This Is Civity

Andrew Hanauer, director of One America , discusses the work of his organization in the face of significant polarization among people in the U.S. and the importance of having people work together to help find common ground to heal growing divisions in American society.

Greg Baldwin, president of VolunteerMatch joins This is Civity Radio to discuss how a Civity Brush on BART profoundly impacted him and people around him, eventually ending up on the social media page of KTVU’s Frank Somerville, who dedicates his feed to impactful storytelling. Baldwin now encourages people to set aside their instinct to persuade, and instead listen, hear, and seek understanding ac...

Jacob Hess is director of the Utah chapter of The Village Square and one of the collaborators of The All Sides Dictionary , which has been (and is being) written by over 30 volunteer mediators and educators who span the socio-political spectrum — from religious to atheist, far left to far right, and everything in between. Rather than trying to avoid bias or presume neutrality, the dictionary helps...

Paul VanDeCarr is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Working Narratives. He has spent much of his career using storytelling to build relationships, make connections, build understanding, and communicate ideas. Paul recently started a podcast called Who Are You in which he reaches across some sort of divide to find commonality with someone who may otherwise be considered “other.”

Vivek Patil is head of outreach for the Arlington County Democratic Committee in Virginia. Vivek uses a relationship-based – or Civity-based – approach to building community. This is in contrast to how political parties generally reach out to community members. His hope is that he can bridge divides and help people on opposite sides of the political spectrum see commonality in each other and then...

Marty Swaim, co-founder of Challenging Racism, discusses the importance of sharing stories and listening, even when it can be scary, uncomfortable, or frustrating. It is the only way to build understanding and bridge divides so we can solve community problems, such as institutional racism.

Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) SF, joins This is Civity to discuss the work of his community civil rights organization. CAA works to ensure that Chinese Americans and the broader Asian and Pacific American community are treated fairly and have access to government and civic leaders and services, so they can fully participate in the civic life of their commu...

Liz Joyner, executive director of The Village Square, says the work of collaboration does not begin once there is a problem to be solved. To be successful, that work must begin well before any problems arise, in the simple building of relationships. Joyner tells This is Civity Radio Show that relationships help build empathy and connection, two elements sorely lacking in our civic discourse today....

Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations, sits down with This is Civity Radio Show to discuss the importance of sitting down with people you disagree with to build empathy and common ground, and to embrace the hard but valuable work of collaborating to make our communities and democracy stronger.

Urban environments such as San Francisco offer many activities, services, and amenities. But if people do not know about them or how to engage, they can feel isolated or cut off. Katy Birnbaum, community organizer for Sunday Streets says Sunday Streets encourages people to be more active, make healthier choices, and take advantage of public transit. But it also helps people make connections and bu...

John Esterle, co-executive director of The Whitman Institute, joins Civity co-founder Malka Kopell to discuss the critical role of philanthropy in support of projects that build relationships to help bridge divides and strengthen communities. Photo by: Cambodia4kids.org Beth Kanter ( CC BY 2.0 ) 

Everyday Democracy Executive Director Martha McCoy discusses how we can address issues of privilege, social justice, and equity through Civity-building. (NOTE: This podcast cuts off after 23 minutes)

Civity co-founders Malka Kopell and Palma Strand join us to discuss their work, why they decided to create Civity, what they hope to accomplish, and what Civity is working on now.