Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Idaho. Welcome to Kathie Affa (R) and Blake Isaacs (B), co-chairs of the new Southeast Idaho Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in California. Welcome to Mike Gibbs (R) and Deanna Ross (B), co-chairs of the new Monterey Bay Area Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in North Carolina. Welcome to Josh Lowery (R) and Lisa Wells (B), co-chairs of the new Braver Angels Alliance of the Sandhills.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Chicago, Illinois. Welcome to Brian Padden (R) and Svetlana Bekman (B), co-chairs of the new Chicagoland Braver Angels Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Tupelo, Mississippi. Welcome to Buddy Stubbs (R) and Richard Babb (B), co-chairs of the new Tupelo Braver Angels Alliance.

The Support Us page has been updated to allow people to donate as a gift or in honor of someone. Now you can make birthday gifts, holiday gifts, memorial gifts, or any other donation gifts in honor of somebody else. This has been requested for a while and our amazing Tech Team put it together in time for holiday season!

We wanted to share this announcement that Divvy has changed it's name to BILL Spend & Expense. You will need to update the Divvy app on your phone to see this change. Also, when logging in, you will use the same email and password as before. The only thing that has changed is the name and logo. All the same functions that were in Divvy are in BILL Spend & Expense. We have updated the Field Leaders Portal as needed. 

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in North Carolina. Welcome to John Rebholz (R) and Robin Warfield (B), co-chairs of the new Braver Angels Alliance of Coastal North Carolina.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Minnesota. Welcome to Karl Sandberg (R) and Melinda Voss (B), co-chairs of the new Twin Cities East Metro Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in California. Welcome to Marc Ang (R), Sarah Kattus (B) and Holly Highfield (O), co-chairs of the new Inland Empire Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Tarrant County, Texas. Welcome to Don Krause (R) and Gary Foran (B), co-chairs of the new Braver Angels of Tarrant County Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Columbia Gorge in Oregon. Welcome to Doug Roof (R) and Tom Aspitarte (B), co-chairs of the new Columbia Gorge Alliance.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Chittenden County VT Braver Angels Alliance in Vermont. Welcome to Robert Etter (R) and Mary K. Dennison (B) , co-chairs of the new Chittenden County VT Braver Angels Alliance.

The slides used in the BA Convention Plenary #4 - What are we doing in communities? - is now available - HERE. Field leaders are free to use the quotes and slides where appropriate.  The photo mosaic video used in the introduction of Plenary #4 is also available as a standalone video - suitable for inclusion in field presentations. Many thanks to LINDA BECK for driving this deliverable. File is HERE.

To help those of us who are attending the upcoming Braver Angels convention to intentionally meet each other, the convention planners have created an app for your phone called “whova”.  (Convention attendees should have gotten a message about how to download this on their phones.)

Once you download that app, we would love for you to go to the “community” button on the bottom of the home page of the app.  Once there, you can find a pinned announcement that is entitled, “Meet-ups and virtual meets”.

If you click on that, you will find a bunch of groups who are meeting up at specific times.  The two that are specifically related to the National Field Call are:

1.  Field leaders (alliance co-chairs, state coordinators, and regional leads)  AND

2. Workshop delivery volunteers (moderators, organizers, dev team, and ZEMs)

Both of those groups have a specific meet-up time where you can RSVP and meet each other on Thursday and Friday afternoons respectively after the last afternoon breakout session (approximately from 4:30-6:15 p.m.).

Also listed under the “meet-ups and virtual meets,” is a poster session.

During the Friday afternoon special interest group meeting time, there will also be a poster session where you can learn from BA members and volunteers who have made a difference in their local communities in specific ways.  Posters will be up for the duration of the convention, but you can drop in and talk to poster presenters between 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Friday, if you’re attending the convention.

After the convention, we will post all posters in a section of the Field Leaders Portal for visibility to those who could not attend.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in San Luis Obispo in California.  Welcome to Gordon Mullin (R) and Calvin Stevens (B), co-chairs of the new San Luis Obispo Alliance.

The Annual Report has now been modified into a PAGEABLE PDF. This is the best way to present the report. Please SHARE the following links with anyone who wants to access the report in the most readable format. Many thanks to Sabrina Pedersen for her magic in creating these!

• https://braverangels.org/2022-annual-report/

• https://braverangels.org/2022-annual-report-mobile-version/

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Wilmington, NC in Arizona.  Welcome to Eddie Jones (R) and Nancy Cunningham (B), co-chairs of the new Braver Angels Alliance of Wilmington, NC.

Check out the flyer about the recently released annual report at this link.

To go directly to the report viewable on a desktop, click here.  For a mobile-friendly version, click here.

For a video from the team on how to use the report for outreach, click here.

Welcome back! Thanks to Betsy Hower (R) and Lex McMillan (B), the Braver Angels Gettysburg Alliance has been re-activated as the Adams County Alliance. 

We recommend that you set up clear ground rules for Braver Angels events.  Here's a possible template you can use as a BA meeting opener for that purpose.  You can also use these rules of engagement for that purpose.

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Maricopa County in Arizona.  Welcome to Cylee Gutting (R) and Joy Lubeck (B), co-chairs of this new alliance.

Braver Angels welcome all who wish to progress our mission: to bridge the political divide and strengthen our democratic republic. By definition, this means that a multitude of perspectives will be presented in our offerings.

As part of our goal of inspiring a social movement, we want to partner with a wide range of organizations to host workshops that can bring depolarizing skills and experiences to their organizations. Inspiring a social movement is about giving a whole range of organizations a vehicle for bringing the BA Way to their constituents.

What is being created within Braver Angels is a way for a range of organizations to host workshops, knowing that these workshops will be effective in addressing polarization amongst their constituents because they have been designed and tested by Braver Angels. But Braver Angels itself is not endorsing those organizations. Instead, we are collaborating with them to ensure the integrity of our brand as it intersects with the particular frames of a given type of organization.

Faith-sponsored workshops is just one way Braver Angels is doing this. Some of our members find faith at the core of their identity. We welcome such members. Some members do not find faith at the core of their identity. We welcome such members. Some members reject faith completely. We welcome such members. The goal of Braver Angels is the strengthening of our democracy which occurs when ALL such members interact and find common ground.

Faith-sponsored workshops are offered in the Braver Angel Way. We therefore use the Braver Angel Way to guide our communications:

• We state our views freely and fully, without fear.

• We welcome opportunities to engage with those with whom we disagree.

• We treat people who disagree with us with honesty and respect.

• We seek to disagree accurately, avoiding exaggeration and stereotypes.

• We look for common ground where it exists, and if possible, find ways to work together.

• We believe that all of us have blind spots and none of us are not worth talking to.

• We believe that, in disagreements, both sides share and learn. In Braver Angels, neither side is teaching the other or giving feedback on how to think or say things differently.

The first faith-sponsored version of BA workshops, focused on the Christian faith, is now being piloted for several workshops.  Other faith tradition workshops are in the process of also being developed.  These workshops will include a  “wrapper” that involves the faith host wanting this workshop being actively involved. The Host will lead both the opening and closing of a Faith-Sponsored Workshop (FSW).

For the opening of the workshop, it can include a faith-based rationale and prayer.  John Schwenkler is leading the effort for the Dev Team to create these faith-sponsored wrappers around each of BA workshops.  There is a Core Team that is supporting his effort.  The closing would also be handled by the host and could include a prayer as well.

The first pilot - a Christian Faith-Sponsored workshop for Depolarizing Within (DW) - will be held as a national event on March 25 (from 2-5 p.m. EST) with Mark Beckwith serving as the faith host.   

We are ready for our BA volunteers, in key roles, to attend and participate if they want to experience what a faith-sponsored workshop will be like.

If interested, feel free to register and participate in the March 25 pilot of the DW workshop.  To sign up for the March 25 workshop, go to this link.

In the future - once we are through the pilot phase - a faith-based organization that is experiencing polarization can come to the Braver Angels' Braver Partners team or a local alliance and ask for support in hosting a faith-sponsored workshop amongst their organization's members. The host organization is the faith-based organization, not the local alliance, although local alliances can choose to co-sponsor an event with the faith-based organization, if desired, as long as they make it clear that they are not endorsing one particular organization or faith tradition in doing so.

If you would like more information, contact John Schwenkler or Bev Horstman.

Please click on the links below to view the Tech Tips:

• How to track and complete email tasks using Google Tasks

• How to automatically track Google Form responses in a Google Sheet

• How to freeze the headers in the top row of Google Sheets

• How to make a copy of a BA Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide Deck to make your own edits

• How to create a filter in your Alliance Data Toolkit

• How to schedule a meeting with Google Meet or Zoom for Field Leaders

• How to update your email preferences in the Members Portal

For a full list, please visit Tech Tip Tuesdays on the Tech Resources Site to view the slide deck. 

Congratulations to the new alliance recently formed in Birmingham, Alabama.  Welcome to Steve Whitaker (R) and Barbara Eiland (B), co-chairs of this new alliance.

Welcome back to three reactivated alliances.

Thanks to the work of Jordan Haegerich (R) and Cindy Hirshberg (B), the Carroll County, Maryland Alliance has been re-activated.  The San Diego alliance has also been reactivated, with Kelly Simmons (R) and Brady Young (B) as co-chairs.  So has the Phoenix alliance, with Parker Faries (R) and Nedra Eldridge (B) as co-chairs.

Many of our field leaders are working with partners in their community or an area of interest—like high schools or religious congregations—or are fielding incoming requests from organizations to partner with Braver Angels. We would like these organizations to be included in our new initiative, Braver Partners. 

This initiative carries benefits like 100 free BA memberships for their members, regular events geared towards partners, and even priority registration for next year’s convention. And all we ask from them is to designate a liaison or two to the program. 

If you have a partner organization to refer to the program, please share the program page (https://braverangels.org/braver-partners/) with them and either you or the partner should fill out the sign-up form, also accessible on the page. You’ll also have an opportunity to register as the Partner Representative who manages the relationship. 

To sign up as a Partner Rep or to submit any questions to the Braver Partners team, please email Michelle Schroer at mschroer@braverangels.org. 

In Boston, a man killed two people and wounded five others at two abortion clinics in 1994. In the aftermath of this tragedy, three prolife and three prochoice leaders agreed to meet a few times. They ended up meeting in secret for almost six years, then jointly published a letter about their experience in The Boston Globe. None of the participants changed their minds about the issue of abortion, but during the course of their discussions, they found themselves stretched spiritually and intellectually, and they became good friends. Their friendship helped change the tone of the abortion debate in Boston. A film entitled "The Abortion Talks" was created to tell their story.  Here's the film trailer, and the film website.

The Abortion Talks absolutely embodies the spirit of Braver Angels! The co-directors, a husband/wife team, joined a group of Braver Angels earlier this Fall. They were amazing, and it was great to be able to discuss the film with them. 

We now have an edited film discussion and, just as importantly, a podcast with the film's co-director plus pro-choice and pro-life Braver Angels members.

The new podcast is titled Abortion Talks: Talking with the Enemy, and features Randy Freeman moderating a discussion with film co-director Sarah Perkins and Braver Angels members Wynette Sills, Molly Zeff and Donna Murphy.

Here is the recording of the Film Club discussion of The Abortion Talks.

For those interested in showing The Abortion Talks to local groups, please visit www.abortiontalks.com and fill out the form. Someone will get back to you with more information.

Welcome to the new Laramie County Alliance (#1118) in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  The leaders of this new alliance are Tom Brantley (Red) and Peter Newell (Blue).

Alliance Co-Chairs, State Coordinators, and Regional Leads can request a Braver Angels Google Workspace account for volunteers who provide substantial support for their local Alliance or State leadership. To learn more, please visit Tech Tip Tuesdays on the Tech Resources Site. 

Braver Politics is the political application of Braver Angels' individual work in three specific ways:

1. Through the Citizen Action Program, they provide Braver Angels members and other depolarized people across the country training to effectively advocate in local, state, and federal government for the cause of depolarization.

2. They organize skills workshops to help elected officials and candidates communicate effectively and respectfully across divides, teaching them how to hear and understand the concerns of polarized voters, which depolarizes both the voters themselves and the public officials practicing these skills.  See this spreadsheet for more details.

3. They have restructured events that are usually polarizing to promote clear and accurate conversation between elected officials, candidates, and their voters across political divides. These events include Candidate Debates that promote discussion of issues in which voters have expressed interest instead of a clash of personalities over topics driven by the media and town halls. This helps voters find common ground, accurately understand differences between candidates, and have thoughtful conversations about common ground and differences with their elected officials or candidates.
   
   

Braver Politics' leaders are Elizabeth Doll, Dan Carnese, April Kornfield, Justin Eckstein, Andrew Stillman, and David Blankenhorn.

They currently have a presence in multiple states, as seen in the number of workshops and events for public officials they have been organizing at this link.  They also have agreements to provide the Managing Difficult Conversations with Constituents workshops to elected officials via partnerships with the public officials' professional organizations in California, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Washington.  Washington State has been at the forefront in organizing debates for candidates.  If you'd like to know more, contact Elizabeth Doll at edoll@braverangels.org or visit their website at braverangels.org/politics.

Our first new alliance in October is in New Mexico, the North Central New Mexico alliance. The two leaders of that alliance are Marty Gerber (Blue) and Barbara Regan (Red).

Our second one is in Iowa, the South Central Iowa Alliance, with leaders Richard Tucker (Red) and Anne Murr (Blue).

Our third one is the South Central Kansas Alliance.  Mike Morton (Blue) and Michael Barrett (Red) are the alliance co-chairs for this new alliance.

Welcome to these new alliances!

Field Leaders can use Google Meet or Zoom to schedule meetings. Examples may include Alliance steering committee or board meetings, connecting with individual members and volunteers, or a planning meeting to discuss an upcoming Braver Angels event. To learn more, please check out the Tech Site's Video Conferencing section. 

We have several new alliances this month, which we are announcing.

The first one, in El Sobrante, Califonia is called the "El Sobrante Alliance for Action on Homelessness & Fire Safety" and is our first alliance coming out of a working action group.  Pam Morris (Red) and Eileen Johnson (Blue) are this new alliance's co-chairs.

The second one, is an alliance for US Citizens who live abroad, and is called "Braver Angels Abroad - Europe."  We have a large group of Braver Angels supporters with US connections who are very excited about this new group, led by Sabrina Garland (Red) and Laura Pascal (Blue).

In addition, there are three new alliances in Minnesota labeled by their congressional district numbers.  (1)  Congressional Districts 1, 2, & 7, with John Stewart (Red) and Roger Warehime (Blue) as co-chairs; (2) Congressional Districts 4 & 8, with Tim Gustafson (Red) and John Wolforth (Blue) as co-chairs; and (3) Congressional Districts 3 & 6, with Tim Gustafson (Red) and Steven Gartland (Blue) as co-chairs.

We are currently interviewing ‘lean Red’ members of BA to establish ideas and hypotheses for increasing Red membership and engagement. 

Each interview slot is one hour, conducted by a pair of interviewers, one Red and one Blue. There may be up to four individuals in any one slot. The slots are arranged for maximum flexibility - Tuesday evenings, Thursday mornings, and Friday afternoons. The slots begin on September 19 and run through October.

To learn more, go to this document.

The Braver Politics website is officially live at braverangels.org/politics. This URL also works: braverpolitics.org.

The VIDEO — "Are You Ready to Brave the Divide? Join Braver Politics" — is live on the landing page. It can also be accessed directly at this youtube link: https://youtu.be/8GqnNP7QUR0

Below is some sample language for posts. 

• Join Braver Politics to help fix our broken politics. www.braverpolitics.org

• To volunteer to fix our broken politics, I recommend Braver Politics. We need you! www.braverpolitics.org

• Our democracy is hanging by a thread. Braver Politics is here to build a house united. www.braverpolitics.org

• Are you curious enough to brave the divide? Check out Braver Politics: www.braverpolitics.org

• Are you patriotic enough to brave the divide? Check out Braver Politics: www.braverpolitics.org

• Braver Politics is an effort to remake our political culture from the ground up -- and challenge our politicians to work together. Join the movement: www.braverpolitics.org

• Are you tired of the endless name-calling, grandstanding, and partisan rancor? Join Braver Politics to fix our broken politics. www.braverpolitics.org

The Ambassador community is moving forward with their next Ambassador Toastmaster's Speechcraft training.

• The course will meet for six weeks starting Monday, April 18 at 8 PM Eastern via Zoom. 

• Registration and a $10 non-refundable fee are required.

• Interested individuals can contact Will Robinson at KWRobinson4@gmail.com or 770-375-1763. 

America Talks will take place this year on April 21 and 23. During certain hours on those two days, people who have pre-registered and answered a short series of questions can log in and be immediately paired for a conversation with someone who answered one or more of those questions differently. 

Braver Angels will advertise America Talks in our newsletter, and we're a hosting partner, which means that we're committed to holding one or more events during the follow-up National Week of Conversation (NWOC), April 24-30, in which America Talks participants can take part. This is, of course, no problem for us! We already have events listed for April 23 and 30. However, we hope you encourage Field Leaders to schedule other events (workshops, debates, discussions, etc.) during April 24-30 that can be listed as part of the National Week of Conversation. It's a great opportunity for folks to learn more about Braver Angels!

We welcome four new alliances this month.

• The Jackson, Mississippi alliance

  • • Kudos to Paul Buckley, the new "blue" co-chair and Nic Lott, the "red" co-chair, as well as Theo Brown, for their work in getting this new alliance started.  

• The Memphis Area alliance

  • • Thanks to Kali Kucera (the new "blue" co-chair) and Curt Cowan (the new "red" co-chair), as well as Ron and Lynn Heady, for helping get this off the ground.

• The Northwoods, Wisconsin alliance

  • • Kudos to Clare Seguin, the new "red" co-chair and Karen Kaufman, the "blue" co-chair, for their work in getting this new alliance started. 

• The Colorado Southern Front Range alliance

  • • Thanks to John Hoskinson (the new "red" co-chair) and Jennifer Barnes (the new "other" co-chair) for helping get this new alliance started.

These alliances have been in the works for awhile, and we are excited to welcome them to the field!