Citizen Connect is a non-partisan platform dedicated to helping Americans right, left and center find ways to heal our divides and strengthen this great nation. Citizen Connect puts the events and organizations working to fix our politics right at your fingertips. Our 500+ member organizations need your help to heal America now!

Citizen Connect features a plethora of engaging events. They always have rewarding opportunities to get your citizen game on - some interactive, some informational, some virtual, some right next door. They welcome all Americans interested in making our politics better whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or Independent. 

Similarly, find a podcast, video, blog post, toolkit, app or more that lets you connect with making a better America. The organizations offering these opportunities are built by, and welcome, Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.  What they all have in common is a commitment to provide ways to come together again and strengthen our nation

Citizen Connect has over 500 organizations focused on everything from election reform to civic education to restoring civil dialogue.

The organizations on this site were founded by people from all walks of life, political parties, races, identities, and religions. What they have in common is a conviction that America is stronger if we, the people, work together. It isn’t about agreeing on everything; it’s about finding what we can agree on and making it happen. This means that all the organizations on this site also share a set of core principles: Civility, Fairness, and Reason. 

Learn research-based strategies for better relationships, dialogue, and understanding across divides. Relevant to anyone navigating conflicts and differences, especially geared toward college campuses.

www.edx.org/course/bridging-differences

About this course

We encounter differences every day—differences in race, politics, gender, faith, and more. How can we connect across these differences, especially at a time of deep social polarization?

In this course, you will learn core research-based principles and strategies for fostering positive relationships, dialogue, and understanding across lines of difference. Created by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center (GGSC), the course offers best practices that draw on scientific findings and case studies from real-world programs. It will zero in on how these evidence-based strategies can be applied to the divisions and conflicts that show up in our everyday relationships and in various sectors, with a particular focus on university and college campuses. The course builds on the GGSC’s popular Bridging Differences Playbook, which has already been used widely by leaders in government, education, corporate, and other settings.

A Conversation Café is a 90-minute hosted conversation which is held in a public setting like a coffee shop, bookstore or library, where anyone is welcome to join. Its simple format helps people feel at ease and gives everyone who wants to a chance to speak.

The CC method was created by Vicki Robin, Susan Partnow and Habib Rose. During the summer of 2001, Habib, a natural networker, invited Vicki Robin and Susan Partnow to experiment with organizing neighborhood gatherings of “Cultural Creatives” in Seattle. The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World is a nonfiction social sciences and sociology book by sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson.

​The three Seattleites were set to launch Conversation Cafés in September 2001, but changed gears after the 9-11 terror attacks took place.  They immediately began hosting CCs to help people process their emotions and thoughts on what had and was happening in the country.

​Imagine Chicago is a Chicago-based nonprofit that facilitates and trains people in community visioning practices. Founded by Bliss Browne in 1992, the organization utilizes a three-step process of understanding what is, imagining what could be through collaboration, and creating what will be through action. Its community visioning and planning model incorporates Appreciative Inquiry (with an emphasis on intergenerational collaboration), Open Space Technology, the World Café, and asset based community development. This approach has inspired the creation of Imagine and other community planning projects spanning six continents. Learn more at imaginechicago.org and see a list of similar initiatives cited by NCDD members below.

Imagine Chicago “designs, manages and facilitates intergenerational and intercultural networks and partnerships which cultivate hope and civic engagement and harness imagination for public good” through the use of constructive questions, dialogue, curriculum and event design, and network formation.