This Is Civity
Civity is a culture of deliberately engaging in relationships of respect and empathy with others who are different. Our world today is one of haves and have-nots, insiders and outsiders, people who belong and people who are marginalized because they are other. By reaching out person-to-person to others who are different, all of us together create the relational infrastructure to build solidarity, justice, and resilience in our communities. Our differences are our strengths. This is ‘civity.’ Our podcast showcases interviews with people bridging power-based divides to move communities forward on issues grounded in inequities.
Episodes
My guest is Nathan Smolensky, Independent strategist and Author of the book Common Ground from the Ground Up: How rethinking politics can help us feel heard, heal relationships, and fix our democracy. This book offers mindsets and tools we can use to engage in more productive conversations and lay the foundation for positive societal change.
In this episode, we talk with April Ossmann, poet and independent editor, and author of WE… a collection of poems focused on bridging divides by exploring unconscious prejudices. In We, Ossmann hopes to change our perceptions to heal our families and friendships.
In this episode, we talk with Seth Pinsky…CEO of the 92nd St. Y in New York, a cultural stalwart in the city focused on convening people across difference, with the goal of helping everyone connect and be in community with each other. For more, go to 92ny.org.
In this episode, we talk with James Coan, Co-Founder and Executive Director of More Like US, a national organization that seeks to correct political misperceptions – helping people see that we’re not really as different as we sometimes think we are. Coan says the goal of More Like US is to help increase the scale of bridging efforts.
For more information and to check out the lesson plans and other resources, go to MoreLikeUS.org.
In this episode, we talk with John Paul Lederach – professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, focused on international peacebuilding. Lederach spent much of his career helping build peace in conflict areas around the world, and has written extensively on his experiences.
Together, we explore the importance of building relationships across divides and differences to achieve meaningful foundations for building lasting peace. ...
In this episode, we talk with Angela Bradbery – Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism & Communications. Bradbery spearheads the annual Public Interest Communications Summer Institute — bringing educators, researchers, practitioners and others together to explore how to best communicate in the public interest.
Bradbery’s work in Public Interest Communications focu...
In this episode, we talk with Jennifer Leshnower, Bridging & Democracy Advisor at AmeriCorps.
Jennifer and I discuss the importance of bringing people together… and how relationship building through service, and looking outward from ourselves to see others, can help build meaningful relationships to tackle sticky problems and strengthen communities.
To learn more, go to americorps.gov.
In this episode, we talk with Ben Bain, volunteer Brick Yard leader for the Washington, D.C. area for the organization More Perfect Union. More Perfect Union seeks to strengthen communities through social connection, service, and civic engagement.
Ben is a veteran – and a dog lover – who wanted to find ways to weave connective tissue in his community. More Perfect Union allows him do this by working toward building relationships amo...
In this episode, we talk with Michael McRay, experiential story coach, and founder of Becoming Restoried.
Michael helps others find and share their own stories, toward healing, reconciling, and connection. The stories we create have the power to connect or divide – and when someone does not have control of their story, it can be dehumanizing.
Michael helps people see both themselves – and each other – as human, which in turn connects...
In this episode, we talk with Mónica Guzmán, Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, and author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times.
Mónica at first dedicated her career to connecting people across differences through journalism… but then moved into the bridging space to find a more effective way to bring people together in relationship.
Through it a...
In this episode, we talk with David Brooks, New York Times Columnist, and author of How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.
We explore David’s journey to find ways to know other people better and learn how to share his own stories and experiences as part of the knowing process. He shares the lessons and strategies he’s learned to cultivate relationships, big and small, as a way to weave communit...
In this episode, we chat with Alexandra Hudson about her new book -The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves. Hudson explores the difference between politeness and what Hudson calls civility – and we call CIVITY – truly seeing an OTHER and recognizing their humanity and dignity.
Alexandra is also founder of Civic Renaissance, an online space dedicated to elevating our public discourse.
In this episode, we explore the importance of strong neighborhood and community relationships to the health of nations, and we discuss the fact that many neighborhoods in the U.S. don’t have strong local ties and need structural and systemic help.
My guest is Seth Kaplan - Author of Fragile Neighborhoods Repairing American Society One Zip Code at a Time. Seth is also an international relations expert whose job is to help fragile sta...
In this episode, we talk with Riaz Patel, executive producer and director focusing on reality shows that depict people connecting and having positive transformations. Riaz created what he calls the EPIC system - with EPIC standing for Equalization, Personalization, Information Gathering, and Collaboration - something very in line with Civity’s approach to helping people connect across differences.
In this episode, we explore how "othering" has led to increased marginalization and vilification of people who are un-housed - and how civity can help counter this trend by helping people who are housed see the humanity of those without housing. My guest is Eric Tars, Legal Director of National Homelessness Law Center, who reminds us that housing is a human right. Tars hopes that helping people see each other's humanity can bring t...
In this episode, we explore how engaging across our racial and class divides and cultivating solidarity can help bring us together to care for and nurture our democracy.
My guest is Ian Haney López, professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, and author of several books, including Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, and Merge Left: Fusing Race & Class, Winning Electio...
In this episode, we explore a massive new study on improving the health of democracy. The Strengthening Democracy Challenge invited more than 30,000 people to engage with 25 interventions. The goal was to find ways to reduce things like partisan animosity, partisan violence, and anti-democratic attitudes, and increase social trust and a willingness to engage with people across socially salient differences.
Civity’s intervention was ...
In this episode, we welcome Dr. Jacqueline Font-Guzmán, vice president for diversity, equity, & inclusion at Eastern Mennonite University; and strategic vision director for the Center of Justice & Peace Building at EMU.
Civity has been privileged to support EMU on its Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) journey with workshops for the President and her Cabinet and the Board of Trustees.
Together, we explore how to make DE...
In this episode, we welcome Graham Bodie, professor of integrated marketing communication at the University of Mississippi, and chief listening officer with the Listen First Project.
As with Civity, the Listen First Project supports the creation of bridging relationships - focusing its efforts on elevating the impact, visibility, and voice of organizations doing bridging work.
We explore how Listen First brings bridging organ...
In this episode, we speak with David Eisner, CEO of the nonprofit bridging organization Convergence , about the increasing role of bridging organizations in cultivating relationships across difference, and working to preserve and nurture healthy civic spaces.
Convergence convenes people and groups with divergent views to build trust, identify solutions, and form alliances for action on critical national issues.
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