Can we depolarize ourselves
in eight minutes or less?

This is one of the core questions that a prominent team of academics set out to answer when they launched the Strengthening Democracy Challenge. Described in this Fast Company article as a "mega-experiment," the Challenge crowdsourced more than 250 online submissions and tested 25 of these on more than 32,000 Americans to find out which strategies "could reduce partisan animosity and curb anti-democratic attitudes" ... in eight minutes or less!

Well, the findings are in, and they're truly encouraging. Leveraging approaches like "correcting inaccurate partisan stereotypes," "appealing to common identities," "applying cues from political leaders," and even "highlighting the threat of democratic collapse," winning submitters demonstrated that short, online interventions could meaningfully and positively change participants' self-reported attitudes about partisanship, democracy, and / or political violence.

Civic Health Project is delighted to announce that our grant support for the Challenge was recently, substantially supplemented by a financial award from Stanford Impact Labs (SIL). With SIL's backing, the Challenge team will announce a new grant program for bridge-building practitioners - paired with academic researchers - to scale and measure interventions based on the Challenge findings. Read more about the SIL award here!

Find out more about the Challenge in WaPo, Fast Company, or Washington Journal. Better yet, join the nearly 500 folks who have already registered for the Thurs, Sep 29th free, virtual conference to explore the Challenge findings, brainstorm ways to scale the most promising approaches, and learn about the grant program. Scroll a bit further down in this newsletter for more details about the conference and how to register.

Let's "hack" the platforms and systems that divide us!

Read on for more insights, activities, and resources to help all of us bridge our divides and strengthen American democracy.

CONFERENCE: You're Invited!Bridging Divides & Strengthening DemocracyFrom Science to PracticeThursday, September 29, 12pm ET - 4pm ET (FREE, Zoom only)

Attend the conference to learn more about winning submissions like the one below (click image to watch), from Beyond Conflict!

"Democratic and Republican voters greatly overestimate how much voters from the rival party support subverting democratic norms; partisans’ estimates of how much their rivals report supporting anti-democratic actions are more than twice as high as their rivals’ actual reported support for these actions." - Willer, Voelkel, WaPo

On Thursday, September 29th, 12pm ET - 4pm ET (9am PT - 1pm PT), join this free, virtual conference to explore the Challenge's findings. Review the speakers and agenda or simply register to be part of the conversation. Through a mix of plenary and breakout sessions, we'll review the best-performing submissions and brainstorm ways to scale the most promising approaches. See you on Zoom!Register for the FREE Sep 29 Conference

Revealing Report

Rachel Kleinfeld at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has just made an important new contribution to the literature on how we can bridge our divides and strengthen democracy.

Give yourself the gift of 30 minutes to read "Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy." Among other insights and recommendations, the report delves deeply into our hyper-polarized culture and how to reverse the cycle.

Questions about this report? See things differently? We'd love to hear from you!Download the Report

Grantee Spotlight

Big shoutout to the folks in Central and Eastern Kentucky who are engaging across differences and exploring shared American values in the pilot rollout of Meeting of America (a Civic Health Project grantee).  

MoA uses a custom online video platform and guide to enable real, respectful conversations designed to inspire and unite Americans. Participants are assigned to optimally diverse, small groups based on factors such as age, race, geography and political perspective.

In early surveys, 100% of pilot participants report "feeling heard" and 97% say they will invite others to join similar conversations in the future. As one participant noted after their first conversation, "We may all be very different, but at the end of the day we are all Americans and love this country."

In addition to philanthropic funders, national corporate sponsors include Walmart, Target, McDonald’s, Harley-Davidson, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Twitter, Petco, Boston Beer Company and others.

Mayors across central and eastern Kentucky, local civic organizations, and local media outlets have turned out in force to support and showcase this important initiative.  Watch these inspiring clips from local news outlets ABC36, Lex18, KET (PBS), WKYT, WEKU, and WPFL, or the full press conference kicking off Meeting of America in Kentucky!

Enriching Events - ICYMI

On Thursday, September 15th, The Village Square and Florida Humanities hosted "Ending the Zombie Apocalypse: How to Have Better Political Conversations" with Prof. Robb Willer, Director of Stanford's Polarization and Social Change Lab, in conversation with Kristin Hansen of Civic Health Project. Catch the replay here!

Watch the Zombie Replay!