The message from this month’s midterm elections was clear: Most Americans reject political extremism and want a less divided and contentious nation. They also believe achieving that goal is possible.
This may have surprised the pundits and pollsters, but it didn’t surprise us. As the leaders of four major civic institutions — Catholic Charities USA, YMCA of the USA, Interfaith America, and Habitat for Humanity International — we have seen the desire to bridge differences play out in large and small ways during one of the most divisive periods in our nation’s history.
We saw it when Catholic Charities volunteers and staff from a range of racial, religious, political, and socioeconomic groups collaborated in the wake of the pandemic with communities struggling with eviction, homelessness, racial violence, and mental-health crises.
We saw it in suburban Philadelphia, when Interfaith America initiated a year of collaborative programming between predominantly white and Christian Eastern University and historically Black Lincoln University in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
We saw it in response to divisions over Covid-19 public-health precautions including vaccinations and masks, when a YMCA in Washington state brought community members together for safe and supported virtual discussions.
And we saw it following the tragic Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, when Christian, Muslim, and Jewish residents of Durham, N.C., joined Habitat for Humanity in a spirit of solidarity to help build a home for Muslim immigrants.
These stories show how bridge building happens in communities across America every day. Notably, civic institutions — whether faith communities, colleges, or community organizations — often facilitate the opportunities to build local relationships and address issues of shared concern. This is neither a surprise nor happenstance. Throughout the nation’s history, civic institutions have played a fundamental role in bolstering democracy, working every day to identify and address needs in communities.
What It Takes
Work like this can’t happen without creating connections across diverse identities and ideologies to address common goals and foster a sense of belonging. What’s unique during this moment in history is the degree of social fragmentation and political division. In response, a coordinated and wide-ranging effort is needed to bring together unlikely or unexpected partnerships between those of different political parties, different faith traditions, and different racial and ethnic identities to serve the common good.
To jump-start this process, our organizations are announcing the official launch of “A Nation of Bridgebuilders,” a partnership to deepen and expand bridge building in communities across the country. Over the next several months, we will convene leaders from each of our federations who will lead work to enhance antipolarization efforts within their local institutions.
Through coordinated training, funding, and networking opportunities, we will invest in local leaders as key agents of change to bridge divides and strengthen relationships at the community level. This will include, for example, adding relationship-building activities for volunteers who are constructing Habitat for Humanity homes and providing training on active listening at YMCA summer camps.
As we learn from early experiences, we will seek to expand and scale up the training and funding throughout our networks with the goal of creating a nation of thousands of individual and institutional bridge builders. That means widening this partnership to include more nonprofits that can provide local leaders with the training and resources to drive cultural change. And it will require ongoing philanthropic support to ensure this work becomes a sustainable part of the American landscape.
We know this isn’t easy work. Living in modern America often means living and working with those with whom we deeply disagree. While the ability to navigate that reality may have atrophied for many of us, the institutions we lead show what’s possible. We can have conflicting views on major policy issues, vote for different candidates, and still work with one another to build a Habitat for Humanity house, distribute food at a YMCA, or establish Catholic Charities homeless shelters.
Our partnership was highlighted during the White House United We Stand Summit in September, during which the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt, said this: “We have to be intentional about seeing everybody, and hearing everybody, and fostering a pluralistic society if we want this 240-year-old experiment to endure … We can only succeed if we set aside the things that divide us and find common purpose.”
Civic institutions across the nation have been living by this ideal for decades, even centuries in some cases. As leaders of four prominent nonprofits, we are proud to be renewing our commitment to bringing people together, facilitating conversations across differences, and uniting our communities around common goals. We have the opportunity to address one of the greatest challenges of our time, and we urge leaders from civic institutions across the nation to join us. Together, we can build a more unified nation.
