Grantee Spotlight: The On Being Project

Amid the vitriol and chaos of our political moment, as the toxicity of the public debate felt inescapable, people all over the country began to act in small and large ways to reach across the divisions in their communities and in their lives. For many of those efforts, the On Being Civil Conversations Project was there to support them and the bridge-building that makes participatory democracy possible. Anchored by the conviction that the moral wrestling that this moment demands must be done in the context of diverse community rather than from entrenched silos, CCP accompanied the courageous efforts to heal rather than wound and to bridge rather than to destroy.  We collaborated with Interfaith Philadelphia as they trained community leaders throughout Pennsylvania to have the conversations that were tearing at the fabric of their congregations and towns. We accompanied rural pastors in North Carolina who were dealing with the fractious debates in their congregations even as they were bracing for what the political winds will bring in the coming years. We continued to model conversations across differences on the On Being radio program and podcasts and interview guests that help add complexity and depth to the oversimplified narratives that dominate the media environment. The current political realities represent a challenge, but within them there is an opportunity that we are rising to meet. The past few months have meant planning for the future and finding new ways to accompany the movement of healing and reconciliation already underway.

Read more about the On Being Civil Conversations Project here.

Local artists Bill and Beverly Cottman taking in the conversation between Teju Cole and Krista Tippett at our Loring Park studio.

Krista in conversation with Teju Cole in the Loring Park studio in partnership with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's "Liquid Music" series.

Krista in conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea as part of ArtReach St. Croix's Big Read series, part of the National Endowment of the Arts.