How can we encourage more civic participation and better public sensemaking?

In an era of increasing polarization and information overload, many communities are struggling with declining civic participation and difficulty making sense of complex issues together. How do we rebuild trust across differences? What would it take to create spaces where diverse perspectives can engage constructively? How can we help citizens develop better tools for evaluating information and understanding the challenges facing our communities?

Join us for an open conversation about these fundamental questions. We'll explore:

• What barriers prevent people from participating meaningfully in civic life?
• How can communities navigate disagreement and complexity with wisdom rather than division?
• What kinds of spaces, practices, or approaches might help us build stronger social fabric and institutional trust?
• How do we cultivate the skills needed for constructive dialogue and collaborative problem-solving?

Also consider that what we are doing in this meetup might be part of the solution to the problems that we are facing, but then additional questions arise, such as:

• How might we scale this up and out to more cities and regions?
• What qualities do you think discussion groups should have in order to improve public sensemaking among the citizenry?
• How might these discussion groups be interconnected through a network?