of forbearance when exercising power? Support the judges, advocates, law firms, and other civic leaders standing up for these cherished, long-held American values.

Are you a free speech warrior? Perfect, your courage is needed at this moment on behalf of the media companies, educators, librarians, and others on the front lines of protecting all of our rights to speak, read, write, and teach without fear of retribution.

Do you cherish arts and culture? Value scientific research? Believe in national service? Love your alma mater? Care about starving kids in Africa? Worry about your 401k balance? You don’t have to take on every fight, but given the current, dizzying pace of change, chances are that something you care deeply about is at risk right now.

Consider this, too: we all face different levels of risk when we confront power to fight for the things that deeply, truly matter to us. Ask yourself honestly, what is your risk threshold? If the risk of speaking up is lower, as it is for me, then be courageous on behalf of those for whom the risk is higher.

(5) Be powerful. You might be thinking, “I’m willing to be courageous, I’m willing to fight for what I love, but what impact could I possibly have? I’m just one person, and I’m powerless to make change.”

In these moments, we must all summon Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Today, millions of Americans feel that the Trump administration is exercising power faithfully and effectively on their behalf. But millions of others, including perhaps some who voted for Trump, are questioning whether his administration is concentrating and wielding power in ways that jeopardize America’s stability, prosperity, and democracy.

We are all susceptible to marinating in cable news, doomscrolling through social media feeds, or ostriching our way through each day’s myriad distractions. Obviously, none of these is a path to power.

We can be somewhat powerful individually, when we speak up and show up for the things we cherish. We are even more powerful when we see ourselves, the American people, as co-authors of a marvelous experiment in freedom, liberty, equality, and justice, one that has produced relative security, stability, prosperity, and democracy for millions of us.

If you are reading this, I guarantee you are someone with power. And your power will be amplified when you contribute it to the broader "power pool" of fellow Americans, of all backgrounds and beliefs, already working devotedly on strengthening the American experiment.

Join us, please. We need you.

Subscribe now

About the Movement to Thrive Together and The Abundance Movement / Agenda / Network,

The Abundance Movement / Agenda / Network, along with the Movement to Thrive Together , are core parts of a Nexus of “Building” ethos, visions, and frameworks that many individuals, entities, endeavours and movements are adopting and championing (taking a stand for) especially given the opportunity we have to innovate the new / future democracy systems in the midst of our current democracy systems “breakdown / breaking”.

Join fellow stewards in a rising movement to thrive together: www.thriving.us.

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Excerpt about Thriving Together Democracy and Inter-Movement Impact Project

“The Inter-Movement Impact Project brings together a broad network of pro-democracy leaders, civic health reformers, social justice advocates, and bridgers. They use the Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions as a bridging framework to deepen collaborative learning and action. In an era where democratic institutions, norms, and processes face serious challenges, this network is lifting up and evolving next-generation participatory approaches to problem-solving. The National Civic League’s “Healthy Democracy Ecosystem” project, for instance, has mapped more than 10,000 organizations that champion a healthier democracy. As Harry Boyte—a pioneer of democracy as a way of life and Springboard contributor—observes in NCR’s Return of the Citizen, there is a need and a yearning to revitalize citizen-centered problem-solving. Kristen Hansen, Executive Director of the Civic Health Project, offers hope, pointing to America’s active and growing Bridge Building movement – hundreds of local bridge building organizations that are rejecting the toxic culture of polarization and embrace growing constructive relationships across lines of difference. Revitalizing citizen-centered democracy and civic life is indispensable to a thriving community…… “ ~Monte Roulier

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Communities Rising: Thriving Together in a Divided World https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/ncr-article/communities-rising-thriving-together-in-a-divided-world/

By Monte Roulier

Every January for the past five years, community partners with the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH) Collaborative Action Network (Network) have gathered in a majestic corner of Northwest Washington to connect, grow, and set direction. This regional collaborative of 247 cross-sector partner organizations, including the eight Tribal Nations of the Salish Sea, has embraced “whole person/whole community” approaches to transforming community health and well-being.

People with lived experiences of homelessness, addiction, poverty, and racial discrimination guide the design and implementation of solutions. Faith-based organizations are modeling love in action by adopting, reintegrating, and learning from formerly incarcerated individuals who are now visible leaders and entrepreneurs. Together, Network partners are embracing a new narrative of who they are becoming as a community.

Becoming was this year’s theme for the network convening, which fell during the week of January 20th—MLK Day and the start of a new administration. The historic coincidence highlighted the divided nation’s contested narratives of who we’ve been, who we are, and who we are becoming. Across the U.S., some celebrated the inauguration as a re-making of America, while others watched in despair and saw it as a breaking of America. Back in the North Sound, with a network composed of many groups and interests that fell in the new administration’s crosshairs, the sharp rhetoric and early executive actions added weight to the questions around becoming.

While the gathering began on a somber note, an unusual yet energized calm settled over the room as the day progressed. Guided by artists and tribal and faith leaders, those gathered began to shift their perspective on this fraught time. Music, dialogue, stories, and art pierced hearts, reminding partners of their collective resilience, achievements, and shared power. They were neither helpless nor hostage to this challenging moment. The Network partners doubled down on their commitment to one another. In the North Sound, what is taking shape is both a response and an alternative to the dehumanizing, zero-sum culture wars of recent years. It is a story of a regional community growing belonging and strengthening civic muscle to solve real problems. They are “positive deviants” in an under-reported story of communities rising and thriving together.

All People, All Places – No Exceptions

This convening held special significance as it marked the pending retirement of Liz Baxter, the fearless Executive Director of the North Sound ACH, the backbone organization of the Network. The renowned john a. powell of the Othering & Belonging Institute came to honor Liz and recognize how the Network has become a national exemplar. In his remarks, powell noted how the strategy of “belonging through othering”—uniting by demonizing others—has repeatedly produced devastating results, including Rwanda’s horrific civil war. His message underscored how, especially in times of uncertainty, exclusionary approaches can dangerously distort unity and fuel destructive outcomes. It was a fitting reflection for a convening held during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as King himself reminded us that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” The North Sound partners embody this truth, showing that real belonging emerges not through division but from shared commitment to one another.

The Network was sparked through Washington State’s Accountable Communities of Health funding, intended to transform Medicaid. North Sound ACH was among the first to choose the less-traveled path. By 2019, North Sound ACH and their network partners began shifting from a primary focus on healthcare coordination and delivery toward radically expanding their community partnerships and broadening their vision of whole community well-being. This expanded vision laid the foundation for a more holistic approach—one focused not just on urgent services during crises, but on cultivating long-term conditions for communities to thrive.

When COVID struck in early 2020, exposing the fragility of many existing systems, it underscored a crucial lesson: urgent responses alone cannot sustain lasting well-being. The Network’s integrated, community-driven model proved its value. Liz and Darrell Hillaire, Lummi Nation Elder, and executive director of the Children of the Setting Sun Productions, joined other leading non-governmental organizations and community voices from across the country to shape the “Thriving Together Springboard,” tapping into lived experience to navigate the compounding challenges of a pandemic, economic collapse, and deepening racial and social inequities.

The Springboard articulated a compelling vision and practical pathways to help communities navigate through crises and emerge with greater resilience, equity, and direction. Its crowdsourced wisdom was both holistic and pragmatic, converting failures of broken systems into sustained, shared renewal. It offered a decidedly trans partisan approach, uniting people around one guiding principle: All people and places thriving together —no exceptions. The Springboard introduced seven interconnected Vital Conditions essential for holistic well-being and justice. The Vital Conditions framework has been key to reinforcing the unifying, measurable expectation that every person and place can thrive—no exceptions.

Dynamics of Thriving Together

North Sound ACH and its network partners were among the earliest adopters of the Vital Conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos—a comprehensive strategy to establish the Vital Conditions, through shared stewardship, powered by belonging and civic muscle. This approach sees community as a place that confers dignity, expands opportunity, and unlocks human potential. Urgent services alone cannot create lasting well-being. The answer lies in moving beyond short-term crisis response toward long-term investments in the conditions communities need to thrive. Doing so requires an honest look at the historical legacies that shape our communities—the barriers that have excluded some, as well as the pathways that have opened opportunities for others.

We all need the same Vital Conditions to thrive…

➔ No matter who we are or where we live, we all need the same vital conditions to reach our full potential. This non-hierarchical framework centers community and shared agency, diverging from other frameworks that place the individual at the core and reinforce independence over interdependence.

➔ When vital conditions are disrupted or denied, people struggle and suffer, which drives up the need for urgent services. If these urgent services become permanent stand-ins for long-term investments, we spiral into an “adversity economy” that traps human potential. The bottom line is that we cannot “urgent service” our way to thriving.

Our country and communities were not designed for everyone to thrive…

➔ The balance between who is thriving and who is struggling or suffering often reflects inherited legacies—past decisions, investments, and norms passed down through generations.

➔ Today’s deep racial and social inequities are direct results of unjust legacies – legacies of dehumanization, exclusion, trauma, and systemic injustice. These forces continue to trap human potential.

How do we move from systems never intended for everyone to thrive to systems that honor every person’s potential? It begins with everyday people and organizations committing to something larger than themselves, acting as stewards of the common good. Together, stewards work to ensure that everyone, without exception, has the vital conditions they need to flourish.

Community stewards work together to ensure everyone has the vital conditions to thrive…

Our country and communities also have powerful examples of just legacies—those that confer dignity, expand opportunity, remove barriers, and unlock human potential. We possess the capacity to create new legacies for well-being and justice, aligned with our founding ideals.

➔ Stewards are people and organizations who collaborate to secure the vital conditions everyone needs to thrive together, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering.

➔ Stewards are most effective when they grow belonging—a sense of connection and being valued—and build civic muscle, the collective power to work across differences for the common good. In doing so, they create enduring legacies of well-being for current and future generations.

The North Sound ACH and Network have done more than simply adopt the Thriving Together approach—they’ve brought it vividly to life. Its common language, values, metrics, and theory of change resonated across partner organizations, strengthening their resolve to advance a just, inclusive culture and the conditions that enable everyone to thrive. As a collective, the network’s partners combine their considerable assets, influence, and leadership to create new legacies for living together. Above all, the Network has modeled what it looks like for a regional community to intentionally grow belonging and civic muscle.

Growing Belonging & Civic Muscle

Belonging and civic muscle is the heart of the Vital Conditions framework. It is the key to boosting all the other vital conditions, functioning both as a means (tools that help us achieve better health, resilience, and justice) and as an end in itself (worth pursuing for its own sake). A consensus study from National Academies affirms that we are wired for connection and contribution. Belonging is more than being seen or included; it also means having the power to shape one’s community. As john a. powell reminds us, “At the core of belonging is the act of co-creation.” When people feel connected and valued, they are more likely to contribute, which deepens that sense of belonging. This creates a virtuous cycle.

The Network has nurtured this cycle by intentionally connecting through respectful relationships, starting first with the eight tribes. This foundational work opened doors for bridging across differences, inviting partners to embark on a tribal and equity learning journey, and deeply acknowledging past harms—broken treaties, stolen lands, culture-erasing boarding schools, and more. Partners like Children of the Setting Sun Productions model mending through storytelling to promote collective healing, demonstrating how vulnerability and empathy can nurture belonging.

As new organizations like Paths to Understanding join the Network, they intentionally focus on bridging differences by creating spaces for meaningful dialogue, exemplified by the Potluck Project and Let’s Go Together initiatives. Faith-based groups connect by leveraging relational and spiritual strengths, supporting individuals suffering and recovering from addiction and reintegrating formerly incarcerated people who are now contributing their lived experiences as leaders in co-creating innovative approaches to prevention, recovery, and reentry. The team at Underground Ministries anchors reentry work, while Kevin and Danielle Riley, a clergy couple with lived experience, help spearhead efforts to free people from poverty and addiction.

To sustain and strengthen these relationships, the North Sound ACH and Network have made significant investments in evolving their shared power—creating the collaborative infrastructure necessary to hold brave spaces for transformative conversations through creating shared language and intentional onboarding. Monthly learning sessions, annual convenings, and communities of practice provide continuous opportunities for weaving mutual interests, co-creating actionable solutions, and growing collective leadership. These intentional spaces foster a shared language and commitment, reinforcing the values and habits that enable belonging and civic muscle to flourish.

That’s why sharing space at the North Sound ACH network convening this January became such a source of strength, resilience, and hope. Among the hundreds gathered were people who had experienced profound lows and risen again. This was not a time to cave to fear or worst instincts. As Liz said, “We can lead with suspicion, or fear, or anger. And we can choose to lead with love even when those other emotions or experiences want to crowd out love.” This was a time to double down on love, commit to one another, and commit to who they were Becoming: a place where all belong and thrive together.

But how does a community cultivate belonging and civic muscle in practice? What does it look like to embed these principles into everyday life? The answer lies in specific collective habits, practices, and capacities—individual, interpersonal, and collective—that build the foundation for a thriving, resilient community.

The Habits and Practices of Belonging & Civic Muscle

No single formula exists for growing belonging and civic muscle. Each community must discover its own approach based on context, history, and assets. Yet certain patterns consistently emerge—personal, interpersonal, and collective habits, practices and capacities.

Belonging Practices

(1) Making Space for CONNECTING With Others

Connection & Engagement | Connection & Vulnerability | Self-Reflection & Nature

Humans are wired for social connection. “Connectedness is a biological imperative,” explains Dr. Bonnie Badenoch, a leader in relational neuroscience. Our shared human experiences shape our sense of meaning and purpose. Yet rising isolation damages personal and collective well-being, as U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy emphasizes.

• Regularly participate in social groups or volunteer activities, deepening genuine engagement and presence.

• Cultivate close relationships with friends or family, allowing authentic expression of joy, grief, gratitude, and vulnerability.

• Spend time in solitude, exploring mindfulness practices, embodied activities, or nature. Consider learning local flora and fauna to deepen your sense of belonging.

(2) Extending Space for BRIDGING Across Differences

Dialogue & Understanding | Expanding Social Circles | Cultural Humility

Bridging involves forming meaningful connections across divides—political, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and cultural. It nurtures mutual respect and understanding, creating friendships and insights often unavailable within homogeneous groups. While connection is natural, our brains can push us away from difference and discomfort.

• Create and join dialogues with people who hold different perspectives, engaging with genuine curiosity, empathy, and kindness.

• Expand your social circles through community groups, events, faith communities, or informal gatherings.

• Practice cultural humility and curiosity, openly learning about other cultures through conversations, art, and personal relationships.

(3) Holding Space for MENDING Our Woundedness

Difficult Conversations | Solidarity & Support | Inner Healing

Mending recognizes our wounds from personal experiences and systemic injustices. Whether consciously or not, these wounds affect how we relate, feel, and act. Mending involves both internal reflection and outward engagement, creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and accepted.

• Hold space for challenging conversations. Listen deeply and extend understanding and empathy.

• Show up in solidarity for community members who face injustice, oppression, or marginalization.

• Dedicate time and emotional space to your healing journey, utilizing tools and resources available for personal and collective growth.

Civic Muscle Capacities

• Facilitate community dialogues to build trust, establish a shared vision, and shape collective narratives.

• Agree upon a common language or framework to anchor collaborative efforts.

• Build consensus on shared priorities, approaches, and leadership roles, possibly through agreements or charters.

(2)

• Center lived experiences alongside technical expertise when identifying challenges and developing solutions.

• Design strategies that solve multiple, intersecting problems, prioritizing the needs of those experiencing greatest hardship.

• Build a strong case for change, using compelling narratives alongside clear, actionable strategies.

(3) EVOLVING Collaborative Infrastructure

• Regularly create opportunities for collective learning and action to build relationships across sectors and initiatives.

• Leverage technology intentionally to facilitate communication, coordinate community action, and measure progress.

• Grow leadership development pathways so more community members are prepared to lead.

“I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the possibility and wholeness in it.” —adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

At its core, all this work—strengthening civic muscle and nurturing belonging—is about a desire for wholeness. As adrienne maree brown emphasizes, wholeness is communal as much as personal, emerging from care, connection, and collective action. Ultimately, it is about reclaiming a sense of belonging, contribution, and shared purpose within communities.

Signals from a Movement for Thriving Together

North Sound ACH and partner Network are not alone. The Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions framework have been embraced by scores of social impact initiatives, investors, journalists, state-wide efforts, foundations, federal agencies, and universities. The widespread appeal stems from their power to help us re-discover our shared humanity and to find new paths forward. Perhaps because they inherently center community, grounding vital conditions in place, they resonate with countless communities across the nation, from California to West Virginia. These communities use this values-rich, bridging framework to forge a way forward, together. Here are just a few other noteworthy “positive deviants” forging an alternative path in a time of division and widespread paralysis.

Imagine Fox Cities

In Wisconsin’s Fox Cities region, a traditional collection of civic leaders flipped the script on planning for the future. They shared power by inviting a wide spectrum of community members to help reimagine and co-create the future with their great-grandchildren in mind. Major corporations, such as Kimberly Clark, joined a reinvigorated network of neighborhood associations and churches in creative bridging and belonging activities. These efforts aimed to address loneliness and dehumanizing politics, revitalizing the arts and music landscape to showcase an outdoor cultural landscape to reflect the rich diverse perspectives that were nearly invisible; and changing the way anchor institutions (hospitals, health departments and foundations) define, measure and invest in success. Thriving became their shared north star, supported by a community-wide measurement platform organized around the Vital Conditions and accessible to everyone.

Inland Empire Vital Conditions Network

In California’s Inland Empire, one of the fastest growing and most diverse regions in the country, a broad alliance of networks called the IE Vital Conditions Network is bringing together hundreds of grassroots leaders, nonprofits, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders. Their mission is to align policy, investment, and philanthropic efforts with the vital conditions. A consortium of Southern California hospital systems already uses these principles to guide assessments, priorities, and investments. Meanwhile, a “journalism innovation hub” is quickly garnering national attention by developing a solution-focused journalism ecosystem—including 280 radio stations—centered on the vital conditions. Their goal is to engage nearly five million residents in meaningful, solutions-oriented reporting that can help revive healthy democratic norms and values.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) of the Northwest Region

CHCs serve on the front lines of caring for community members who often bear the heaviest burdens of social and racial inequities. The CHC movement traces back to 1965 and was initially guided by civil rights leaders like Dr. Jack Geiger, drawing inspiration from holistic, community-centered approaches developed under apartheid South Africa. In 2023, CHCs from across five Northwestern states engaged in an Innovation Lab that used the vital conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos to co-create new practices, tools, and metrics. These resources aim to strengthen CHC stewardship of organizational and system changes, fostering thriving at both patient and organizational levels and reimagining partnerships that support vital conditions for everyone.

Thriving Together Democracy

The Inter-Movement Impact Project brings together a broad network of pro-democracy leaders, civic health reformers, social justice advocates, and bridgers. They use the Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions as a bridging framework to deepen collaborative learning and action. In an era where democratic institutions, norms, and processes face serious challenges, this network is lifting up and evolving next-generation participatory approaches to problem-solving. The National Civic League’s “Healthy Democracy Ecosystem” project, for instance, has mapped more than 10,000 organizations that champion a healthier democracy. As Harry Boyte—a pioneer of democracy as a way of life and Springboard contributor—observes in NCR’s Return of the Citizen, there is a need and a yearning to revitalize citizen-centered problem-solving. Kristen Hansen, Executive Director of the Civic Health Project, offers hope, pointing to America’s active and growing Bridge Building movement – hundreds of local bridge building organizations that are rejecting the toxic culture of polarization and embrace growing constructive relationships across lines of difference. Revitalizing citizen-centered democracy and civic life is indispensable to a thriving community.

These stories are not just inspiring examples; they are signals of a deeper shift, backed by many organizations that are building infrastructure so others can join in. Indeed, the momentum is growing. Platforms like Thriving.us, Stewards Rising, and the Community Commons help stewards connect, share knowledge, and spread innovations. As part of this larger effort, the Rippel Foundation’s ReThink Health initiative, in partnership with the Institute for People, Place, and Possibility (IP3), is tracking and documenting the movement’s evolution through a forthcoming State of the Movement hub. Together, these spaces and tools are among the essential Thriving Together infrastructure that will offer a clearer picture of the growing momentum, making it easier for communities and changemakers to see and learn from each other, find tools and resources to support collaborative action, and provide the data and stories to catalyze change and shape a new narrative together.

Becoming…

Today’s widespread sense of uncertainty and division can feel overwhelming, even paralyzing. The bruising 2024 election deepened a culture war fueled by disinformation that seeks to divide and dehumanize. Yet as David Brooks notes, profound cultural transformations often happen quietly—sparked by small groups of people whose better way of living becomes an example for others to follow. The North Sound ACH and their network partners, along with other community-centered efforts, are “positive deviants” who show us what is possible. Intentionally countercultural in the best possible way, they choose compassion, generosity, and connectedness, cultivating a hopeful alternative to division. These communities become examples for the rest of us, pursuing a path toward belonging and civic muscle, even in difficult times.

Otto Scharmer reminds us that when systems collapse, people rise. Perhaps even more accurately, when systems break, people rise together in community. History shows that this is precisely how meaningful change occurs: people see something good, something life-affirming and joyful, and they begin to copy it, spreading renewal from small circles outward. At this critical moment, our deepest longing for connection, wholeness, and love can only be realized together, in community. Our common future depends on it.

Join fellow stewards in a rising movement to thrive together: www.thriving.us.

We can use David Brooks’ recent opinion piece to help us ask the right questions which in turn help us move, grow and “build’ the future we desire as we struggle to respond effectively to the extraordinary ‘breaking” that is rapidly and forcefully unfolding right before our very eyes.

Excerpts from David Brooks 4/17 Opinion Piece:

….. Trumpism is threatening all of that. It is primarily about the acquisition of power - power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice….

So far, we have treated the various assaults of President Trump and the acolytes in his administration as a series of different attacks. But that’s the wrong way to think about it. These are not separate battles. This is a single effort to undo the parts of the civilizational order that might restrain Trump’s acquisition of power. And it will take a concerted response to beat it back…..

It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.……

Slowly, many of us are realizing that we need to band together. But even these efforts are insular and fragmented. …..

In other words, a civic uprising has to have a short-term vision and a long-term vision. Short term: Stop Trump. Foil his efforts. Pile on the lawsuits. Turn some of his followers against him. The second is a long-term vision of a fairer society that is not just hard on Trump, but hard on the causes of Trumpism — one that offers a positive vision……

Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP)

Brooks is pointing to the needs and challenges that IMIP has been attending to for a while now.

Simply put, the work and purpose of the Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP) is to catalyze and advance Strategy #4 of Rachel Kleinfeld's Five Strategies to Support US Democracy

“Build a broad-based, multistranded, pro-democracy movement around a positive vision concretized in locally rooted action.” ~ Rachel Kleinfeld

Thriving Together US Initiative

IMIP’s work has been evolving in step with what has been emerging. In late 2024 IMIP launched the Thriving Together US Initiative to to strategically broaden and accelerate the already rapidly growing Thriving Together Movement (in partnership with Rippel Foundation, ReThink Health, Community Initiatives Network, Institute for People, Place and Possibility (IP3), Community Commons and fast growing community of Thriving Together Movement stewards and partners.)

The Thriving Together “Building” vision, framework ethos and movement offers a powerful and widely shareable “positive vision” as Rachel Kleinfeld called for in Strategy #4. That vision is being “concretized in locally rooted action” in a rapidly growing network of Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy ‘Hubs”.

The Thriving Together US ‘Influence and Impact Building’ Flywheel

IMIP hosts several ‘generative connection’ forums, launched the TTUS Initiative in late 2024, and is helping to grow a Thriving Together framed communications strategy or “Vox” (Narratives/Narrators) and "Meshwork” a growing network of social media and communication properties focused on ‘innovation diffusion’ first and foremost. These are two key elements that are part of a multi faceted flywheel for catalyzing, connecting, aligning, growing, and cohering a transpartisan Thriving Together US Civic & Representative Democracy Renewal Movement of many Movements.

“It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising.” ~Brooks

Now, many of us, including David Brooks, are seeing the need for a Comprehensive Civic Uprising and Coordinated Civil Resistance. In his 4/17 opinion piece Brooks stated:

“What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.

It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”

This is where it gets tricky. The idea of a comprehensive national civic uprising is simple, logical and sensible. How to implement the idea has alluded the brightest and the best of us ongoingly and especially in the last 9 years or so.

Organizing and coordinating a comprehensive national civic uprising that is timely and effective is no simple matter. How to do that is the big question that IMIP has been working to help answer since late 2017. David Brooks observed:

“Slowly, many of us are realizing that we need to band together. But even these efforts are insular and fragmented.

What has been born out is that there is no single entity, party, movement or movement field that will deliver the ‘rival power” that is now needed.”

It seems pretty clear that we have to overcome our fragmentation and develop the forums, narratives, structures, processes and funding it will take to co-generate an aligned, cohesive and well coordinated movement of many movements to meet this challenge.

IMIP Hosted, Thriving Together US Themed, Connected Convenings Gatherings (One Zoom Gathering and Two In-Person Gatherings)

In May and June there are three strategic convenings (listed with links below) where we will continue our exploration, discovery and innovation diffusion related to the developing the generative change flywheel it will take to do what David Brooks and many others are calling for. Our on-going inquiry and mission

HOW WILL WE BUILD A MOVEMENT OF MANY MOVEMENTS?

“Build a broad-based, multistranded, pro-democracy movement around a positive vision concretized in locally rooted action.” ~ Rachel Kleinfeld

AND RELATED TO THAT

HOW WILL WE ORGANIZE AND COORDINATE A GENERATIVE BLOCK-BUILD-BRIDGE-BELONG CIVIC UPRISING?

“Right now, Trumpism is dividing civil society; if done right, the civic uprising can begin to divide the forces of Trumpism. Chenoweth and Stephan emphasize that this takes coordination…

There doesn’t always have to be one charismatic leader, but there does have to be one backbone organization, one coordinating body that does the work of coalition building……

….In other words, a civic uprising has to have a short-term vision and a long-term vision. Short term: Stop Trump. Foil his efforts. Pile on the lawsuits. Turn some of his followers against him. The second is a long-term vision of a fairer society that is not just hard on Trump, but hard on the causes of Trumpism — one that offers a positive vision.” ~ David Brooks

May 5th, Thriving Together US Nexus Forum (Zoom, First Monday of the Month): CONNECTED CONVENINGS: ADS, 22CI, BTA, EARTHX

May 13th, Pre-American Democracy Summit: Co-Generating a 'Thriving Together' US Democracy + 'We the Future'

June 19th, Pre-22ND Century Conference, Full-Day Gathering, Atlanta: Co-Generating a Thriving Together US Democracy and 'A Bigger We the Future'

If you are working on what IMIP is working on and Bavid Brooks is calling for, and want to be part of a growing generative change community please connect by

1. Subscribing to this Substack

   Subscribe now

2. Joining this LinkedIn Group

3. Contacting Walt Roberts at waltsearch@gmail.com to be added to our distribution / invite list.

Unpacking David Brooks Full Opinion Piece / On Civic Uprising, Mass Countermovement

The History and Current Situation

“In the beginning there was agony. Under the empires of old, the strong did what they willed and the weak suffered what they must.

But over the centuries, people built the sinews of civilization: Constitutions to restrain power, international alliances to promote peace, legal systems to peacefully settle disputes, scientific institutions to cure disease, news outlets to advance public understanding, charitable organizations to ease suffering, businesses to build wealth and spread prosperity, and universities to preserve, transmit and advance the glories of our way of life. These institutions make our lives sweet, loving and creative, rather than nasty, brutish and short.

Trumpism is threatening all of that. It is primarily about the acquisition of power — power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice. …”

How We see it or Don’t see it (Framing)

So far, we have treated the various assaults of President Trump and the acolytes in his administration as a series of different attacks. In one lane they are going after law firms. In another they savaged U.S.A.I.D. In another they're attacking our universities. On yet another front they’re undermining NATO and on another they’re upending global trade.

But that’s the wrong way to think about it. These are not separate battles. This is a single effort to undo the parts of the civilizational order that might restrain Trump’s acquisition of power. ….

…And it will take a concerted response to beat it back.

So far, each sector Trump has assaulted has responded independently — the law firms seek to protect themselves, the universities, separately, try to do the same. …. This is a disastrous strategy that ensures that Trump will trample on one victim after another. He divides and conquers.

How to See It / Frame It in order to Respond Effectively / Optimally (i.e., Not as a Democrat vs Republican Partisan Political Battle!)

Slowly, many of us are realizing that we need to band together. But even these efforts are insular and fragmented. ….

So far, the only real hint of something larger — a mass countermovement — has been the rallies led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But this too is an ineffective way to respond to Trump; those partisan rallies make this fight seem like a normal contest between Democrats and Republicans.

What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.

A Better Way to See It / Frame It: A Comprehensive National Civic Uprising.

It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.

Peoples throughout history have done exactly this when confronted by an authoritarian assault. In their book, “Why Civil Resistance Works,” Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan looked at hundreds of nonviolent uprisings. These movements used many different tools at their disposal — lawsuits, mass rallies, strikes, work slowdowns, boycotts and other forms of noncooperation and resistance.

• These movements began small and built up.

• They developed clear messages that appealed to a variety of groups.

• They shifted the narrative so the authoritarians were no longer on permanent offense.

• Sometimes they used nonviolent means to provoke the regime into taking violent action, which shocks the nation, undercuts the regime’s authority and further strengthens the movement. (Think of the civil rights movement at Selma.)

Right now, Trumpism is dividing civil society; if done right, the civic uprising can begin to divide the forces of Trumpism.

The Big Question: What Vision(s), Framework(s) Structure(s), Forum(s), Process(es) and Funding will emerge (are needed) for Coordinating a Comprehensive National Civic Uprising?

Chenoweth and Stephan emphasize that this takes coordination. There doesn’t always have to be one charismatic leader, but there does have to be one backbone organization, one coordinating body that does the work of coalition building.

Don’t Catastrophize: Assume Responsibility for One’s Part in Society's Problems, Show Commitment to Reform and to Innovate Something New.

In his book “Upheaval,” Jared Diamond looked at countries that endured crises and recovered. He points out that the nations that recover don’t catastrophize — they don’t say everything is screwed up and we need to burn it all down. They take a careful inventory of what is working well and what is working poorly. Leaders assume responsibility for their own share of society’s problems.

This struck me as essential advice for Americans today. We live in a country with catastrophically low levels of institutional trust. University presidents, big law firms, media organizations and corporate executives face a wall of skepticism and cynicism. If they are going to participate in a mass civic uprising against Trump, they have to show the rest of the country that they understand the establishment sins that gave rise to Trump in the first place. They have to show that they are democratically seeking to reform their institutions. This is not just defending the establishment; it’s moving somewhere new…..

Block and Build (with Bridging and Belonging for a Bigger ‘We’ the People): Short Term Vision and Long Term Vision

In other words, a civic uprising has to have a short-term vision and a long-term vision.

• Short term: Stop Trump. Foil his efforts. Pile on the lawsuits. Turn some of his followers against him.

• The second is a long-term vision of a fairer society that is not just hard on Trump, but hard on the causes of Trumpism — one that offers a positive vision.

Whether it’s the universities, the immigration system or the global economy, we can’t go back to the status quo that prevailed when Trump first rode down the escalator.

I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now. Trump is shackling the greatest institutions in American life. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

Not mentioned by Brooks is the Hands Off Protest & 50501 Movement

Massive Protests Against Trump Are Just the Beginning

• A co-founder of Indivisible lays out a vision for harnessing millions of protesters into an unstoppable pro-democracy movement By Tim Dickinson April 8, 2025

• REDDIT https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/

• Hands Off (Partners) https://handsoff2025.com/about-1

• 50501 Movement, https://www.fiftyfifty.one/

Here is the Brooks opinion piece.

Opinion

David Brooks

What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal.

April 17, 2025

By David Brooks

Opinion Columnist

In the beginning there was agony. Under the empires of old, the strong did what they willed and the weak suffered what they must.

But over the centuries, people built the sinews of civilization: Constitutions to restrain power, international alliances to promote peace, legal systems to peacefully settle disputes, scientific institutions to cure disease, news outlets to advance public understanding, charitable organizations to ease suffering, businesses to build wealth and spread prosperity, and universities to preserve, transmit and advance the glories of our way of life. These institutions make our lives sweet, loving and creative, rather than nasty, brutish and short.

Trumpism is threatening all of that. It is primarily about the acquisition of power — power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice.

So far, we have treated the various assaults of President Trump and the acolytes in his administration as a series of different attacks. In one lane they are going after law firms. In another they savaged U.S.A.I.D. In another they’re attacking our universities. On yet another front they’re undermining NATO and on another they’re upending global trade.

But that’s the wrong way to think about it. These are not separate battles. This is a single effort to undo the parts of the civilizational order that might restrain Trump’s acquisition of power. And it will take a concerted response to beat it back.

So far, each sector Trump has assaulted has responded independently — the law firms seek to protect themselves, the universities, separately, try to do the same. Yes, a group of firms banded together in support of the firm Perkins Coie, but in other cases it’s individual law firms trying to secure their separate peace with Trump. Yes, Harvard eventually drew a line in the sand, but Columbia cut a deal. This is a disastrous strategy that ensures that Trump will trample on one victim after another. He divides and conquers.

Slowly, many of us are realizing that we need to band together. But even these efforts are insular and fragmented. Several members of the Big Ten conference are working on forming an alliance to defend academic freedom. Good. But that would be 18 schools out of roughly 4,000 degree-granting American colleges and universities.

So far, the only real hint of something larger — a mass countermovement — has been the rallies led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But this too is an ineffective way to respond to Trump; those partisan rallies make this fight seem like a normal contest between Democrats and Republicans.

What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.

It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.

Peoples throughout history have done exactly this when confronted by an authoritarian assault. In their book, “Why Civil Resistance Works,” Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan looked at hundreds of nonviolent uprisings. These movements used many different tools at their disposal — lawsuits, mass rallies, strikes, work slowdowns, boycotts and other forms of noncooperation and resistance.

These movements began small and built up. They developed clear messages that appealed to a variety of groups. They shifted the narrative so the authoritarians were no longer on permanent offense. Sometimes they used nonviolent means to provoke the regime into taking violent action, which shocks the nation, undercuts the regime’s authority and further strengthens the movement. (Think of the civil rights movement at Selma.) Right now, Trumpism is dividing civil society; if done right, the civic uprising can begin to divide the forces of Trumpism.

Chenoweth and Stephan emphasize that this takes coordination. There doesn’t always have to be one charismatic leader, but there does have to be one backbone organization, one coordinating body that does the work of coalition building.

In his book “Upheaval,” Jared Diamond looked at countries that endured crises and recovered. He points out that the nations that recover don’t catastrophize — they don’t say everything is screwed up and we need to burn it all down. They take a careful inventory of what is working well and what is working poorly. Leaders assume responsibility for their own share of society’s problems.

This struck me as essential advice for Americans today. We live in a country with catastrophically low levels of institutional trust. University presidents, big law firms, media organizations and corporate executives face a wall of skepticism and cynicism. If they are going to participate in a mass civic uprising against Trump, they have to show the rest of the country that they understand the establishment sins that gave rise to Trump in the first place. They have to show that they are democratically seeking to reform their institutions. This is not just defending the establishment; it’s moving somewhere new.

Let’s take the universities. I’ve been privileged to teach at American universities off and on for nearly 30 years and I get to visit a dozen or two others every year. These are the crown jewels of American life. They are hubs of scientific and entrepreneurial innovation. In a million ways, the scholars at universities help us understand ourselves and our world.

I have seen it over and over: A kid comes on campus as a freshman, inquisitive but unformed. By senior year, there is something impressive about her. She is awakened, cultured, a critical thinker. The universities have performed their magic once again.

People flock from all over the world to admire our universities.

But like all institutions, they have their flaws. Many have allowed themselves to become shrouded in a stifling progressivism that tells half the country: Your voices don’t matter. Through admissions policies that favor rich kids, the elite universities have contributed to a diploma divide. If the same affluent families come out on top generation after generation, then no one should be surprised if the losers flip over the table.

In other words, a civic uprising has to have a short-term vision and a long-term vision. Short term: Stop Trump. Foil his efforts. Pile on the lawsuits. Turn some of his followers against him. The second is a long-term vision of a fairer society that is not just hard on Trump, but hard on the causes of Trumpism — one that offers a positive vision. Whether it’s the universities, the immigration system or the global economy, we can’t go back to the status quo that prevailed when Trump first rode down the escalator.

I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now. Trump is shackling the greatest institutions in American life. We have nothing to lose but our chains.

David Brooks is an Opinion columnist for The Times, writing about political, social and cultural trends. @nytdavidbrooks

What is useful here is a concise description, useful links and brief stories that paint the picture of the growing and expanding this movement to thrive together and a key element of that which is “shared stewardship”. Enjoy!

From Believing to Becoming: How Shared Stewardship Cultivates Healthy, Thriving Communities

March 18, 2025

By Anna Creegan, MA and Laila Hussain, MA, MBA, The Rippel Foundation

• Thought Leadership

A tension exists between envisioning a future where everyone thrives and acting on our collective power to make change happen.

By Anna Creegan, MA and Laila Hussain, MA, MBA, The Rippel Foundation

The AAMC Center for Health Justice surveyed a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults in late 2023 and found that people consider freedom from trauma, violence, and crime almost equally as important as access to nutritious food and safe drinking water. A declarative finding, it shows that Americans recognize that vital conditions are as important as urgent services are to having a healthy and thriving community.

Yet, having beliefs and intentions is far from making the vision a reality.

In The Rippel Foundation’s Pulse Check on Shared Stewardship for Thriving Together Across America survey, we polled nearly 350 individuals who play a role in fostering equitable, thriving communities and asked them: What will it take to live up to our potential to be good stewards of an equitable and thriving future? The majority of people surveyed — leaders from health care, business, and community agencies — agreed on the values and necessary conditions for thriving. Ninety-two percent agreed that we should use our wealth to create the conditions for thriving. However, only 26% said they were working on systems change.

Image description

What’s more, in new research from the FrameWorks Institute, there is a sense of injustice and hopelessness that change will come. Seventy percent of Americans believe that “the system is rigged” by an elite few at the expense of regular people.

Image credit: The Rippel Foundation

At Rippel, we believe that no matter how strongly people believe a system is rigged — no matter how fraught with income inequality, racism, and other forms of injustice — systems can be transformed through shared stewardship. We can define success in terms of driving shared action and values. We can look for common interests, mutual benefits, and opportunities to connect across boundaries, understanding the need to balance investments in urgent services with investments in vital conditions. We can join with others to transform our systems by building belonging and civic muscle, because we know that we can — and must — thrive together.

The Rippel Foundation works in partnership with the stewards representing people who identified systems change as their most important goal. These representing leaders understand that shared stewardship requires everyone in the growing movement to thrive together to advance equitable health and well-being for all toward an ambitious goal: a future in which everyone thrives — no exceptions.

What have these stewards taught us?

It takes shared vision to disrupt the status quo.

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in Pennsylvania is using the vital conditions framework to shift mindsets and deepen alignment among their health care network partners and community organizations. New concepts and a shared language of vital conditions helped LVHN physicians, clinicians, and leaders see the health and well-being of all Lehigh Valley residents more cohesively and the potential for new community health strategies. And new methods for measuring and tracking progress of vital conditions in Allentown have provided a method to bridge clinical and community health data and track signs of shared stewardship in action.

It takes humility to transform thinking and action.

Tanya Palmer, chief program officer at Children’s Services Council (CSC) of Palm Beach County, Florida, knew she didn’t want her organization to show up as the 64,000-pound gorilla. However, that view was entrenched among providers and community members. She understood the need to appreciate and recognize resident leadership as an integral part of building belonging and civic muscle. Palmer realized,

“…our role isn’t to fix the community, but rather to come in with scaffolding and support for what is already there...”

As one way of investing in scaffolding and demonstrating shared stewardship, CSC and six local funders created the Community Changemakers Fund, to support individuals, small businesses, and grassroots nonprofits committed to community change.

It takes capacity-building to create a movement.

Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD) is a diverse network encompassing 15 communities and 21 community-based organizations and coalition partners. To encourage shared stewardship to become the norm, HCD is investing in capacity-building to support partners across Delaware who are working on aligned and related efforts. Through liaisons, learning opportunities, and coordinated supports, HCD partners enhance their skills, knowledge, and abilities for resident-led change and community-driven revitalization, with belonging and civic muscle at the center of their approach. HCD’s investment has yielded a ripple effect. Between 2020 and 2023, HCD invested more than $3.5 million in community and individual stewards. Those partners went on to secure more than $15 million in additional funding, thanks to HCD’s capacity-building investments.

It takes belonging to scale for broader impact.

In the Fox Cities region of Wisconsin, many residents who weren’t thriving felt that they didn’t belong. A group of stewards committed to creating intergenerational well-being and a sense of belonging for all in their 19-municipality region created Imagine Fox Cities. They convened more than 80 dialogues with residents and conducted a 3,000-person community-wide survey on resident well-being. Together with diverse community-based organizations representing faith communities, government, philanthropies, schools, and businesses, they reimagined their North Star. With everyone’s input, Imagine Fox Cities developed four pillars for its vision of the future: 1) Kids get off to a great start in life; 2) An economy that works for all; 3) Thriving natural and cultural places that bring people together; and 4) Everyone feels like they belong — the center of the circle that begins the ripple of change.

Learn More About How Shared Stewardship Can Advance Equitable Health and Well-Being

• Shared Stewardship in Health Care

• Three New ReThink Health Reports Evaluate Shared Stewardship in Health Systems, Regional Networks, and the Nation

REGISTER FOR THE TTUS MAY 19TH PRE-22CI CONFERENCE FULL-DAY GATHERING, ATLANTA AT THIS EVENTBRITE SITE

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1322837605889?aff=oddtdtcreator

Our Thriving Together US Substack official launch is coming in early May, 2025 and just in time for the May ADS Phoenix & June 22CI Atlanta in-person TTUS gatherings.

What the Thriving Together US Substack is about.

Share Thriving Together US

"The Thriving Together movement includes anyone who is curious about exploring better ways to thrive together." ~Kristina Becvar / Bridge Alliance / The Fulcrum

• Movement Connector: Highlighting the work of various organizations and initiatives aligned with and exemplars of the "Thriving Together" ethos.

• Innovation Diffusion: Accelerating the spread of democratic innovations through strategic content that helps move from a few early adopters to broader implementation.

• Personal Connection Point: Providing a way for individuals to "take a stand" for Thriving Together, creating a personal connection to the broader movement.

Share

Co-Generating a Thriving Together US Democracy and 'A Bigger We the Future' Thursday, June 19th, Pre-22ND Century Conference, Full-Day Gathering, Atlanta.

Learn more about the conference at https://conference.22ci.org/

REGISTER FOR THE TTUS MAY 19TH PRE-22CI CONFERENCE FULL-DAY GATHERING, ATLANTA AT THIS EVENTBRITE SITE

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1322837605889?aff=oddtdtcreator

This Pre-22CI Conference TTUS Gathering is Co-Hosted by: Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP), Thriving Together US Initiative, NANR, Bridge Alliance, Civic Health Project, Rippel Foundation and IP3.

This Pre-22CI Conference TTUS Gathering is a "No Fee" gathering but please register here (on this site) to reserve your spot.

We would welcome your support of our (mostly volunteer) Thriving Together Us related work, by subscribing to our (just opened and still under construction) Thriving Together US Substack (

Thriving Together US

"The Thriving Together movement includes anyone who is curious about exploring better ways to thrive together." ~Kristina Becvar We are "Building" the new Thriving Together socio-political-governance systems while the current systems are "Breaking".

By Walt Roberts

NOTE!!!!!

To attend this Thriving Together US Gathering you must be registered for the 22Ci Conference (https://whova.com/portal/registration/XKIdaNCO3bjebgh5U8Cp/).

22CI CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Join Us: The 22nd Century Conference

Forging a People-Powered Democracy

Scot Nakagawa

May 02, 2025

In moments of democratic crisis, history teaches us that ordinary people making extraordinary commitments together have always been the decisive force. The 22nd Century Conference is your opportunity to join this living tradition and help write the next chapter of democracy's story.

THE STAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER

Our democracy faces unprecedented challenges. Authoritarian movements have gained momentum, democratic institutions are under assault, and the window for effective action is narrowing. But we are not powerless. Far from it.

BEYOND PROTEST: TOWARD STRATEGIC IMPACT

Being right is not enough. Being numerous is not enough. Democracy defenders must be strategic, connected, and sustained in our efforts.

At the conference, you'll:

• Learn proven strategies for identifying and targeting pillars of authoritarian power

  • Authoritarian systems depend on key institutional pillars - media, business, civil service, security forces, religious organizations, and educational systems. When people systematically withdraw cooperation from these pillars through strategic nonviolent action, even the most powerful dictatorial regimes can be defeated.

• Develop skills for organizing affinity groups that sustain participants through joy and community

• Connect with organizations building the infrastructure for democratic defense

• Practice techniques for coalition-building across ideological differences

• Prepare for concrete democracy protection actions in your community

BUILDING THE BIGGER "WE"

Democracy movements succeed when they build what we call "the bigger we" - coalitions broad enough to represent majority values while maintaining moral clarity about democratic principles.

The conference offers an opportunity for participants to form affinity groups - organized by identity, region, professional background, interest, and whatever fits you - creating the relational foundation for sustained movement participation. These aren't just discussion groups; they're the beginning of lasting partnerships for democratic action.

FROM MAJORITY TO MOVEMENT

We already are the majority. Polls consistently show most Americans support democratic values and reject authoritarianism. But majorities don't automatically translate into power. The conference will focus on how we move from being the majority to acting like one - coordinating across movements, organizations, and communities between and beyond elections.

JOIN THE STRATEGISTS, TEACHERS, AND BUILDERS

The 22nd Century Conference brings together the country's leading democracy defenders:

• Strategic thinkers mapping vulnerabilities in authoritarian systems

• Experienced organizers building resilient community-based movements

• Coalition-builders who have successfully united diverse constituencies

• Nonviolent action trainers preparing communities for democratic defense

• Digital organizers creating infrastructure for 21st-century movements

Through plenaries, workshops, affinity groups, and strategic planning sessions, you'll connect directly with these leaders and with fellow activists committed to this crucial work.

THE TIME IS NOW

Democracy has never been defended by spectators. The history of successful democratic movements teaches us that ordinary people making extraordinary commitments together are always the decisive force.

Join us at the 22nd Century Conference to find your place in this urgent work, connect with your people, and build the skills needed for the challenges ahead.

When future generations ask what we did when democracy hung in the balance, let's ensure our answer makes them proud.

Register todaySchedule at a Glance

More Background on the June 19th, Pre-22nd Century Initiative TTUS Gathering

This gathering is centered around the concept of "connected convenings" - an effort to link various conferences and initiatives in the Thriving Together US democracy ecosystem to create a more cohesive and impactful movement of many movements. This includes the upcoming May 13th Pre-ADS TTUS gathering and the June 19th, Pre= 22nd Century Initiative TTUS gathering.

On April 7 IMIP hosted the TTUS Nexus Forum (Zoom). It covered the critical opportunity and work underway to harness the combined energy of the Thriving Together movement and the civic and representative democracy focus of the TTUS Initiative. By focusing on practical implementation rather than conceptual argument, the Forum helped accelerate the diffusion of this approach throughout the broader democracy ecosystem and engage new constituencies in this vital work. Here are some information links from the 4/7 Forum and great preview material for those attending the May 13th and June 19th in person TTUS gatherings

• Are We Ready to Pivot? Reclaiming Our Focus Becky Payne

• Rippel Foundation / ReThink Health

• Communities Rising: Thriving Together in a Divided World / Monte Roulier

• Community Initiatives Network / Current Projects

• The Institute for People, Place, and Possibility / IP3

• Community Commons

• THE WIN NETWORK (Wellbeing in the Nation / WIN)

• Thriving.US

• Thriving Together US Substack Article / Deep Dive Progress Report: Forging a Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy Movement + Future

• LinkedIn Article: 12/9/24 Explainer Article: Forging a Citizen Led 'Thriving Together' Civic Democracy Movement + Future

• Braver Angels / Citizen-Led Solutions Initiative “DEMOCRACY IS… CITIZEN-LED”

• Mormon Women for Ethical Government / MWEG / Principled Voter / Principled Citizen

• New Citizen Project / The Citizen Shift / What if we saw people as Citizens and not Consumers?

• Rippel Foundation / ReThink Health

• Better Together America

• Civic Health Project “Civic Health Project is deploying massively scalable solutions to America’s dangerous divisions so that our relationships, communities, and country can thrive.”

• Sterling Speirn: The Seven Elements of Civic Life

• From David Eisner: Daniel Stid’s recent column,

BRIDGE BLOCK BUILD BELONG GRAPHIC

Run of the May 19 TTUS Full-Day

It is all right to join this meeting late if need be.

Doors open at 8:15AM, come mingle and connect.

9:00 AM Start / Welcome / Purpose / Accomplish / Flow / Connect

10:00 AM Round 1: Thriving Together - We The Future- A Bigger - other We Key Frameworks Narrative Themes Presentations and table discussions

NOON ; Lunch Break

1:30 PM Round 2: Entities & Endeavours for inter-movement “Building - Blocking - Bridging - Belonging” in the midst of all the Breaking.

3:00PM Strategic Thriving Together US Nexus Organizing. Implications & Opportunities for 22CI Conference Presentations and table discussions

4:30PM Final Thoughts

5:00 PM Finish

For those arriving on Wednesday June 18th please join for a no-host cocktails and dinner social (location to be announced / in or near the main venue) from 5PM until 10PM.

REGISTER FOR THE TTUS MAY 19TH PRE-22CI CONFERENCE FULL-DAY GATHERING, ATLANTA AT THIS EVENTBRITE SITE

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1322837605889?aff=oddtdtcreator

NOTE!!!!!

To attend this Thriving Together US Gathering you must be registered for the 22Ci Conference (https://whova.com/portal/registration/XKIdaNCO3bjebgh5U8Cp/).

22CI CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

About IMIP and the Thriving Together US Initiative (TTUS)

The Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP) (among other things) hosts the Generate Democracy! Community Forum, the Thriving Together US (TTUS) Nexus Organizing Forum, the TTUS Core Forum, the Generate Democracy! LinkedIn Group and the Thriving Together US Substack.

In late 2024, IMIP launched its Thriving Together US Initiative to strategically broaden and accelerate the already rapidly growing Thriving Together Movement (in partnership with Rippel Foundation, ReThink Health, Community Initiatives Network, Institute for People, Place and Possibility (IP3), Community Commons and fast growing community of Thriving Together Movement stewards and partners.)

The IMIP hosted forums, TTUS Initiative and growing "meshwork" of social media and communication properties act as a generative flywheel for catalyzing, connecting, aligning, growing, and cohering a transpartisan Thriving Together US Civic & Representative Democracy Renewal Movement of many Movements.

We are strategically catalyzing and generating a Thriving Together Democracy and Future as many democratic-socio-political-economic systems are breaking and collapsing.

About the 22CI Conference 'Forging a People Powered Democracy'

Forging a People-Powered Democracy conference, June 19-22 in Atlanta! 22CI is a national action and strategy hub working to create an effective, multi-racial, cross-class, and culturally diverse mass mobilization against authoritarianism. This gathering will bring together the pro-democracy movement to weave relationships, sharpen strategies, and equip people with skills and resources to effectively blockcounter the rise of authoritarianism while advancing pro-democracy strategies and campaigns. We will build on the momentum and vision established during 22CI’s first national conference, which was held in Minneapolis, MN in July, 2023. Please consider joining me and 1,200 other organizers, academics, artists, and cultural workers as we strategize to counter the rise of authoritarianism. Learn more about the conference at https://conference.22ci.org/

22CI 2025 Conference Schedule at a Glance

Wednesday, June 18: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Registration

(Registration will also be open each day, 8:00 am - 9:00 pm)

Thursday, June 19

9:00 am - 5:00 pm: Pre-Conference Sessions, either 9:00 am - 5:00 pm or 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm‍

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: 22CI Juneteenth Celebration at the hotel w/ snacks and cash bar

Friday, June 20

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Opening Plenary featuring Civil Rights Movement Elders

10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Future Visions breakouts

12:15 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch on your own

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm: Breakout/ Workshop sessions

3:15 pm - 4:45 pm: Breakout/ Workshop sessions

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm: Breakout/Workshop sessions

Saturday June 21

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Plenary Session: Non-Violent Civil Resistance

10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Scenario Planning: What are the tools of non-violent civil resistance and what can we do now?

12:15 pm - 1:30 pm: Lunch on your own

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm: Breakout/ Workshop sessions

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Breakout/ Workshop sessions

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm: Plenary Session: Building a Bigger We

8:00 pm: Affinity groups

Sunday, June 22

9:00 am -10:30 am: Breakout/ Workshop sessions

11:00 am: Closing Plenary Session w/ Brunch: Artists and Cultural Workers in the Pro-Democracy Space

Required Reading for the Thriving Together Curious:

An ‘Explainer” Article by Monte Roulier, Community Initiatives Network, IP3 Thriving.us and a co-creator of the Thriving Together Movement

Communities Rising: Thriving Together in a Divided World

Every January for the past five years, community partners with the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH) Collaborative Action Network (Network) have gathered in a majestic corner of Northwest Washington to connect, grow, and set direction. This regional collaborative of 247 cross-sector partner organizations, including the eight Tribal Nations of the Salish Sea, has embraced whole person/whole community approaches to transforming community health and well-being. People with lived experience of homelessness, addiction, poverty, and racial discrimination guide the design and implementation of solutions. Faith-based organizations are modeling love in action by adopting, reintegrating, and learning from formerly incarcerated individuals who are now visible leaders and entrepreneurs. Together, Network partners are embracing a new narrative of who they are becoming as a community.

Becoming was this year’s theme for the network convening, which fell during the week of January 20th—MLK Day and the start of a new administration. The historic coincidence highlighted the divided nation’s contested narratives of who we’ve been, who we are, and who we are becoming. Across the US, some celebrated the inauguration as a remaking of America, while others watched in despair and saw it as a breaking of America. Back in the North Sound, with a network composed of many groups and interests that fell in the new administration’s crosshairs, the sharp rhetoric and early executive actions added weight to the questions around Becoming.

While the gathering began on a somber note, an unusual yet energized calm settled over the room as the day progressed. Guided by artists and tribal and faith leaders, those gathered began to shift their perspective on this fraught time. Music, dialogue, stories, and art pierced hearts, reminding partners of their collective resilience, achievements, and shared power. They were neither helpless nor hostage to this challenging moment. The Network partners doubled down on their commitment to one another. In the North Sound, what is taking shape is both a response and an alternative to the dehumanizing, zero-sum culture wars of recent years. It is a story of a regional community growing belonging and strengthening civic muscle to solve real problems. They are positive deviants in an under-reported story of communities rising and thriving together.

All People, All Places - No Exceptions

This convening held special significance as it marked the pending retirement of Liz Baxter, the fearless Executive Director of the North Sound ACH, the backbone organization of the Network. The renowned john a. powell of the Othering & Belonging Institute came to honor Liz and recognize how the Network has become a national exemplar. In his remarks, Powell noted how the strategy of “belonging through othering”—uniting by demonizing others—has repeatedly produced devastating results, including Rwanda’s horrific civil war. His message underscored how, especially in times of uncertainty, exclusionary approaches can dangerously distort unity and fuel destructive outcomes. It was a fitting reflection for a convening held during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as King himself reminded us that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” The North Sound partners embody this truth, showing that real belonging emerges not through division but from shared commitment to one another.

The Network was sparked through Washington State’s Accountable Communities of Health funding, intended to transform Medicaid. North Sound ACH was among the first to choose the less-traveled path. By 2019, North Sound ACH and their network partners began shifting from a primary focus on healthcare coordination and delivery toward radically expanding their community partnerships and broadening their vision of whole community well-being. This expanded vision laid the foundation for a more holistic approach—one focused not just on urgent services during crises, but on cultivating long-term conditions for communities to thrive. When COVID struck in early 2020, exposing the fragility of many existing systems, it underscored a crucial lesson: urgent responses alone cannot sustain lasting well-being. The Network’s integrated, community-driven model proved its value. Liz and Darrell Hillaire, Lummi Nation Elder, and Executive Director of the Children of the Setting Sun Productions, joined other leading non-governmental organizations and community voices from across the country to shape the “Thriving Together Springboard,” tapping into both learned and lived experience to navigate the compounding challenges of a pandemic, economic collapse, and deepening racial and social inequities.

The Springboard articulated a new vision and practical pathways to help communities navigate through crises and emerge with greater resilience, equity, and direction. Its crowdsourced wisdom was both holistic and pragmatic, converting failures of broken systems into sustained, shared renewal. It offered a decidedly transpartisan approach, uniting people around one guiding principle: All people and places thriving—no exceptions. The Springboard introduced seven interconnected Vital Conditions essential for holistic well-being and justice. The Vital Conditions framework has been key to reinforcing the unifying, measurable expectation that every person and place can thrive—no exceptions.

Dynamics of Thriving Together

North Sound ACH and its network partners were among the earliest adopters of the Vital Conditions framework and Thriving Together approach—a comprehensive strategy that integrates the Vital Conditions framework, stewardship practices, and belonging and civic muscle. This approach sees community as a place that confers dignity, expands opportunity, and unlocks human potential. Yet if urgent services alone cannot create lasting well-being, what can? The answer lies in moving beyond short-term crisis response toward long-term investments in the conditions communities need to thrive. Doing so requires an honest look at the historical legacies that shape our communities— the barriers that have excluded some, as well as the pathways that have opened opportunities for others.

We all need the same Vital Conditions to thrive…

• No matter who we are or where we live, we all need regular access to the same vital conditions to reach our full potential. This non-hierarchical framework centers community and shared agency, diverging from other frameworks that place the individual at the core and reinforce independence over interdependence.

• When access is blocked or denied, people struggle or suffer, which drives up the need for urgent services. If these urgent services become permanent stand-ins for long-term investments, we spiral into an “adversity economy” that traps human potential. The bottom line is that we cannot “urgent service” our way to thriving.

Our country and communities were not designed for everyone to thrive…

• The balance between who is thriving and who is struggling or suffering often reflects inherited legacies—past decisions, investments, and norms passed down through generations.

• Today’s deep racial and social inequities are direct results of unjust legacies – legacies of dehumanization, exclusion, trauma, and systemic injustice. These forces continue to trap human potential.

How do we move from systems never intended for everyone to thrive to systems that honor every person’s potential? It begins with everyday people and organizations committing to something larger than themselves, acting as stewards of the common good. Together, stewards work to ensure that everyone, without exception, can access the vital conditions needed to flourish.

Community stewards work together to ensure everyone has the vital conditions to thrive…

Our country and communities also have powerful examples of just legacies—those that confer dignity, expand opportunity, remove barriers, and unlock human potential. We possess the capacity to create new legacies for well-being and justice, aligned with our founding ideals.

• Stewards are people and organizations who collaborate to secure the vital conditions everyone needs to thrive, beginning with those who are struggling.

• Stewards are most effective when they grow belonging—a sense of connection and being valued—and build civic muscle, the collective power to work together for the common good. In doing so, they create enduring legacies of well-being for current and future generations

The North Sound ACH and Network have done more than simply adopt the Thriving Together approach—they’ve brought it vividly to life. Its common language, values, metrics, and theory of change resonated across partner organizations, strengthening their resolve to advance a just,inclusive culture and the conditions that enable everyone to thrive. As a collective, the network’s partners combine their considerable assets, influence, and leadership to create new legacies for living together. Above all, the Network has modeled what it looks like for a regional community to intentionally grow belonging and civic muscle.

[Sample images for North Sound photo gallery to be inserted here - draft photo gallery/folder]

Growing Belonging & Civic Muscle

Belonging and Civic Muscle sit at the heart of the Vital Conditions framework. They serve as the key to boosting all the other vital conditions, functioning both as a means (tools that help us achieve better health, resilience, and justice) and as an end in themselves (goals worth pursuing for their own sake). We are wired for belonging and contribution. Belonging is more than being seen or included; it also means having the power to shape one’s community. As john a. powell reminds us, “At the core of belonging is the act of co-creation.” When people feel connected and valued, they are more likely to contribute, which deepens that sense of belonging. This creates a virtuous cycle.

The Network has nurtured this cycle by intentionally connecting through humble and respectful relationships, starting first with the eight Tribes. This foundational work opened doors for bridging across differences, inviting partners to embark on a tribal and equity learning journey, and deeply acknowledging past harms—broken treaties, stolen lands, culture-erasing boarding schools, and more. Partners like Children of the Setting Sun Productions model mending through storytelling to promote collective healing, demonstrating how vulnerability and empathy can nurture belonging.

As new organizations like Paths to Understanding join the Network, they intentionally focus on bridging differences by creating spaces for meaningful dialogue, exemplified by the Potluck Project and Let’s Go Together initiatives. Faith-based groups connect by leveraging relational and spiritual strengths, supporting individuals suffering and recovering from addiction and reintegrating formerly incarcerated people who are now contributing their lived experiences as leaders in co-creating innovative approaches to prevention, recovery, and reentry. The team at Underground Ministries anchors reentry work, while Kevin and Danielle Riley, a clergy couple with lived experience, help spearhead efforts to free people from poverty and addiction.

To sustain and strengthen these relationships, the North Sound ACH and Network have made significant investments in multiplying their shared power—creating the collaborative infrastructure necessary to hold brave spaces for transformative conversations through creating shared language and intentional onboarding. Monthly learning sessions, annual convenings, and communities of practice provide continuous opportunities for weaving mutual interests, co-creating actionable solutions, and growing collective leadership. These intentional spaces foster a shared language and commitment, reinforcing the values and habits that enable belonging and civic muscle to flourish.

That's why sharing space at the North Sound ACH network convening this January became such a source of strength, resilience, and hope. Among the hundreds gathered were people who had experienced profound lows and rose again. This was not a time to cave to fear or worst instincts. As Liz said, “We can lead with suspicion, or fear, or anger. And we can choose to lead with love even when those other emotions or experiences want to crowd out love.” This was time to double down on love, commit to one another, and commit to who they were Becoming: a place where all belong and thrive together.

But how does a community actually cultivate belonging and civic muscle in practice? What does it look like to embed these principles into everyday life? The answer lies in specific collective habits, practices, and capacities—individual, interpersonal, and collective—that build the foundation for a thriving, resilient community.

The Habits and Practices of Belonging & Civic Muscle

There is no single formula for growing Belonging and Civic Muscle. Each community must discover its own based on its unique context, history, and assets. Even so, certain patterns emerge in every effort to grow belonging and civic muscle—patterns involving personal, interpersonal, and collective habits, practices and capacities.

Belonging Practices

(1) Making Space for CONNECTING With Others

Connection & Engagement | Connection & Vulnerability | Self-Reflection & Nature

We are literally wired for social connection.“Connectedness is a biological imperative,” explains Dr. Bonnie Badenoch, a leader in relational neuroscience. Our shared human experience drives much of what we do, shaping our sense of meaning and purpose. Yet increasing isolation harms both personal and collective well-being. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy highlights the consequences of isolation and prescribes community-building as the antidote.

• Join others weekly (whether in a social group or through volunteering), and deepen your commitment to being truly present.

• Develop your intimate relationships with a few close friends or family members, where you can fully experience the range of human emotions—joy, grief, gratitude—with vulnerability.

• Unplug and spend time in solitude, getting to know yourself through mindfulness, embodied practices, and time in nature. You might learn the names of local flora and fauna to deepen your sense of place.

(2) Extending Space for BRIDGING Across Differences

Dialogue & Understanding | Expanding Social Circles | Cultural Humility

Bridging involves connecting across lines that typically divide us: political, religious, socio-economic, racial, ethnic, cultural and beyond. It fosters an appreciation of our shared need for mutual respect and can lead to rich friendships and insights unavailable in your existing, perhaps more homogenous social circles. Although we are wired for connection, the reptilian part of our brains can push us to avoid the “other.”

• Seek or create dialogues with people who have different perspectives or life experiences, sharing stories and practicing active listening with curiosity and kindness.

• Welcome diverse perspectives from people who are not a part of your usual social networks (neighborhood groups, community gardens, book clubs, faith communities, block parties, etc.).

• Cultivate cultural humility and reverence by learning about another culture through open, curious conversations.

(3) Holding Space for MENDING Our Woundedness

Difficult Conversations | Solidarity & Support | Inner Healing

Mending builds on connecting and bridging, focusing specifically on our woundedness. We all carry wounds that affect how we feel, act, and relate to others—often without our conscious awareness. Whether these wounds stem from personal experiences or systemic injustices, they shape emotional well-being, relationships, and sense of belonging. Mending is about healing and reconciliation, both within ourselves and with each other. It emerges when we hold space for people to feel seen, heard, and accepted. There is no simple formula; it is an unfolding process requiring both inner reflection and outward engagement..

• Hold space for challenging conversations. Listen deeply and extend understanding and empathy.

• Show up in solidarity for community members who face injustice, oppression, or marginalization.

• Carve out time and mental and emotional space to explore your own healing journey. Consider the many tools and resources available for trauma and personal growth.

Civic Muscle Capacities

(1) WEAVING Our Mutual Interests

Shared Language | Community Dialogue & Vision | Consensus & Leadership

Weaving is a recurring process of locating our stories and aspirations within a broader narrative, then shared priorities for collective action. It reveals the bigger picture of our common assets, challenges, and opportunities, enabling us to co-create desired change. Weaving also clarifies each person’s unique role and fosters distributive leadership, where everyone contributes within their own sphere of influence.

• Facilitate community-wide dialogue to engender trust, gain insights, and shape a common vision or narrative.

• Agree on a common language or framework to guide conversations.

• Build consensus on priorities, change models or approaches, and leadership roles (perhaps through a compact or charter).

(2) CO-CREATING Transformative Solutions

Lived Experience | Multi-Solving Strategies | Action Planning & Advocacy

Co-creation is an inclusive process that draws on those most directly affected by challenges and opportunities. Combining lived and learned experience yields solutions that are relevant, transformative, and more likely to gain support. Effective solutions often address multiple issues simultaneously—so-called “multi-solvers.”

• Integrate lived and learned experience when defining challenges, opportunities, and shaping solutions

• Develop multisolving strategies that move beyond urgent services, expanding access to the vital conditions people need. Start with the priorities of those who are suffering and struggling the most.

• Build a strong case for change, using compelling narratives alongside clear, actionable strategies.

(3) MULTIPLYING Our Shared Power

Action Learning & Shared Values | Collaborative Tech | Stewardship

Multiplying shared power relies on collaborative infrastructure: effective collaboration, clear structures, and aligned resources that enable community members and their institutions to coordinate their efforts. Just as a building’s physical infrastructure provides safety, electricity, water, and the like, collaborative infrastructure makes belonging and civic muscle practices possible across diverse groups, sectors, and networks, fostering a healthy civic life. This infrastructure includes face-to-face spaces, communication platforms, data technology, and more. It supports connecting, bridging, mending, weaving and co-creating, while growing current and future stewards.

• Establish regular spaces to democratize action learning, ingraining values and practices of belonging, weaving and co-creating.

• Use technology wisely to scale and spread collaboration: network communication, mapping initiatives or topics, collecting virtual input on problem-solving and action planning, and tracking common metrics

• Grow stewardship skills across sectors and generations, blending belonging practices with civic muscle practices.

"I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the possibility and wholeness in it."

—adrienne maree brown

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

At its core, all of this work—growing belonging, strengthening civic muscle, and reshaping systems—is about the desire to be whole. As adrienne maree brown reminds us, wholeness is not only personal but communal; it arises from connection, care, and collective action. To be whole is to belong, to contribute, to be seen and valued as part of something larger than ourselves. In this way, the work of the North Sound Partnership and others extends beyond solving problems: it is about reclaiming wholeness, both individually and collectively.

Signals from a Movement for Thriving Together

The North Sound ACH and partner Network is not alone. The Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions framework have been embraced by scores of social impact initiatives, investors, journalists, state-wide efforts, foundations, federal agencies, and universities. The widespread appeal stems from their power to help us re-discover our shared humanity and to find new paths forward. Perhaps because they inherently center community˛grounding vital conditions in place˛they resonate with countless communities across the nation, from California to West Virginia. These communities use this values-rich, bridging framework to forge a way forward, together. (link to map of TT). Here are just a few other noteworthy “positive deviants” forging an alternative path in a time of division and widespread paralysis.

Imagine Fox Cities

In Wisconsin’s Fox Cities region, a traditional collection of civic leaders flipped the script on planning for the future. They shared power by inviting a wide spectrum of community members to help reimagine and co-create the future with their great-grandchildren in mind. Major corporations, such as Kimberly Clark, joined a reinvigorated network of neighborhood associations and churches in creative bridging and belonging activities. These efforts aimed to address loneliness and dehumanizing politics, revitalizing the arts and music landscape to showcase an outdoor cultural landscape to reflect the rich diverse perspectives that were nearly invisible; and changing the way anchor institutions (hospitals, health departments and foundations) define, measure and invest in success. Thriving became their shared north star, supported by a community-wide measurement platform organized around the Vital Conditions and accessible to everyone.

Inland Empire Vital Conditions Network

In California’s Inland Empire, one of the fastest growing and most diverse regions in the country, a broad alliance of networks called the IE Vital Conditions Network is bringing together hundreds of grassroots leaders, nonprofits, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders. Their mission is to align policy, investment, and philanthropic efforts with the vital conditions. A consortium of Southern California hospital systems already uses these principles to guide assessments, priorities, and investments. Meanwhile, a “journalism innovation hub” is quickly garnering national attention by developing a solution-focused journalism ecosystem—including 280 radio stations—centered on the vital conditions. Their goal is to engage nearly five million residents in meaningful, solutions-oriented reporting that can help revive healthy democratic norms and values.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) of the Northwest Region

CHCs serve on the front lines of caring for community members who often bear the heaviest burdens of social and racial inequities. The CHC movement traces back to 1965 and was initially guided by civil rights leaders like Dr. Jack Geiger, drawing inspiration from holistic, community-centered approaches developed under apartheid South Africa. In 2023, CHCs from across five Northwestern states engaged in an Innovation Lab that used the vital conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos to co-create new practices, tools, and metrics. These resources aim to strengthen CHC stewardship of organizational and system changes, fostering thriving at both patient and organizational levels and reimagining partnerships that support vital conditions for everyone.

Thriving Together Democracy

The Inter-Movement Impact Project brings together a broad network of pro-democracy leaders, civic health reformers, social justice advocates, and bridgers. They use the Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions as a bridging framework to deepen collaborative learning and action. In an era where democratic institutions, norms, and processes face serious challenges, this network is lifting up and evolving next-generation participatory approaches to problem-solving. The National Civic League’s “Healthy Democracy Ecosystem” project, for instance, has mapped more than 10,000 organizations that champion a healthier democracy. As Harry Boyt—a thought leader in the area of democratic reform and Springboard contributor—observes in NCR’s Return of the Citizen, there is a need and a yearning to revitalize citizen-centered problem-solving. Kristen Hansen, Executive Director of the Civic Health Project, offers hope, pointing to America’s active and growing Bridge Building movement – hundreds of local bridge building organizations that are rejecting the toxic culture of polarization and to embrace constructive relationships across lines of difference. Revitalizing citizen-centered democracy and civic life is indispensable to a thriving community.

These stories are not just inspiring examples; they are signals of a deeper shift, backed by many organizations that are building infrastructure so others can join in. Indeed, the momentum is growing. Platforms like Thriving.us and Stewards Rising help stewards connect, share knowledge, and spread innovations. As part of this larger effort, the Rippel Foundation, in partnership with the Institute for People, Place, and Possibility (IP3), is tracking and documenting the movement’s evolution through the forthcoming State of the Movement hub. Together, these spaces and tools are among the essential Thriving Together infrastructure that will offer a clearer picture of the growing momentum, making it easier for communities and changemakers to see and learn from each other, find tools and resources to support collaborative action, and provide the data and story to catalyze change and shape a new narrative together.

Becoming…

Today’s widespread sense of uncertainty and division can feel overwhelming, even paralyzing. The bruising 2024 election deepened a culture war fueled by disinformation that seeks to divide and dehumanize. Yet as David Brooks notes, profound cultural transformations often happen quietly—sparked by small groups of people whose better way of living becomes an example for others to follow. The North Sound ACH and their network partners, along with other community-centered efforts, embody this idea as “positive deviants.” Intentionally countercultural in the best possible way, they choose compassion, generosity, and connectedness, cultivating a hopeful alternative to division. These communities become examples for the rest of us, modeling a path toward belonging and civic muscle, even in difficult times.

Otto Scharmer reminds us that when systems break, people rise. Perhaps even more accurately, when systems break, people rise together in community. History shows that this is precisely how meaningful change occurs: people see something good, something life-affirming and joyful, and they begin to copy it, spreading renewal from small circles outward. At this critical moment, our deepest longing for connection, wholeness, and love can only be realized together, in community. Our better future depends on it.

Join us and other positive deviants in building this better future: www.thriving.us.