Let’s Go Together
What Happens When Neighbors Meet?
A few weeks ago, more than 70 people gathered for the public celebration of Let’s Go Together in Skagit County. Over the previous months, they had participated in conversations, shared meals, visited one another’s communities, and asked human questions. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Indigenous, people of many cultures and backgrounds, people of many ecoinomic situations, longtime…
Read MoreThe Power of Sharing Our Stories
Written by Viveka, our Let’s Go Together Program Coordinator Paths to Understanding leans into the foundational human practice of sharing stories as an essential way to prepare the ground of our hearts for connection. One way to summarize our work is to say that we create spaces for people from different backgrounds to share stories with each other. Here are a few examples of how the innate practice of…
Read MoreA Year of Courage, Kindness, and New Sunrises
As we turn toward the close of the year, I’ve been looking back on the moments that give me hope. Not abstract ideas, not headlines—but real conversations with real people. These three keep coming back to me. 1. “These questions were next level.” At a Potluck Project event in Kirkland, a leader who has been…
Read MoreGovernance for Thriving: Dignity, Community, Beauty, and Sustainability – Part 2
If democracy is going to heal, it needs a new aim—human thriving—and a practical path to get there. Political scientist Jenna Bednar calls this governance for human social thriving. The Four Pillars: These ideas match the Vital Conditions for Well-Being developed by the Rippel Foundation: humane housing, meaningful work, lifelong learning, belonging, and civic muscle.…
Read MoreGovernance for Thriving: Why We Need a New Kind of Growth – Part One
American democracy feels worn thin. Too many people feel left out, unheard, or unseen. For decades we’ve measured success by how fast the economy grows—but not by how well people are doing. We built a system that rewards rivalry between groups instead of relationships between neighbors. The Deeper Problem: We humans naturally form groups. It’s…
Read MoreClosing The Great Chasm Between Us
Machines of Slander and Fears For sixty years, people have been walking away—from groups, from institutions, and even from one another. Churches, unions, civic clubs, and neighborhood associations—once the backbone of community life—have all thinned out. Groups have walked away from other groups too, retreating into separate worlds of culture, class, and information. But nature…
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