NCDD at the American Democracy Summit: Rethinking Conflict, Reclaiming Democracy

By Keiva Hummel, Executive Director, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation

From May 14–16, 2025, NCDD had the honor of participating in the American Democracy Summit in Phoenix, Arizona—a gathering that brought together democracy innovators, advocates, and organizers from across the country. This powerful convening spotlighted bold strategies and collaborative efforts to reimagine what a thriving, people-powered democracy can look like.

I had the pleasure of attending alongside Roshan Bliss, NCDD’s Director of Democracy Innovations. Together with long-time NCDD member Duncan Autrey, we led a session titled "Rethinking Conflict: The Future of Democracy Depends on It." This highly interactive workshop invited participants to explore the question that sparked NCDD’s Practitioner Mobilization for Democracy (PMD) initiative: Why aren’t there more mediators and facilitators in the democracy space?

That question—first voiced at ADS 2023—has since galvanized a growing coalition of practitioners dedicated to bringing the skills of dialogue, deliberation, and conflict transformation into our democracy infrastructure. Our workshop gave participants a firsthand experience of how conflict escalates—and how, with the right tools, it can be transformed into deeper understanding and collaborative action.

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What We Heard and Felt: Common Ground, Shared Language, and a Unifying Approach

Throughout the summit, we were struck by the growing consensus around several core ideas:

• Dialogue and deliberation are essential tools for this moment. Across issue areas, participants acknowledged that productive conversation is the foundation of meaningful collaboration.
• There is a shared urgency to counter polarization and disconnection by building relationships across difference.
• Cross-sector collaboration is both needed and desired. From electoral reformers to civic educators, from grassroots organizers to faith leaders, there was deep enthusiasm for working together.
• Language matters. Terms like belonging, repair, civic renewal, and interactive civic infrastructure surfaced again and again—revealing how aligned our values truly are, even if our methods differ.
  
  

At NCDD, we see these trends as signals of readiness. Readiness for collective strategy. For ecosystem-wide storytelling. For weaving together structural and relational change in pursuit of a more connected and resilient democracy.

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The Road Ahead: Strengthening Civic Muscle, Together

As we reflect on our time at ADS, we’re more convinced than ever that dialogue, facilitation, and conflict transformation are not side efforts—they are central to how democracy can and must work. The Practitioner Mobilization for Democracy is our invitation to the field. 

Join the upcoming Practitioner Mobilization for Democracy monthly forum on Thursday, June 5th, from 2-3:30pm Eastern, 11-12:30am Pacific. This open forum provides for cross-sector collaboration between meditators and facilitators to engage in strengthening democracy in community. Learn more about PMD at ncdd.org/practitionermobilization.html and sign up to join the forum by clicking this link. 

Come shape a future where civic trust, courageous conversation, and collaborative governance are not the exception, but the norm. ​Together, we are rethinking conflict—and rediscovering the democratic possibilities within it.