Trust doesn’t grow only in small groups. It also needs room to grow in the networks, institutions, and leadership spaces that shape our shared life. Paths to Understanding works with civic, faith, and community partners to help those systems support connection rather than division.

Paths to Understanding believes that healthy communities depend on both strong relationships and healthy civic systems. While much of our work focuses on helping neighbors meet, listen, and learn from one another, our mission also calls us to engage public leadership and civic infrastructure.

We partner with organizations such as Seattle University’s Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement and and the Faith Action Network to convene roundtable conversations among trusted leaders from diverse wisdom communities. These spaces allow leaders to name real challenges, build shared understanding, and face difficult questions together.

Our work connects local trust-building to regional and national efforts. We help build the Washington State Civic Innovation Network, support the Skagit County Civic Hub, and participate in the Inter-Movement Impact Project at the national level. Through partnerships with groups like Better Together America, Braver Angels, and others, we strengthen the conditions that allow trust, participation, and cooperation to take root.

This work is not partisan. It is about public values and the shared work of making decisions together in a diverse democracy. In a divided time, these partnerships help create the space, relationships, and imagination needed for communities to move forward—together.