Daily Resource Highlight - 12/27/2021
Posted by on December 27, 2021 at 2:24 PM
Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.
December 21, 2021 - Bridge Alliance Members Show Off Their Bread and Butter
My 8th grade English teacher always reminded us to “show, don’t tell” with our writing. What he meant is that writing is much more engaging when you describe a scene in detail, rather than just saying that something happened. Example: “I saw a bear in the woods and played dead. He sniffed me and then went away” versus describing my fear, the feeling of the bear’s nose, the sounds the forest made around me, etc.
The work that Bridge Alliance members do works similarly. It’s great to tell people what you’re doing and the impact it has, but nothing beats showing your supporters your work and letting it speak for itself. Below are some examples of showing:
- National Civic League released the 9th Edition of its Model City Charter. The Charter can be used by cities to reform their governance structures and make them more effective at addressing local needs. The Charter is available for free for a limited time.
- Eric Liu delivered an awesome civic sermon for attendees of Citizen University. The sermon was part of CU’s Civic Saturdays program, which joins elements of civic engagement with faith-based community building.
- Convergence Center for Policy Resolution released the results of its Dialogue on Guns and Suicide Prevention. Convergence brings together key stakeholders to discuss challenges facing the nation, and asks them to make recommendations.
- Public Agenda released a large, national survey asking Americans about partisanship. The resulting report, Putting Partisan Animosity in Perspective, shows that majorities of Americans of all ideological stripes want less partisanship, but don’t trust the institutions leading the country (social media, mainstream media, politicians, etc.) to help.
IndependentVoting.org, meanwhile, wants your help to show the power of independent-minded Americans. If you’re interested in becoming a spokesperson for the independent movement, complete this application ASAP. Spots are filling up quickly for its January training event, but they will have another event in May.
December 23, 2021 - Don’t Fall for the Kansas City Shuffle – Think Local
Recently, one of my favorite writers in our movement – Jennifer Thompson of Civil Squared – used carnival games as a metaphor for what’s wrong with our democracy. The “Kansas City Shuffle” is when a carnival game is designed for you to lose even when you “win.” In her example, a guy pays $3 for the “guess your weight” game and wins….a 25 cent prize.
How does this relate to politics? Well, while we’re congratulating ourselves for not buying into the extreme polarization of D.C., we’re losing out on valuable opportunities to govern closer to home. Our relentless focus on nationalized politics has allowed politicians to centralize power in America. (I’m definitely guilty of this – if you give me a Senator’s name, I can tell you their state….but I can barely remember my mayor’s name even though I just looked it up).
Fortunately, Bridge Alliance members are here to help. On Tuesday, we mentioned that the National Civic League just released its 9th Model City Charter to help local governments work more effectively. Separately, the Davenport Institute sees the trend toward remote workers as an opportunity for local leaders to meet other community needs. You can also watch a short recap of the Institute’s year (less than 1 minute!).
And exciting things are happening at the state level as well! In the Minnesota State Senate, both parties elected leaders who are committed to bipartisanship. Senators Miller and Franzen are injecting new life into the Purple Caucus, which “was formed to bring moderate legislators from both parties together to achieve the legislative mission of addressing the problems of concern to the people of Minnesota.” Surprisingly, the Purple Caucus was not named for the blend of Republican Red and Democratic Blue, but you’ll have to read the article to discover its naming origin story.
Featured
- AllSides (article) Dec 16th: Election Controversies, Voting Issues Remain in Spotlight
- Ballotpedia (newsletter) Dec 16th: Documenting America's Path to Recovery #216: December 16, 2021
- Ballotpedia (newsletter) Dec 17th: Weekly Brew: December 17, 2021
- Braver Angels (podcast) Dec 14th: Class and Black America | A Conversation with Bertrand Cooper
- Convergence Center for Policy Resolution (report) Dec 7th: Convergence Dialogue on Guns and Suicide Prevention
- Citizen University (video) Dec 4th: Civic sermon: cynics and citizens
- Civic Genius (video) Dec 15th: Having Productive Conversations. Tip #3 – Be Curious.
- Civil Squared (article) Dec 14th: The Great American Con
- Civil Squared (article) Dec 14th: The Great American Con
- Common Good (article) Dec 18th: 'It's Nighttime in America': How to Fight Back Against the Forces Pulling Our Nation Apart
- Davenport Institute (blog) Dec 8th: How Local Governments Are Adapting to Hybrid and Remote Work
- Davenport Institute (video) Dec 17th: 2021 Year in Review
- Essential Partners (report) Dec 16th: 2021 Annual Report
- Good Institute (report) Dec 13th: GOOD Institute Impact Survey
- IndependentVoting.org (form) Nov 30th: Spokesperson Training Application/Questionnaire
- Listen First Project (video) Dec 15th: #ListenFirst Friday Jaclyn Clark
- Millennial Action Project (video) Dec 13th: Presenting: The 2021 Rising Star Awards
- National Civic League (report) Dec 13th: Model City Charter, 9th Edition
- Network for Responsible Public Policy (video) Dec 10th: Bridging America’s Divisions. Can Americans come Together?
- Nonprofit VOTE (article) Dec 6th: Why the Election is Never Over for Nonprofits
- Public Agenda (article) Dec 8th: New Report from Public Agenda Shows How Ordinary Americans are Putting Partisan Animosity in Perspective
- R Street Institute (blog) Dec 14th: R Street Integrated Harm Reduction Principles and Priorities
- ReConsider (podcast) Dec 20th: Meta-Trans: Gender, Ethnicity/Race, and Transitioning between Them
- State Legislative Leaders Foundation (article) Dec 9th: Hope for the Holidays from the Gopher State: The Purple Caucus
- Student Governmental Affairs Program (newsletter) Nov 11th: SGAP Newsletter for November 2021 (Social Media Regs & Subminimum Wage)
- Student Governmental Affairs Program (newsletter) Nov 29th: SGAP Newsletter for December 2021 (Methane Emissions & Civil Asset Forfeiture)
- TechCongress (blog) Dec 17th: 2022 Congressional Innovation Scholars Program: Recruitment Event
- The Factual (newsletter) Dec 17th: Migrant family payouts - Abortion pill regulations - Trucker recruitment drive
- Unify America (video) Nov 19th: Turkey Illusion