Braver Angels

Braver Angels is a citizens' organization offering proven methods to rise above the bitterness of our partisan divide and help build a civic renewal movement that seeks understanding, welcomes both accurate disagreement and common ground, and builds trust. Launched following the 2016 presidential election, when partisan rancor and polarization were at an all-time high, Braver Angels now works across six program areas:

• Workshops and Skills Experiences. Facilitated workshops include the flagship Red/Blue workshops, which bring together a small, evenly divided group of conservatives and liberals for a series of exercises that help participants clarify disagreements, reduce stereotyped thinking, and discover common values; as well as workshops on approaching difficult political conversations; identifying one’s own polarizing tendencies and developing strategies for engaging in politics without demonizing; and having more productive conversations about policy issues related to race. Braver Angels also supports self-facilitated, structured 1:1 conversations and debates.
• Braver Citizens, the core of Braver Angels’ grassroots programming, engages across all 50 states and online to equip individuals to bridge the partisan divide. Its Alliances – local groups of Braver Angels members – meet regularly to delve deeper into specific issues, find common ground, and offer workshops to their neighbors.
• Braver Politics brings depolarization programming to political candidates, elected officials, and their staffs at the local, state, and federal levels.
• Braver Campuses helps students engage in an exchange of ideas and influences higher-education curricula and campus culture, encouraging healthy civic pluralism. Braver Angels hosts debates on-campus using its signature College Debates and Discourse format, in partnership with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) and BridgeUSA.
• Braver Network is activating a coalition of civil society organizations from across the political spectrum committed to civic renewal and depolarization.
• Braver Media, the content and idea production hub. Through writing, podcasts, videos, media relations, and social media, Braver Media extends Braver Angels’ reach while sharing with a national audience stories of transformation and cross-partisan friendship.
• Braver U incorporates scholarship, adult education, and arts and humanities into the movement through a Braver Angels Scholars Council, public forum discussions, a music initiative, film and book discussions, and independent program evaluations.