Bridgers’ Roundtable
In this monthly series, Forum members with bridging experience—including those who research depolarization and dialogue, mediate partisan conflict, or who have themselves crossed long bridges—are invited to share their learnings and experiences with the larger community at the Bridgers’ Roundtable. Each roundtable will be hosted by a selected member who will present their bridging insights with the larger group, which will then have the opportunity to ask questions, reflect on the host’s insights, and engage with each other around strategies and practices for bridging in both professional and personal contexts. This gathering is only open to Democracy & Belonging Forum members.
On December 5, 2022, at 5:00pm CEST / 11:00am ET / 8:00am PT, we will hear from Forum member Jaroslav Valuch, based in the Czech Republic, who works with groups like the Czech Ministry of Interior to design communications strategies and community programs that counter far-right radicalization, polarization, and mistrust towards newcomers.
Jaro currently works with the Prague-based media development organization Transitions, where he runs media literacy and counter-disinformation initiatives, including one that supports journalists and students in verification and fact-checking, as well as a program to engage Czech elders. He currently works to address rightwing misinformation about refugees arriving from Ukraine, taking learnings from his previous experience leading programs to counter fake news and hate directed at Muslims during the so-called “European Refugee Crisis” in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of Syrians arrived in Europe following the outbreak of war in their home country. In both cases, Jaro has found success countering hate and mistrust by building bridges between older adults who are often targeted by fear-based disinformation and young people, particularly young journalists, migrants, and others who are the object of far-right attacks.
In this Roundtable, Jaro will share more about his work on intergenerational and inter-cultural bridging in the context of Central Europe, and explore communication strategies that counter the fear and breaking messages of the far right and bring communities together.
DECEMBER 5, 2022: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH JAROSLAV VALUCH
Past Events
APRIL 11, 2024: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH DIMI REIDER
On Thursday, April 11 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with longtime bridger Dimi Reider, Israeli journalist and facilitator. He is a co-founder of +972 Magazine, a Palestinian-Israeli media collective and the only media outlet in the country run jointly by journalists from the two communities. Dimi has written for The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, among others; and has translated a number of important books on the conflict from Hebrew to English, including Yehuda Shenhav’s “Beyond the Two State Solution” (2012) and Noga Kadman “Erased from Space and Consciousness” (2015). He also has worked on sharing learnings between Israel-Palestine and Northern Ireland since 2008.
MARCH 27, 2024: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH BART BAILEY
On Wednesday, March 27 (9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Forum member Bart Bailey, founder and principal consultant of Courage to Care who leverages his impressive corporate and lived experience of creating success with his ability to connect to the heart of the matter to ignite change with individuals, teams, and communities. In this Roundtable, Bart will share his experiences as a bridger in the corporate field and guide us through a group reflection that explores what our relationships to violence, identity, authenticity, and community mean for our capacities to bridge.
FEBRUARY 1 , 2024: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH SAMIA HATHROUBI
Figures of otherness in Europe, specifically Jews and Muslims, are often depicted as opposing entities, entangled in a pervasive narrative of conflict, where their 'mutual animosity' is almost ingrained as a natural state. The prevalence of these images on our television screens, smartphones, and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram compels us to acknowledge the hegemony of this perspective.
On Thursday, February 1 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Forum advisory board member Samia Hathroubi, who invites us to join her in unraveling these assumptions and challenging the prevailing discursive practices. Samia, a doctoral student at the Max Weber Sociology Institute at the University of Heidelberg in Germany where she studies Jewish-Muslim interactions in Paris and Berlin, will share personal stories from her life, spanning Tunisia, France, Germany, Israel, and Palestine, and will delve into her findings as a researcher, particularly focusing on her work related to France.
OCTOBER 11, 2023: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH STEVEN T. LICARDI
On Wednesday, October 11 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Forum member Steven T. Licardi, international spoken word poet, sci-fi author, social worker, artist, and mental health advocate. Across the world, his stage presence has become widely known for its positivity, energy, and his powerful use of storytelling to raise awareness of many social justice issues. In this Roundtable, Steven will discuss the transformational potential of collaborative worldbuilding through spoken word poetry and science fiction. Attendees will be guided through a creative writing process in which we are invited to explore the interconnection of our struggles, as well as how our collective mental health shapes our lived experiences.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2023: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH MAMOBO OGORO
On September 11 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Mamobo Ogoro, Forum advisory board member and founder of Gorm Media, a start-up intercultural media agency with a mission to unify across social, cultural and political differences and advance belonging for marginalized communities. In this Roundtable, Mamobo will discuss the successes, challenges, and power in using media as a tool for bridging divides and cultivating community across Ireland. Join us to unravel the power embedded within the media (traditional and social) as we unravel its capacity to dismantle the "us and them" discourse and foster unity along lines of difference.
JULY 17, 2023: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH VANESSA FALOYE
On July 17 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Vanessa Faloye, learning designer and facilitator of the Forum’s anti-oppression and bridging communities of practice and co-founder of Held Collective. In her role, Vanessa commits to resourcing people with what they need to dismantle cultures of oppression, supremacy, and dehumanization, and takes aim at the colonial project of divide and conquer by supporting social movements to unite across differences, in service of a greater we. In this Roundtable, we’ll discuss what is required from us in order to bridge and the role of bridging in advancing collective liberation.
APRIL 17, 2023: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH NIZAM UDDIN
On Monday, April 17 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Forum member Nizam Uddin, the Chief Strategy Officer for the FinTech startup Algbra who is working to tackle the UK’s racialized wealth gap. Nizam brings extensive experience as a cross-community bridger to his work in the private sector, as he previously served as Senior Head of Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust, where he oversaw community cohesion and social integration activities and worked to engage Muslim communities across the UK. In this Roundtable, we will discuss building bridges between communities through activities that bring people together to tackle a shared challenge, as well as bridging public and private sector tactics and strategies to achieve social impact for marginalized groups.
NOVEMBER 14, 2022: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH LINDA TROPP
On November 14, 2022, at 5:00pm CEST/ 11:00am ET / 8:00am PT, we will be hosting Forum member Linda Tropp, scholar of Social Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Mohammed Naeem, Senior Manager for Strategy and Partnerships at the Center for Inclusion and Belonging, a program of the American Immigration Council. The Council recently published "Cultivating Contact: A Guide to Building Bridges and Meaningful Connections Between Groups," co-authored by Linda, who has spent two decades studying how members of different social groups experience contact with each other, and how group differences in status affect cross-group relations. Mohammed and Linda will be sharing more about takeaways from this research and their personal experience as bridgers.
OCTOBER 18, 2022: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH LESLIE GARVIN
Forum Members are invited to register and join us for our first Bridgers’ Roundtable to be held on October 18, 2022, at 5:00pm CEST/ 11:00am ET / 8:00am PT. In this first conversation we will host Forum member Leslie Garvin, Executive Director of North Carolina Campus Engagement, an organization that works with 38 colleges and universities to prepare students for civic and social responsibility, to partner with communities for positive change, and to strengthen democracy. There she has led their deliberative dialogue and civil discourse initiatives for nearly a decade. She will discuss lessons learned on the journey to bridge across racial, socio-economic, and political divides.
FEBRUARY 23, 2023: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH EMMA STENSRÖM
On February 23 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Forum member Emma Stenström, Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and co-founder of the Fika Project. In Swedish, fika means to take a break together, to drink a cup of coffee or tea, and to talk respectfully and listen to each other. Emma will share her insights on the opportunities and challenges of bridging as well as the importance of understanding power dynamics and respecting boundaries.
JANUARY 26, 2023: BRIDGERS’ ROUNDTABLE WITH MINA GIRGIS
On January 26 (8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET), we will host our next Bridgers’ Roundtable with Mina Girgis, an ethnomusicologist and longtime bridger from Egypt who is also the Forum’s arts & culture strategist. Prior to his work with the Forum, Mina founded the Nile Project, whose mission is to inspire citizens of the Nile Delta region to learn about the river ecosystem and their riparian neighbors, engage in Nile stewardship, and resource them to spearhead solutions that cultivate the sustainability of their shared river basin. Mina will discuss his experience using culture to bridge within divisive political contexts and the role of arts and music in bringing people together