Constructive engagement across political divides is a precondition for democracy. If we can’t talk with each other, we can’t govern ourselves as a nation – it’s that simple.
We can – and must – do better.
Our Mission
Civic Health Project is deploying massively scalable solutions to America’s dangerous divisions so that our relationships, communities, and country can thrive. We advance pioneering approaches with massive potential to scale, mobilizing resources across the domains of technology, entertainment, movement building, and research.
The Problem
Regardless of personal beliefs, we can all see that political and social divisions among regular Americans have never been stronger. We are relentlessly pitted against each other by pundits seeking the limelight and politicians jockeying for position. Then social media amplifies the divide. Many feel we are now heading toward a society with unbridgeable cultural rifts and a government unable to function.
These dynamics are ramping up in 2024, with media outlets and candidates deploying divisive rhetoric to drive up levels of fear, anger, and contempt. The money that pours into campaigns will be spent fueling America’s divisions, with an estimated $10B going into political ads warning us about the existential threat posed by “the other side.” Against this fraught election-year backdrop, Civic Health Project has our work cut out for us. We need to step up our game, and we need to do it fast.
Civic Health Project deploys solutions that scale rapidly to overcome the forces of division that are degrading American civic life.
The Civic Health Project Solution
Here’s the good news – we know how to push back against the forces of division. Civic Health Project applies four levers of scale to help empower millions of Americans to overcome our dangerous divisions in a rapid timeframe.
- Technology: For the past several years, Civic Health Project has invested funding and staffing resources in transformative projects that demonstrate how emerging technologies can connect rather than further divide us.In 2024 we are consolidating our technology investments into a newly-launched civic tech incubator. Our ALGO Solutions incubator is focusing on a small number of flagship projects with the potential to influence social platform norms at a meaningful scale within the current year. (learn more)
- Entertainment: In 2023, Civic Health Project launched Bridge Entertainment Labs (BEL) to unlock the power of popular entertainment to help repair and transform America’s divides at massive scale. Powered by philanthropic funding and deeply embedded in the entertainment industry, BEL is uniquely positioned to enlist studio executives, project greenlighters, creative storytellers, and America’s bridge-builders in a shared project to foster social cohesion at scale. (learn more)
- Movement Building: Civic Health Project provides catalytic funding and in-kind resources for critical fieldwide endeavors that aim to equip millions of Americans with the skill, will, and opportunity to bridge divides. We support broad-based awareness campaigns as well as sector-based and place-based bridging initiatives, to massively scale the reach and impact of bridge-building work across the country. (learn more)
- Research and Evaluation: How does Civic Health Project know that the massively scalable solutions we are deploying will actually repair and transform America’s dangerous divisions? For five years, we’ve invested substantial funding and in-kind resources to develop critical insights that guide our own work, while also informing and improving America’s bridge-building ecosystem. (learn more)
As a recognized leader in the field, Civic Health Project is uniquely positioned to connect the funders, technologists, industry experts, and bridge-building practitioners needed to drive these initiatives to massive scale and impact. And we know how to measure the impact of our work.
Like you, we want to ensure that Americans no longer fall prey to the forces that seek to divide us. Join us, and invest in a better version of America.
Civic Health Project is helping move the needle on one of the biggest challenges facing our country: toxic partisanship. They’ve been an invaluable partner in our effort to strengthen American democracy by exposing people to diverse perspectives outside their own filter bubbles.”
- John Gable, CEO and Founder of AllSides
People need to be able to work together to address complex challenges successfully. This can happen when we care about each other even when we have differing viewpoints. In fact, respectful relationships is a key aspect of civic health, a foundation that the Civic Health Project is working to build.
– Joan Blades, Co-Founder, Living Room Conversations