More Diversity, More Grassroots Connections for Bridge Alliance

Posted by Bridge Alliance Education Fund on November 01, 2019 at 6:30 PM

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This week, the Bridge Alliance Education Fund hosted our second Summit where Bridge Alliance members connect with others in the democracy field and explore opportunities to collaborate.

We kicked off the day with an inspiring message from team member, Shakira Mills, who reminded us why we do our work — to leave a better country and world for our children. Her new daughter, Kennedi, is three weeks old and made her democracy field debut.

We were then serenaded with two songs from the show Hamilton; “My Shot” and “In the Room Where it Happened.” We asked the participants to identify their own “shot” and to share their stories, their vision of America for the future.

And we asked the diverse participants to leave their partisanship at the door. We asked them to rise up today and to be in the room where it happened.

And indeed THEY DID. Their stories of personal and collective dreams inspired us to believe we could transform our nation into a more perfect union.

While the energy was powerful, we all realized that healthy self governance is far more than music. Democracy is not a spectator sport and we must inspire MILLIONS of citizens to become involved. We asked participants to turn the power of what happened in the room into a larger source of inspiration for millions of citizens across this great land.

Much of the day was spent in developing relationships with people who normally wouldn’t be in “the room where it happened.” Participants were from all parts of the nation, and represented various faiths, races, generations, and theories of government and ideologies. Our afternoon work included drafting a short story about the nation in 2039 and how we got there. One group drew their story, and we included it below. Overall, many thanks to the 200 people who participated fully in the Summit.

We ended the day together as ONE voicing the words of Lin Manuel Miranda and as we made a toast:

Raise a glass to Freedom

Raise the glass to all of us

Tomorrow there will be more of us

They will tell the story of today.

What’s next? We will follow with two working groups, both of whom will expand the community of collaborative organizations and individuals as we grow our movement.

Grassroots Coalition Task Force - to connect efforts within local communities to nationwide democracy reform work.
Digital Scrapbook - creating and sharing our vision for the future in a way that helps define potential strategies and tactics.

Look for more information about these efforts in the coming weeks and months.

In other news:

America Indivisible is inviting local, state, and national leaders to explain how they plan to fight extreme hate in America. Winners will get a $5,000 prize to implement their plan.
Cities of Service just announced the winners of its 2019 Engaged Cities Award. Check out what Flint, Michigan, San Francisco, California, and Plymouth, United Kingdom did to win this prestigious award.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released a preliminary study on how Medicare for All could be financed, and the accompanying trade-offs.
Civic Spirit was featured by City Journal for their incredible work.

As always, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

David Nevins & Debilyn Molineaux and the entire team

Bridge Alliance Education Fund