May 13, Pre-American Democracy Summit: Co-Generating a 'Thriving Together' US Democracy + 'We the Future'
An IMIP / Thriving Together US Initiative "Connected Convenings" Half-Day In-Person Gathering, Phoenix, AZ
Register for the main ADS event at this site // https://americandemocracysummit.org/
Our Thriving TogetherUS Substack official launch is coming in early May, 2025 and just in time for the ADS TTUS gathering, in person, on May 13th.
What the Thriving Together US Substack is about.
"The Thriving Together movement includes anyone who is curious about exploring better ways to thrive together." ~Kristina Becvar / Bridge Alliance / The Fulcrum
Movement Connector: Highlighting the work of various organizations and initiatives aligned with and exemplars of the "Thriving Together" ethos.
Innovation Diffusion: Accelerating the spread of democratic innovations through strategic content that helps move from a few early adopters to broader implementation.
Personal Connection Point: Providing a way for individuals to "take a stand" for Thriving Together, creating a personal connection to the broader movement.
REGISTER FOR THE PRE-ADS EVENT AT THIS EVENTBRITE SITE
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1321531589559?aff=oddtdtcreator
About IMIP, Generate Democracy! and our Thriving Together US Initiative
The Inter-Movement Impact Project (IMIP) (among other things) hosts the Generate Democracy! Community Forum, the Thriving Together US (TTUS) Nexus Organizing Forum, the TTUS Core Forum, the Generate Democracy! LinkedIn Group and this Thriving Together US Substack.
In late 2024, IMIP launched the Thriving Together US Initiative to strategically broaden and accelerate the already rapidly growing Thriving Together Movement (in partnership with Rippel Foundation, ReThink Health, Community Initiatives Network, Institute for People, Place and Possibility (IP3), Community Commons and fast growing community of Thriving Together Movement stewards and partners.
The Thriving Together US Flywheel
The IMIP hosted forums, TTUS Initiative and growing "meshwork" of social media and communication properties act as a generative flywheel for catalyzing, connecting, aligning, growing, and cohering a transpartisan Thriving Together US Civic & Representative Democracy Renewal Movement of many Movements.
We are strategically catalyzing and generating a Thriving Together Democracy and Future as many democratic-socio-political-economic systems are breaking and collapsing.
May 13th Gathering: Co-Generating a 'Thriving Together' US Democracy and 'We the Future'
REGISTER FOR THE PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT AT THIS EVENTBRITE SITE
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1321531589559?aff=oddtdtcreator
Register for the main ADS event at this site
https://americandemocracysummit.org/
BRIDGE BLOCK BUILD BELONG GRAPHIC
May 13th, In-Person, Pre-ADS Gathering: Co-Generating a 'Thriving Together' US Democracy and 'We the Future'
This gathering is centered around the concept of "connected convenings" - an effort to link various conferences and initiatives in the Thriving Together democracy ecosystem to create a more cohesive and impactful movement of many movements. This includes the upcoming ADS and the 22nd Century Initiative in June.
On April 7 IMIP hosted the TTUS Nexus Forum (Zoom). It covered the critical opportunity and work underway to harness the combined energy of the Thriving Together movement and the civic and representative democracy focus of the TTUS Initiative. By focusing on practical implementation rather than conceptual argument, the Forum helped accelerate the diffusion of this approach throughout the broader democracy ecosystem and engage new constituencies in this vital work. Here are some information links from the 4/7 Forum and great preview material for those attending the May 13th event.
Are We Ready to Pivot? Reclaiming Our Focus Becky Payne
Rippel Foundation / ReThink Health
Communities Rising: Thriving Together in a Divided World / Monte Roulier
THE WIN NETWORK (Wellbeing in the Nation / WIN)
Thriving Together US Substack Article / Deep Dive Progress Report: Forging a Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy Movement + Future
LinkedIn Article: 12/9/24 Explainer Article: Forging a Citizen Led 'Thriving Together' Civic Democracy Movement + Future
Braver Angels / Citizen-Led Solutions Initiative “DEMOCRACY IS… CITIZEN-LED”
New Citizen Project / The Citizen Shift / What if we saw people as Citizens and not Consumers?
Rippel Foundation / ReThink Health
Civic Health Project “Civic Health Project is deploying massively scalable solutions to America’s dangerous divisions so that our relationships, communities, and country can thrive.”
From David Eisner: Daniel Stid’s recent column,
Here is a previously shared progress report that is 'required reading' for those coming to the May 13th gathering
Deep Dive Progress Report: Growing the Thriving Together Democracy Movement + Future
HIGHLIGHTS
Becky Payne emphasized that the Thriving Together US initiative provides "a community where you can take some hope, take some possibility from that you're joining with people who in our collective are touching all of the things that need to be tended to right now."
Becky Payne: "We've studied movements and we see the attributes and the characteristics... movements are not centrally organized, by definition, and we do not, as an organization, put ourselves in a position of owning, directing, any in that sense." This statement highlights a critical aspect of the movement's evolution—it has developed an organic, self-organizing quality that extends far beyond its initial organizational sponsors.
Bobby Milstein shared evidence of movement momentum, describing how diverse communities are increasingly adopting the Thriving Together framework. He noted, "I'm completely convinced that there is real movement. It's just very hard for people to perceive that movement because we don't have, like, anywhere near the apparatus to surface those stories and share them." This observation points to both the success of the movement's diffusion and the challenge of making this momentum more visible.
John Saunders quoted Peter Block: "We don't have what we need to reconstruct the past. We have everything we need to construct a different future." This sentiment captures the spirit of the Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy movement—acknowledging the reality of democratic breaking while focusing energy on building the future we want to see.
The innovative Bridge-Block-Build-Belong framework offers a sophisticated approach to democratic renewal that acknowledges the complex "breaking" occurring across multiple systems while providing constructive pathways forward. By integrating these dimensions without othering, the movement creates space for both urgent resistance and positive vision.
The April 7 TTUS Nexus Forum represents a critical opportunity to harness the combined energy of the Thriving Together movement and the civic democracy focus of the TTUS Initiative. By focusing on practical implementation rather than conceptual argument, the Forum can help accelerate the diffusion of this approach throughout the broader democracy ecosystem and engage new constituencies in this vital work.
Sterling Speirn: The Seven Elements of Civic Life
Executive Overview
This report analyzes the April 1, 2025, preparatory meeting for the upcoming April 7 TTUS Nexus Forum focused on "Forging a Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy Movement + Future." Drawing on insights from this meeting and previous discussions, including the March 31 TTUS Admin Huddle, this report examines the evolving momentum around the "Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy" Nexus Movement amid a period of significant US constitutional and democratic challenges.
The preparation meeting revealed a sophisticated understanding of how this initiative harnesses and accelerates the momentum of the broader Thriving Together movement that has been building for over six years. Rather than making a case for the framework's validity, participants focused on strategies to amplify its growing adoption across diverse communities and sectors.
As Becky Payne emphasized during the meeting, this initiative provides "a community where you can take some hope, take some possibility from that you're joining with people who in our collective are touching all of the things that need to be tended to right now."
Central to the discussion was the integration of the "Bridge-Block-Build-Belong" framework as an innovative approach to democratic renewal that acknowledges the complex systemic "breaking" occurring in our democracy while offering constructive pathways forward. This framework simultaneously addresses the need to connect across divides, resist anti-democratic forces, create new democratic systems, and foster a sense of collective belonging—all while avoiding destructive “othering”.
The meeting highlighted the complementary energies flowing from different tributaries—the Thriving Together movement's comprehensive well-being framework and the civic democracy focus of the TTUS Initiative—converging to create a more powerful combined force for positive change. This report analyzes this confluence and the strategic approaches being developed to harness and amplify this energy.
The Growing Momentum of the Thriving Together Movement
Six Years of Evolving Impact and Adoption
The April 1 meeting provided important insights into how the Thriving Together movement has evolved over the past six + years, moving from concept to widespread adoption across diverse communities and sectors. Becky Payne and Bobby Milstein from the Rippel Foundation, along with Erin Barbaro and Roxanne Medina-Fulcher from IP3, emphasized that what began as a framework has grown into a genuine social movement with significant momentum.
As Becky Payne noted during the meeting, "We've studied movements and we see the attributes and the characteristics... movements are not centrally organized, by definition, and we do not, as an organization, put ourselves in a position of owning, directing, any in that sense." This statement highlights a critical aspect of the movement's evolution—it has developed an organic, self-organizing quality that extends far beyond its initial organizational sponsors.
Bobby Milstein shared evidence of this momentum, describing how diverse communities are increasingly adopting the Thriving Together framework. He noted, "I'm completely convinced that there is real movement. It's just very hard for people to perceive that movement because we don't have, like, anywhere near the apparatus to surface those stories and share them." This observation points to both the success of the movement's diffusion and the challenge of making this momentum more visible.
Erin Barbaro highlighted concrete examples of this adoption: "We are working with communities that are adopting the vital conditions principles, the Thriving Together ethos, working on issues like multi-solving, learning how to build that muscle together." This statement illustrates how the framework has moved from theory to practical implementation across different contexts.
From Springboard to Social Movement
The evolution of thriving.us, as described by Roxanne Medina-Fulcher, provides a tangible example of the movement's growth: "We're really excited about, as far as looking at what we're calling and Ripple's leading the state of the movement... as Ripple's leading the initiative side of it." She explained that thriving.us is evolving from "version one" that simply presented the springboard document to a more practice-oriented set of tools reflecting "the movement of movements."
Bobby Milstein further elaborated on this evolution: "There's a way to teach this or introduce people to this conceptually and sort of admire a framework, and there's a way to say there are people who have been working under this and look how far they're moving, right? It's really a story about the pragmatic actions that say when people organize around Thriving Together, they end up bringing a lot more people together."
This shift from conceptual framework to practical implementation represents a significant milestone in the movement's development. Rather than simply promoting a theoretical model, the Thriving Together initiative is now able to point to concrete examples of communities using the framework to address complex challenges in ways that bring people together across traditional divides.
The Confluence of Movements: Thriving Together Meets Civic Democracy
Two Rivers Merging into a Mighty Force
A central theme of the April 1 meeting was how the established momentum of the Thriving Together movement is now being amplified by the specific focus on civic democracy brought by the TTUS Initiative. This confluence represents a significant opportunity to accelerate the impact of both efforts.
Walter Roberts articulated this vision: "I feel like I'm doing a stretch. And on one side, like I'm this evangelical crazy person that can't stop thinking about thriving together and want to force it down everybody's throat, and then the other side of me is sort of like recognizes that those two words and the ethos and the fundamental and foundational beauty of it, and the opportunity that it has to empower a lot of connectivity across a lot of different things going on, and the completeness of it."
This statement captures both the enthusiasm for the framework's potential and the recognition that its greatest value lies in its ability to connect diverse efforts rather than supplant them.
Roxanne Medina-Fulcher used the metaphor of multiple entrances to a "round barn" to describe this confluence: "We always adopt... the round barn theory. It doesn't matter how you come into this body of work, but there's definitely different doors and different portals into the entire thriving framework." This image effectively captures how the TTUS Initiative is creating a new entryway specifically focused on civic democracy, while still leading to the same central space of thriving together.
The creation of the Thriving Together US Substack, as described by Walter Roberts, represents a practical manifestation of this confluence: "Duncan and I and Kristina Beckvar are going to be working on a Substack for Thriving Together U.S., and we'll be careful to distinguish ourselves in connection with and a little bit different than thriving.us" This platform will focus specifically on the civic democracy dimension while maintaining clear connection to the broader Thriving Together movement.
Vital Conditions Meet Civic Muscle
The April 1 meeting highlighted how the TTUS Initiative is focusing particular attention on one of the seven vital conditions—Belonging & Civic Muscle—while maintaining connection to the comprehensive framework.
As described in previous discussions, the Thriving Together framework includes seven vital conditions:
Belonging & Civic Muscle
Basic Needs for Health & Safety
Humane Housing
Meaningful Work & Wealth
Thriving Natural World
Reliable Transportation
Lifelong Learning
Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being: https://rippel.org/vital-conditions/
Webinar: Belonging and Civic Muscle: https://rippel.org/events/rethink-health-toolbox-webinar-cultivating-belonging-and-civic-muscle/
Milstein, et.al.Organizing Around Vital Conditions Moves The Social Determinants Agenda Into Wider Action. Health Affairs Forefront. Feb 2, 2023
The TTUS Initiative, while acknowledging all seven conditions, places specific emphasis on Belonging & Civic Muscle as fundamental to democratic renewal. This focused energy within the broader movement allows for deeper development of this particular dimension without disconnecting from the comprehensive understanding of community well-being.
Bobby Milstein described this relationship: "The turbo-charging engine of this movement is the revitalization of civic life. That's how you expand belonging and civic muscle, and then that's how you change housing policy, you know, labor policy, all the rest." This statement captures how focusing on civic democracy can ultimately strengthen the movement's ability to address other vital conditions as well.
The integration of Harry Boyte's citizen-led approach, as adopted by Braver Angels, with the Thriving Together framework represents another aspect of this confluence. David Eisner described Braver Angels' pilot projects implementing this approach in approximately 10 communities, noting that "as communities get used to coming together around problem solving, we can turn the corner and have them begin to focus on other local issues that are important, which is sort of building the civic muscle and a framework and a community."
Link to Citizen-Led Solution Initiative PDF
Democracy Breaking and the Bridge-Block-Build-Belong Innovation
The Systemic Nature of Democratic Breaking
The April 1 meeting occurred against a backdrop of what participants described as profound "breaking" of democratic systems and norms. Mike Kenig captured this sentiment: "I feel like the house is on fire and the foundation is collapsing underneath us." This breaking is understood not as isolated incidents but as systemic degradation across multiple interconnected dimensions.
The discussion revealed an understanding of this breaking as occurring across several key systems:
Constitutional System: The formal structures and rules of democratic governance experiencing significant erosion through norm violations, institutional capture, and rule manipulation.
Social System: The relationships, trust, and social capital that enable collective problem-solving, undermined by polarization, demographic sorting, and media fragmentation.
Political System: The mechanisms for preference aggregation and decision-making, distorted by partisan zero-sum thinking, money in politics, and electoral dysfunction.
Civic System: The infrastructure for citizen engagement and participation, weakened by declining membership in civic organizations and reduced opportunities for meaningful community involvement.
Mike Kenig also noted the growing fear as a manifestation of this breaking: "The fear of retaliation or intimidation is getting more and more every day. And people's willingness to go public with their, you know, just like the March on Saturday... I'm thinking twice before I add my name to Indivisible's sign up." This observation highlights how the breaking extends beyond formal institutions to affect citizens' willingness to participate in democratic activities.
The Bridge-Block-Build-Belong Innovation
The April 1 meeting revealed how the TTUS Initiative is advancing an innovative framework that simultaneously addresses multiple dimensions of democratic renewal. This approach—Bridge, Block, Build, Belong—represents a significant innovation in how we conceptualize and pursue democratic renewal.
Walter Roberts articulated this framework's relationship to the breaking we're experiencing: "We are building the new system while the old system breaks down, and we're doing a lot of blocking and a lot of bridging and a lot of belonging...calling out where the breaking's happening, and who the bad actors really are."
Each component serves a distinct but interconnected function:
Bridging
Bridging creates connections across divides of ideology, identity, and interest. However, Walter Roberts emphasized a crucial insight: "Bridging for the sake of bridging is anemic and not powerful. It does not fulfill itself. But if you take bridging in service to building and or bridging in service to blocking, then bridging is starting to be something."
This perspective represents an evolution in thinking about dialogue and deliberation work. Rather than seeing bridging as valuable solely for creating understanding, it becomes more powerful when oriented toward constructive goals— protecting democratic norms and or building new democratic systems.
Blocking
Blocking focuses on resisting anti-democratic forces and actions. However, the framework emphasizes doing this "without othering"—maintaining respect for human dignity even while firmly opposing harmful actions.
Walter Roberts highlighted the challenge of bringing this perspective to communities focused primarily on resistance: "One of the ways that I look at it is that we have an opportunity to be a positive influence with a 22nd Century Initiative community... and they're stuck on, to a large degree, a lot of blocking and protecting and hunkering down and getting ready to endure the violence that's coming down on that community in various shapes and forms."
This insight highlights how the Bridge-Block-Build-Belong framework can help resistance-focused communities maintain effectiveness by connecting their blocking work to a positive vision.
Building
Building focuses on creating new democratic systems and practices—what Walter Roberts described as "building the systems, the social systems, the political systems, all the systems, but the systems that are mostly around civic democracy stand out."
Chris Bui emphasized that this building is grounded in practical experience rather than theory: "The approach that our teams are taking is, it's evidence-based, it's experience-based, it's not theory-based. We know what works. I've been doing this for 30 years. We have award-winning civic engagement projects."
Belonging
Belonging represents the relational foundation necessary for democratic life. Bobby Milstein emphasized that "the turbo-charging engine of this movement is the revitalization of civic life. That's how you expand belonging and civic muscle."
Piper Hendricks connected belonging to a shift in identity: "I think part of our role here is helping people shift away from that competitiveness, the consumer identity, into more of a... equality, of knowing we're all first and foremost souls, you know, mortal souls, which is a really big, heavy thing to think about, but that shifting into treating each other with decency."
Integration Without Othering
The innovative aspect of this framework lies in its integration of these dimensions without engaging in destructive othering. As Walter Roberts noted, the question is "how can you block without othering?"
This distinguishes the approach from both traditional bridging work (which sometimes avoids necessary conflict) and traditional resistance work (which sometimes deepens division). By explicitly connecting bridging, blocking, building, and belonging, the initiative creates a more comprehensive and effective approach to democratic renewal.
BRIDGING DIVIDES TO HELP AMERICA’S LOCAL COMMUNITIES THRIVE
"A significant share of the decisions and actions that impact Americans’ well-being occur at the local rather than the state or federal level. Recognizing this, local leaders and problem solvers across the country are teaming with grassroots bridging organizations to equip communities to engage constructively across lines of difference.
Some of the most inspiring examples of local community-building and bridge-building efforts are adopting a “thriving together” framework that advances the goals of belonging, inclusion, and increased prosperity for all community members."
Strategic Implementation: From Vision to Action
The Thriving Together US Substack and Communication Strategy
A key focus of the April 1 meeting was the development of the Thriving Together US Substack as a cornerstone of the movement's communication strategy. Walter Roberts described this platform as serving multiple functions:
Movement Connector: Highlighting the work of various organizations and initiatives aligned with the "Thriving Together" ethos, serving as what David Eisner called a "curation exercise" that brings together diverse voices.
Innovation Diffusion: Accelerating the spread of democratic innovations through strategic content that helps them move from early adopters to broader implementation.
Personal Connection Point: Providing a way for individuals to "take a stand" for Thriving Together, creating a personal connection to the broader movement.
The editorial approach, as discussed in the meeting, will implement an ecosystem-derived approach that focuses on discovering and amplifying emerging wisdom rather than imposing top-down messaging. Bobby Milstein suggested: "Maybe we start with the things that are energizing us, the questions that we're asking for the next move, like to really put the accent on, not whether we have a positive framework, but we've got one, the issue is how do we bring it to life as far and as fast as possible."
This suggestion represents a shift from making the case for the framework to accelerating its implementation—a reflection of the movement's growing momentum.
Connected Convenings and Strategic Partnerships
Another key implementation strategy discussed was the "Connected Convenings" approach that focuses on creating alignment and coherence across major democracy-focused events. This includes intentional integration with:
April 7 TTUS Nexus Forum: The immediate focus of the preparatory meeting, designed to officially launch the Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy Initiative.
American Democracy Summit (ADS): Scheduled for May 2025, with the theme "We Are the Future."
REGISTER FOR THE PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT AT THIS EVENTBRITE SITE
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1321531589559?aff=oddtdtcreator
22nd Century Initiative Conference (22CI): Planned for June 2025, with the theme "Building a Bigger We."
David Eisner also proposed a strategy for rapid scaling through partnerships with large membership organizations: "Maybe it's time, Walt, for you or for us to put together a delegation, including folks that know these people, to say, look, we need your constituents. We need this to become many millions of people." He specifically mentioned organizations like "Habitat for Humanity with 1.5 million members, Red Cross, with a couple million, Special Olympics, 500,000."
Erin Barbaro noted that some of these partnerships are already developing: "We are working with the YUSA right now on social connection across all of their institutions across the country."
Local Implementation and Hub Development
The meeting emphasized the importance of concrete local implementation as a key to the movement's growth. Chris Bui highlighted Better Together America's approach: "What's always been missing is that long-term, more permanent infrastructure that allows the same group of people to work together over time to build relationships and build some trust and have a budget to do something together at the neighborhood level, at the local level."
Creating Communities Where Everyone Thrives: IECF’s Vital Conditions Approach
At IECF, we envision an Inland Empire where every resident has the opportunity to thrive. We believe that true community well-being isn’t just about addressing immediate needs—it’s about creating the conditions that allow all people to flourish for generations to come.
The Vital Conditions Framework guides our approach to community transformation. Developed by the Rippel Foundation and its partners, this evidence-based model identifies seven essential conditions that communities need to thrive.
The Vital Conditions are the properties of places and institutions that we all depend on to reach our full potential. When these conditions are in place, they provide a strong foundation for community health and well-being.
This focus on local, place-based implementation connects with Braver Angels' citizen-led pilot projects described by David Eisner: "We're using sort of a traditional Braver Angels framework of bringing people together across divides with two innovations." These innovations include applying their methodology to concrete community problems and extending conversations to find policy consensus while incorporating actors who can implement change.
The development of local hubs represents a key strategy for scaling the movement's impact. As Chris Bui noted, "We've seen a lot of insights over the decades of what works or doesn't work and the groups that are not doing the work."
Barriers to Overcome and Strategic Tensions to Navigate
Barriers to Engagement and Participation
The April 1 meeting identified several significant barriers to broader engagement with the movement:
Fear and Intimidation: Mike Kenig highlighted growing concerns about personal safety when engaging in democratic activities: "The fear of retaliation or intimidation is getting more and more every day. And people's willingness to go public with their, you know, just like the March on Saturday... I'm thinking twice before I add my name to Indivisible's sign up."
Complexity and Accessibility: John Saunders emphasized that the language and concepts used within the movement can be inaccessible to many: "I'm college-educated, and I show up here, and I'm like working real hard to follow the language, and the language is accurate, and it's wonderful, and it describes what we do, and for most people, it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, way over my head."
Activation Energy: John Saunders also highlighted the challenge of helping people take initial action: "Most people have complex lives, a lot of things going on. Man, I'd really like to do something, but where do I start? Who's going to hold my hand?"
Infrastructure Gaps: Bobby Milstein noted the lack of infrastructure to support newcomers: "He still needs, like, a little accompaniment to figure out what he's going to do next. And so there's a price tag to that part of the movement... It will not travel very far, or not as far as it could or should, because we don't have the scaffolding in place to receive newcomers."
Strategic Tensions to Navigate
The meeting also revealed several strategic tensions that the movement must navigate:
Urgency vs. Infrastructure Building: Mike Kenig expressed the tension between addressing immediate threats and building long-term infrastructure: "I have this sense of urgency that, frankly, I've never had before in this space... the number of people who said to me last night, during our conversation, what Doug said earlier, is that it's already over, you know, or it's already too late, takes my breath away."
Framework Adoption vs. Local Adaptation: Walter Roberts articulated the tension between promoting consistent adoption of the Thriving Together framework and allowing local adaptation: "I don't want to force that on communities that have similar, you know, spirit and language and the spirit of that language, but I don't want to miss the opportunity of getting people to adopt that, and the cohesiveness and the connectivity that comes with it."
Professional Language vs. Public Accessibility: Walter Roberts acknowledged the gap between the language used among professionals and what resonates with broader audiences: "The language that we use here is like the language of physicists or engineers, and so when we talk among each other, you know, hopefully this lingo makes sense... translating this into language that translates into the outer, the next circle out, the next circle out, all the way down to everyday people, we just need to know that we always have to do that translation."
Centralized Coordination vs. Distributed Leadership: Becky Payne emphasized that "movements are not centrally organized, by definition, and we do not, as an organization, put ourselves in a position of owning, directing, any in that sense." This tension between providing coordination and allowing distributed leadership remains an ongoing challenge.
Strategic Questions and Recommendations for the April 7 Forum
Strategic Questions for Discussion
Based on the April 1 meeting, several key strategic questions emerge that should be addressed in the April 7 Nexus Forum:
How do we balance urgent action with infrastructure building? Given the sense of democratic emergency, how can the movement respond to immediate threats while building the long-term infrastructure needed for sustainable change?
How can we make engagement simple and accessible? What specific, concrete pathways can we create that lower the barriers to entry for both practitioners and the broader public?
How do we leverage existing networks and organizations? What strategies can most effectively engage large membership organizations in amplifying the Thriving Together message and approach?
How do we tell the story of momentum? How can we better document and share examples of the Thriving Together approach in action to make the movement's progress more visible?
How do we connect bridging and blocking most effectively? What practical approaches can help resistance-focused communities connect their work to a positive vision without diminishing their legitimate concerns?
Recommendations for the April 7 Forum Structure
Bobby Milstein suggested a productive approach for the April 7 Forum: "Maybe we start with the things that are energizing us, the questions that we're asking for the next move, like to really put the accent on, not whether we have a positive framework, but we've got one, the issue is how do we bring it to life as far and as fast as possible."
Building on this suggestion, the April 7 Forum could be structured around:
Momentum Mapping: Brief highlights of where the Thriving Together approach is already gaining traction across diverse communities and sectors.
Barrier Identification: Honest discussion of the obstacles to broader adoption and engagement, particularly focusing on practical barriers rather than conceptual ones.
Action Pathways: Development of specific, concrete pathways for both practitioners and the broader public to engage with the movement.
Resource Needs: Identification of the infrastructure and resources needed to support newcomers and scale the movement's impact.
Next 90 Days: Specific commitments and action plans for the next three months, recognizing the urgency of the current moment while building toward longer-term change.
Conclusion: The Path Forward
The April 1 meeting revealed a movement at an inflection point—with significant momentum already built through six + years of development of the Thriving Together framework and approach, now being accelerated by the specific focus on civic democracy through the TTUS Initiative. This confluence of energies creates a powerful opportunity to scale impact and reach new constituencies.
The innovative Bridge-Block-Build-Belong framework offers a sophisticated approach to democratic renewal that acknowledges the complex "breaking" occurring across multiple systems while providing constructive pathways forward. By integrating these dimensions without othering, the movement creates space for both urgent resistance and positive vision.
As John Saunders quoted Peter Block: "We don't have what we need to reconstruct the past. We have everything we need to construct a different future." This sentiment captures the spirit of the Citizen-Led Thriving Together Civic Democracy movement—acknowledging the reality of democratic breaking while focusing energy on building the future we want to see.
The April 7 TTUS Nexus Forum represents a critical opportunity to harness the combined energy of the Thriving Together movement and the civic democracy focus of the TTUS Initiative. By focusing on practical implementation rather than conceptual argument, the Forum can help accelerate the diffusion of this approach throughout the broader democracy ecosystem and engage new constituencies in this vital work.