From Bridging to Building: Braver Angels’ New Chapter Begins with Citizen-Led Solutions
By Duncan Autrey
At the National Conference on Citizenship this month, a quiet but significant shift took center stage. Braver Angels, known across the country for its deep work in depolarization and dialogue, publicly launched a new initiative: Citizen-Led Solutions (CLS). It marked more than just a program announcement. It signaled a strategic evolution—from bridging divides to building the civic muscle of democracy.
“We are in a very difficult time,” said David Eisner (Braver Angels Co-chair, Southeast PA), opening the session. “It’s not just the violence or polarization. It’s a sense of being stuck. Of not knowing what steps to take. Citizens feel alienated… convinced the people making decisions don’t care.”
That’s the moment CLS is designed to meet—not with more partisanship or technocratic fixes, but by equipping everyday people to solve real problems together.
A New Civic Chapter for Braver Angels
Citizen-Led Solutions builds on a decade of experience at Braver Angels in bridging political and cultural divides. But it pushes the work into a new, generative phase.
CLS is not a debate or a dialogue. It’s a structured cycle of citizen action:
Foster Relationships – Build trust across difference
Forge Common Ground – Deliberate toward shared solutions
Follow Through – Implement and reflect together
“We’re flipping the script,” Eisner said. “Not waiting for experts or politicians to fix things. Not disqualifying people because of their opinions. But saying: citizens can take ownership. We can make our communities what we want them to be.”
Maury Giles, Braver Angels’ newly appointed CEO, closed the session with a powerful vision. Reflecting on recent tragedy and unrest, he said:
“Fragility is not failure. It’s the first stage of resilience. Every civic renaissance in American history started as something fragile. Ordinary citizens, doing extraordinary things.”
CLS is a way to operationalize that renaissance. Already, pilot projects are showing results: a California town mired in conflict over homelessness began working toward a shared housing solution after CLS-inspired deliberation. Across the country, citizens are stepping into co-creator roles, not just as voters or spectators, but as decision-makers.
Grounded in Partnership, Ready to Scale
This evolution isn’t happening in a vacuum. The launch event featured leaders from across the civic renewal field:
Vinay Orekondy, Co-Founder of Better Together America, emphasized the need to connect the thousands of groups already doing citizen-led work. “This isn’t just an American challenge. Polarization is global. But so is the hunger for connection,” he said. “We’re working to link the ecosystem together—to turn isolated efforts into a movement.”
Jillian Youngblood, Executive Director of Civic Genius, called attention to the civic skills people already have. “Running a Girl Scout troop, negotiating with a school—these are civic muscles. Most Americans are not extremists. They’re capable, and they want to contribute.”
Valerie Lemmie, Senior Advisor at the Kettering Foundation, reminded the audience that citizenship is a daily act, not just a legal status. “Citizenship means doing the work to make your community better,” she said. “It’s time we create spaces for public judgment and collective action again. Democracy begins at the neighborhood scale.”
Each of them reflected a broader truth: we don’t need to invent a new civic culture—we need to recognize, link, and equip the one that’s already emerging.
From Bridge-Building to Problem-Solving
A striking theme emerged in the session: bridging is vital, but it must be connected to action. “Agency comes from solving problems together,” noted Orekondy. “Not just talking about differences.”
The CLS model reflects that shift. By embedding deliberation inside a cycle of trust-building and implementation, it lets citizens experience tangible wins, not just better conversations.
And critically, it avoids the common pitfall of professionalization. As Giles put it:
“Institutions must support citizens, not replace them. Fragility is a reason to invest, not to dismiss.”
A Signal to the Ecosystem
For those working across the Thriving Together ecosystem, the launch of CLS is a call to attention. It brings together bridging, belonging, civic capacity, and the local imperative—all core themes of our shared work. It also presents a real opportunity for synergy: co-learning, amplification, collaboration, and culture-shifting around the idea that democracy can be citizen-led again.
We’ll be following this effort closely and lifting up local stories from communities putting CLS into practice. The invitation is open.
Democracy doesn’t need saving. It needs citizens who are ready to build.
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Thanks for highlighting this! I’m in the start school later example I will cross post on our substack!