Daily Resource Highlight - 10/25/2021
Posted by on October 25, 2021 at 3:13 PM
Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.
October 19, 2021 - Welcoming VPI, NAFCM, CARE LAB, and Vote by Design
I have been part of the Bridge Alliance family for four years now, and I still get excited when we welcome a new member / partner. It’s somewhat similar to the feeling I get when the University of Michigan’s (my alma mater) football or basketball team secures the commitment of a sought-after high school prospect. There is so much potential with every new addition to the team / coalition, and that potential energizes me.
This analogy is particularly appropriate with Vote by Design joining as a strategic partner. Vote by Design promotes civic empowerment among young voters, and its newest project -- the #AllVoteNoPlay playbook -- specifically focuses on student athletes. On November 2nd, 2021, NCAA coaches are required to forgo sports practice and instead teach their players how to be engaged citizens and community members.
We are also thrilled to welcome:
- Veterans for Political Innovation - A movement of veterans and other supporters dedicated to making our democratic systems less toxic by promoting election innovations. They recently announced Todd Connor as their new CEO.
- CARE LAB - A well-established nonprofit that led congressional tours of Cuba. They are now focused on building a bipartisan core of leaders on Capitol Hill.
- National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) - A national network supporting the maintenance and growth of community-based mediation programs and processes.
The Bridge Alliance’s mission is to support the work of its member and partner organizations, and we are excited to help these four organizations achieve their worthy missions. If you would like to support the Bridge Alliance and the Bridge Alliance Education Fund in our efforts to support these organizations and the broader healthy self-governance movement, consider donating to our matching campaign. For the rest of this month, your donation will be matched 1:1, which means it will have twice the impact.
October 22, 2021 - If You Enjoy Podcasts, Know The Democracy Group. Also, Stereotypes!
It took me a while to get into podcasts. I’m not sure why, but once I subscribed to my first podcast (I think it was about Michigan basketball), I was hooked. Now, podcasts have become my favorite way to pass the time when I’m driving.
If you’re also a podcast aficionado -- particularly for political podcasts -- then you need to know about The Democracy Group. TDG is a project of the McCourtney Institute at Penn State, and they have taken it upon themselves to find all of the best podcasts in the healthy self-governance movement and provide a sampling of each.
Do you want to learn about how our system has become corrupted? Check out Episode 30 and Episode 10, both of which are from the Swamp Stories podcast presented by Issue One. Would you prefer something more optimistic? Check out Episode 17 from the “Let’s Find Common Ground” podcast by Common Ground Committee. There are short (13 minutes) and long (over 1 hour) podcasts, and everything in between.
So look up The Democracy Group wherever you get your podcasts and find your flavor.
Separately, AllSides Talks is having another conversation event, this time about political stereotypes on Monday, October 25th @ 8 PM ET. If you believe your views on the world are a bit more nuanced than “progressive” or “conservative,” and feel boxed in by these broad, widely used labels, then this event is for you.
Unlike your average Facebook comment section, AllSides Talks encourages participants to speak from their own personal experiences without argument. And I can tell you that the discussions are fascinating. I attended the AllSides Talks on infrastructure, and learned about issues facing people in rural California, the Deep South, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. If that kind of conversation sounds interesting to you, sign up today.
Featured
- AllSides (article) October 13th: Port of LA, Major Shipping Companies Switch to 24/7 Operations Amid Supply Chain Issues
- AllSides (event - October 25th @ 7 PM ET): AllSides Talks: Political Stereotypes
- American Democracy Project (event - October 25th @ 6 PM ET): Ask an Expert: Climate Change and Climate Activism
- Braver Angels (article) October 14th: Does America need a revolution? Hear arguments from our recent debate
- Center for Building a Culture of Empathy (event - October 23rd @ 12 PM ET): Introduction to the Empathy Circle Facilitation Training
- Civic Genius (podcast) October 7th: “Getting It Done” Replay
- McCourtney Institute for Democracy (event - November 16th @ 4:30 PM ET): Andrew Yang and Charlie Dent: The Future of America's Two-Party System
- ReConsider (podcast) October 11th: How Did It Come to This? Part 1, the role of media technology in political polarization
- Unite America (article) October 14th: Making representatives representative