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Civic Knowledge and Skills That We Can Use to Help Ourselves and Our Society More Constructively Handle Intractable Conflict >
Civic Engagement
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Taking Advantage of Citizen Participation Opportunities

News and Opinion
Citizen Connect
A non-partisan platform to help Americans find ways to heal our political divides and strengthen our democracy by making it easy to find civic organizations and events of interest to all visitors.

Colleague Activities
Finding the Way Out: A Once-a- Day Political Courage Challenge
This is an invitation to look deeply but kindly within yourself and work with others to fight the toxic division that's tearing our country apart. Based on the research of our colleague Peter Coleman.

BI Article
Daniel Stid: Citizens' Assemblies: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Again)
Citizens' assemblies are an ancient form of governance, used by the Athenians in the 5th Century B.C., whose time has come again. Daniel Stid reports on their increasing use and benefits around the world, including in the U.S.

BI Article
Better Together America: Another Example of Massively Parallel Democracy Building at Work
A report on Better Together America's first Hub Accelerator Workshop -- an inspiring get together of people from around the United States who are working in a wide variety of ways to strengthen civic engagement in their local communities.

BI Article
Kenneth Boulding's First Law: If It Exists (or Has Been Done), It Must Be Possible
Reflections on the vital role played by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the fraught relationship between those organizations and governmental sources of support.

BI Article
Richard Harwood Talks With Heidi Burgess About His "New Civic Path"
Heidi Burgess talks with Richard Harwood, President and Founder of the Harwood Institute about how community members can work together to overcome even their most difficult problems

BI Article
Parties to Intractable Conflict
This essay gives a brief introduction into the roles people involved in an intractable conflict can play.

Colleague Activities
Civity Blog -- Bridging Divides to Strengthen Communities
A great source for ideas on how to help people create authentic, empathetic, and meaningful relationships with people who differ from themselves.

Colleague Activities
Civity: All About Connection on the Path of Life
A reflection on how simple, and beneficial the practice of "civity" is.

Colleague Activities
Humanity's Phase Shift', Daniel Schmachtenberger
A video discussing why modern day governance isn't working, and what every individual must do within themselves to enable us as a community and society, to work out our problems together.

Colleague Activities
The public has a role in defending and sustaining democracy
Places to start: strengthening the electoral system, encouraging the value of public service, and focusing less on identity that divides us and more on commonalities that unite.

Colleague Activities
National Civic League
The mission of the National Civic League is to advance civic engagement to create equitable, thriving communities. We achieve this by inspiring, supporting and recognizing inclusive approaches to community decision-making.

Colleague Activities
The Ohio State University's Divided Community Project's Virtual Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to support community leaders as they identify and address issues tearing at the social fabric of their respective communities with materials for on-campus and off-campus audiences.

Colleague Activities
Democratic Engagement after Two Summits for Democracy
A report summarizing lessons from the Year of Action and Second Summit, and presenting opportunities for shaping an inclusive and effective Third Summit for Democracy.

Colleague Activities
Network for Responsible Public Policy
NFRPP provides stories that educate, inform, foster civic engagement, and generate a sense of shared purpose to help keep US democracy dynamic and viable.