Late last month, Civic Exchange member organization CHANGE IL hosted a reimaging event to explore the following questions:
What can we do to disrupt polarization in our communities? How do we interrupt hyper-partisanship to get our government working for all of us?
This reimagining targeted the dramatic increase in polarization in our communities that has affected every aspect of our lives in the past few years. In our communities, polarization has made it difficult for people to engage in the meaningful conversations and problem solving needed to address the thorny challenges of the day. In our politics, hyper-partisanship has made it increasingly difficult to make meaningful widespread change and has made it possible for opportunistic interests to take advantage of the divide for their own gain at the expense of the common good.
In this event, organizational leaders discussed the skills they use in their work to combat partisanship. Their conversation highlighted the skills it takes to bring wildly different groups together to begin a conversation with one another about a shared goal. It also included the tools being developed to address hyper-partisanship and push political leaders to work across the aisle. In this conversation we heard from organizational leaders who have acted as conveners and mediators for seemingly opposed groups; developed practices for disrupting hyper-partisanship; mobilized grassroots action to make our political systems better represent the interest of our communities.
Watch the conversation below:
Throughout the panel discussions, attendees to the event responded to the conversation and prompts using the chat and a jam board. Many participants offered reflections on the challenges they experienced during the pandemic supporting the learners in their communities as well as solutions they would like to see during the next school year.
You can see more of their responses in the images below.
We have a number of reimaginings on the horizon. Join us as we continue to imagine ways Chicago and Illinois can become the most supportive, responsive and equitable places in the United States.
