Confronting Polarization: DDNRC 2025 Conference Explores "The Weight of Words" in Fractured Times

As polarization intensifies and civil discourse breaks down, the 2025 Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center (DDNRC) Conference — “The Weight of Words” — offers a vital space for dialogue practitioners, educators, and community leaders to confront today’s most urgent communication challenges. Taking place June 30–July 2 at Washington University in St. Louis, the event will explore how language shapes division and connection, how identity and power influence conversations, and how dialogue must evolve to meet the demands of our fractured times. Read more in the blog post below.

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​The Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center (DDNRC) is preparing to tackle one of our era's most pressing challenges at their 2025 conference, "The Weight of Words: Navigating the Evolving Role of Dialogue During Polarized Times." Set for June 30-July 2, 2025, at Washington University in St. Louis, this gathering promises to be a critical convening for dialogue practitioners, educators, and community leaders seeking to bridge divides in an increasingly fractured world.

A Theme That Captures Our Moment

The conference theme reflects a sobering reality: we are living through an unprecedented era of polarization where public discourse has devolved into hostile exchanges between people holding different viewpoints. This breakdown in civil dialogue has profound implications, impacting our ability to work within and between communities, hampering democratic processes, and leaving many feeling helpless about authentic engagement when we can't even agree on basic facts.
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"The Weight of Words" acknowledges that language carries enormous power—to heal or harm, to build bridges or erect walls, to foster understanding or deepen division. In polarized times, the choices we make about how we communicate become even more consequential.

Addressing Critical Questions

The DDNRC conference will grapple with questions that keep dialogue practitioners awake at night:

• How do we engage authentically with others who don't share our values or identities?
• What does respectful, transformative dialogue look like in face-to-face meetings, online contexts, and virtual classrooms?
• How can we support meaningful conversation when participants start from fundamentally different understandings of reality?
• What role should dialogue play when communities are wrestling with deep-seated conflicts over identity, values, and belonging?

These aren't abstract theoretical concerns—they're the lived challenges facing educators trying to facilitate classroom discussions about controversial topics, community leaders attempting to bring divided neighborhoods together, and organizations struggling to maintain cohesion across ideological differences.

A Compelling Keynote Voice

The conference has secured Ernest Owens as its keynote speaker, a choice that signals DDNRC's commitment to centering voices that speak to intersectional experiences. As an award-winning journalist and CEO of Ernest Media Empire, LLC, Owens brings a unique perspective as an openly Black gay journalist who regularly addresses complex intersectional issues around race, LGBTQIA+ communities, and pop culture.

Owens' work as Political Writer at Large for Philadelphia Magazine and his leadership roles with the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences position him perfectly to address how dialogue practitioners can navigate conversations about identity, power, and justice in polarized times.
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His keynote will likely challenge participants to consider how traditional dialogue approaches might need to evolve to address the particular challenges facing marginalized communities in hostile political climates.

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Professional Development Focus

A notable addition to this year's program is the pre-conference workshop titled "Using Dialogue in Professional Spaces." This interactive session specifically targets professionals in higher education who are committed to justice, equity, and sustainability. The workshop promises practical tools for navigating challenging conversations, fostering collaboration, and creating inclusive spaces within institutional contexts.
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This focus on professional applications reflects a growing recognition that dialogue skills aren't just useful for community organizing or conflict resolution—they're essential competencies for anyone working in diverse professional environments where different perspectives must be navigated respectfully and productively.

Community Context and Social Responsibility

​The conference organizers have demonstrated thoughtful attention to the broader context of their gathering. Following an intense tornado that swept through St. Louis in May 2025, DDNRC has encouraged participants to contribute to storm relief efforts and volunteer service hours, modeling the kind of community engagement that dialogue work should inspire.

Additionally, the conference materials acknowledge St. Louis's complex history, including both triumphs and shameful episodes. By directing participants to resources about Washington University's relationship to slavery, the Cahokia Mounds Historical Site, and other significant local history, DDNRC is encouraging attendees to engage with the place they're visiting in historically informed ways.
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This approach reflects best practices in dialogue work—acknowledging context, honoring place, and recognizing that meaningful conversation requires understanding the historical and social forces that shape current realities.

A Call for Innovation

​By centering questions about dialogue's role during polarized times, DDNRC is positioning their 2025 conference as more than just a professional development opportunity—it's a space for collective innovation in service of democratic society.
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The conference offers dialogue practitioners, educators, and community leaders a chance to learn from each other's experiments, failures, and successes in navigating increasingly difficult conversations. More importantly, it provides a forum for imagining new approaches that might prove more effective in our current context.

Looking Forward

As registration remains open for this critical gathering, the dialogue and deliberation community has an opportunity to engage with some of the most pressing questions facing democratic society. The challenges are real—polarization, hostility, and breakdown in civic discourse pose genuine threats to social cohesion and democratic governance.

But conferences like DDNRC 2025 represent the field's commitment to rising to meet these challenges. By bringing together practitioners willing to grapple honestly with the limitations of current approaches while working collaboratively to develop new strategies, the conference embodies the kind of constructive engagement it seeks to promote.

The weight of words has never been heavier, but neither has the potential for dialogue to serve as a bridge across the divides that separate us. This summer in St. Louis, the dialogue community will gather to ensure that weight serves connection rather than division.
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Registration is still open for the DDNRC 2025 Conference. Learn more and register at the DDNRC website.