Disagree Better, a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to improving the quality of civil and political discourse in the United States, has released a new public service announcement featuring Princeton University professors Cornel West and Robert George, whose decades-long cross-ideological friendship models the kind of principled, relationship-centered engagement that strengthens democratic culture. The PSA demonstrates that sustained dialogue across big political differences is possible when grounded in mutual respect, intellectual integrity, and a genuine commitment to shared inquiry rather than persuasion. It offers practitioners, educators, and community leaders a concrete, relatable example of what bridge-building looks like outside the formal facilitation context. The work of Disagree Better aligns directly with NCDD's mission to foster dialogue and deliberation, supporting the broader field's effort to rebuild the civic trust and relational infrastructure that healthy democracy requires.

​Essential Partners is offering a two-day online workshop on May 5–6, 2026, focused on training participants in Reflective Structured Dialogue (formerly Basic EP Facilitation), a framework designed to help people facilitate and design constructive conversations in communities, workplaces, and other group settings. The program equips participants with practical tools to foster connection and curiosity across deep differences, build trust, and manage difficult or divisive discussions by learning how to structure dialogue with a clear purpose, encourage full participation, and navigate challenging moments effectively. The training includes hands-on instruction in EP’s facilitation methods and prepares attendees to apply these skills across a wide range of roles, including education, nonprofit leadership, clergy, healthcare, and dispute resolution. Scholarships are available based on financial need and community impact, and participants may request a completion certificate for professional development credit. The workshop costs $695.44 with an early bird discount, and registration is available through Eventbrite.

Paths to Understanding frames political violence as emerging from eroded trust and dehumanization long before physical conflict, driven by narratives that portray what people love as threatened by other groups. To counter this “shrinking belonging,” the organization brings people together through shared human identities—not partisan labels—using programs like the Potluck Project and Let’s Go Together to rebuild trust, reduce fear, and strengthen both “belonging” and “civic muscle.” Their framework highlights how individuals often defend group belonging rather than ideas, especially when political identity has cost them relationships, which can intensify polarization. This approach aligns with NCDD’s mission by showing how intentional dialogue and relationship-building can interrupt dehumanization, address root causes of political conflict, and expand the sense of a shared “we.”

​The Sustained Dialogue Institute offers monthly information sessions introducing its five-stage dialogue-to-action model, developed by Dr. Harold Saunders based on international peace negotiations and adapted for college campuses in 1999. The model transforms group relationships to unlock collective problem-solving through proven peace processes applied in workplaces, communities, and schools. It provides structured pathways from dialogue to action through relationship-building and distinct stages, preparing groups for collaborative solutions. The model recognizes that addressing deep-seated conflicts requires ongoing commitment and transformed relationships among stakeholders, not just agreement on issues, demonstrating effectiveness across diverse settings where traditional methods have failed. This offering advances NCDD’s mission by providing practitioners with a structured, tested approach grounded in international peace negotiation expertise, offering monthly opportunities to explore how sustained dialogue’s emphasis on relationship-building can address specific workplace, school, or community challenges.

Dr. Larry Schooler, a communication scholar and mediator, presents “The Thoughtful Advantage” framework for proactive conflict management through deliberate communication. He challenges instant-response culture by requiring multi-step self-interrogation. Schooler normalizes conflict as an inevitable natural phenomenon that requires understanding and management, not avoidance. He emphasizes practical tools like peer-to-peer discussion agreements, checking silences for authentic participation, and recognizing the spectrum of honesty. In leadership, he advocates facilitative approaches that create shared power through deep listening, personal attention, and sincere accountability. This framework advances NCDD’s mission by providing evidence-based strategies for creating conditions where people feel heard, establishing guardrails for vulnerability, and moving from silent politeness to productive engagement that acknowledges individual perspectives shaped by culture, gender, and power dynamics.

​The Horizons Project and the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley have launched "Democracy & Belonging: Learning Across the Atlantic," a podcast series featuring conversations with organizers and movement builders in the United States and Europe who explore relational and embodied practices for strengthening democracy amid rising authoritarianism and polarization. Episodes address tensions central to bridge-building work, including how to balance political commitments with fostering shared humanity, navigate power dynamics while building trust across difference, and sustain movements through practices of care, collective sense-making, and somatic resilience. The series emphasizes that democratic engagement requires transformation of institutional containers themselves, not just transactional inclusion, and that meaningful change emerges through relationship, vulnerability, and everyday encounters rather than solely through policy advocacy. This transatlantic exchange advances NCDD's mission by offering dialogue practitioners insights into navigating emotional labor, addressing structural exclusion, and cultivating the relational infrastructure necessary for countering democratic degradation while advancing belonging for marginalized communities.

​Essential Partners offers a two-day workshop on Designing and Facilitating Reflective Structured Dialogue (March 11-12, 2026) that equips civic leaders, educators, organizational managers, clergy, and dispute resolution practitioners with practical skills for holding space during difficult conversations across differences. The training teaches Essential Partners' proven framework developed over three decades of transforming conflicts, focusing on creating contexts for constructive communication, breaking destructive habits, designing purposeful conversations, and facilitating through challenging moments when polarization threatens productive dialogue. With scholarship opportunities ensuring accessibility and professional development credits available, the workshop builds capacity among diverse practitioners to strengthen civic engagement, enhance organizational resilience, and navigate deep differences of value, belief, and identity. This training advances NCDD's mission by expanding the network of skilled facilitators capable of convening constructive dialogue and building the relational infrastructure necessary for collaborative democratic practice.

​Braver Angels, a national organization dedicated to reducing political polarization through skill-building and collaborative action, addresses the personal toll of division through its Families and Politics workshop, which focuses on repairing and sustaining family relationships strained by political conflict. Grounded in the organization’s commitment to courageous citizenship and equal representation of Red and Blue perspectives, the workshop helps participants understand why family political disagreements are uniquely challenging, recognize common conversational roles, and develop practical strategies for navigating conflict without sacrificing deeply held values. By combining humor, empathy, and concrete tools, the program highlights how polarization operates within intimate relationships and demonstrates how targeted skill-building can preserve family bonds while supporting healthier civic engagement and community trust.

​Essential Partners, an organization with four decades of experience facilitating dialogue across differences, has published research-backed insights on how active listening builds genuine belonging in educational institutions, workplaces, faith communities, and civic spaces. Their approach demonstrates that intentional listening practices—characterized by full attention, curious questioning, and genuine effort to understand diverse perspectives—transform individual relationships and organizational cultures by creating environments where people feel valued and safe to contribute. The organization provides sector-specific trainings that equip educators, managers, faith leaders, and civic practitioners with tools to foster empathy, reduce polarization, and shift from adversarial exchanges to solution-oriented dialogue. Essential Partners' work strengthens democratic resilience and advances NCDD's mission by building the relational infrastructure communities need to bridge divides, engage constructively across differences, and collaborate on shared challenges.

The JAMS Foundation and National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) are launching the 2026-2028 Community Mediation Mini-Grant Program, awarding up to five organizations $15,000 per year to develop preventive approaches using community mediation skills to de-escalate family conflict during critical transitions like substance abuse treatment, assisted living moves, or mental health services navigation. Grant recipients will participate in a structured Learning Community facilitated by NAFCM using the Listening for Action Leadership Process, meeting twice monthly for the first six months and monthly thereafter to share challenges, test approaches, and develop replicable resources while creating at least one policy or procedure change over the two years for lasting systemic impact. This collaborative model emphasizes deep listening, collaborative problem-solving, community co-creation, and attention to power dynamics—principles aligned with NCDD values—with all materials shared across the broader field to strengthen community mediation practice nationally and internationally, creating pathways for families to work through disagreements collaboratively before they escalate into formal legal proceedings or institutional interventions.