SCAN THE FOLLOWING TO SEE THE PROCEEDINGS AND CONTENT FOR THE SESSION ON INCOME INEQUALITY
MAY through JULY 2022
Greetings Building Bridges Group Participants!
This website will be your “go to” site for all content shared during our current Building Bridges group meetings. Additionally, we will supplement our session materials with curated content from complimentary sources for your optional reading, viewing and review.
At our first session, we introduced the group, provided an overview of the divide problem, and briefly explored approaches to conflict and foundational principles for civil discourse. We also rank choice vote selected INCOME INEQUALITY as our divisive issue for engagement during our remaining sessions.
At our second session, we shared some additional suggestions on how to have impactful and civil conversations (curiosity, language, and principles). We broke out into balanced Triads to engage with a narrow focus on Income Inequality by each sharing (1) experiences and influencers that shaped their personal values, (2) resulting personal value and beliefs (3) personal vision of their desired outcomes, and (4) possible alternative paths to attain their desired outcomes. In a group wrap-up session, participants shared how they valued the interaction.
At our third session, we met as individual Caucuses grouped by Liberal, Moderate, and Conservative. The Caucuses were spirited and engaging as each person shared their personal input to the five discussion questions. We inventoried and analyzed responses, looking for commonality and informing items in preparation for our next session.
At our fourth session we did the Fishbowls – each of the three Caucus teams presented their summaries while the other teams listened. Each Caucus shared their: (1) common experiences and influencers, (2) defining values and beliefs, (3) desired vision & outcomes, (4) recommended paths & initiatives to attain the desired outcomes, and (5) assessment of the pros and cons of recommended paths. Then, after the presentations each team took questions from the listening teams to practice our learned methods and principles of civil dialogue.
A special thanks to our Caucus Leaders: Liberals – Fran Barton and Theresa McManus, Moderates – John Decker, and Conservatives – Steve Anderson.
At our fifth and last session we conducted the Final Triads. After sharing some top of mind observations about the prior session’s Caucuses, we broke out into discussion Triads, formed with one person from each of the three Caucuses to provide a range of views. During these final Triads, each participant shared a summary of their personal thoughts on Income Inequality as follows:
- their common experiences and influencers
- their defining values and beliefs
- their desired vision & outcomes
- their recommended paths & initiatives to attain the desired outcomes
- their assessment the pros and cons of your recommended paths
Then, each Triad identified “common ground” within the group across questions 2, 3, and 4. Further, each Triad identified the “major areas” of disagreement and conducted a civil “tri-alog” conversation seeking to find additional common ground. Each Triad worked to apply our shared principles, methods and tools.
Lastly, in the full group, each Triad did a short report out on “found” common ground (way more than expected) and shared their wide range of civil dialogue experiences during their major areas of difference discussions.
A final note:
We thank all of the participants for the five sessions!
We conducted and shared a participant survey and had a specific discussion about what worked and didn’t work in the sessions. A next session starting September 19 will reflect changes derived from this input. See survey on slides 2-4.
Thank You!
Arlene Samuel and Rick Frazier
For information, questions, or comments – please email BuildingBridgesPH@gmail.com
KEY PRINCIPLES, METHODS and TOOLS
Building Bridges Group Overview:
Scheduled Meeting Dates
Stonebridge Recreation Room 6:30 to 8:00 pm in-person
Or optionally, join via zoom meeting with one click:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83422710282?pwd=r0aqln13woQlM18LVMoiq5Twi1FPRQ.1
(Meeting ID: 834 2271 0282, Passcode: 621186)
Session 1 – Monday May 16 – Introduction
Session 2 – Monday June 6 – The Introductory Triads
Session 3 – Monday June 20 – The Caucuses
Session 4 – Thursday July 7 – The Fishbowls
Session 5 – Monday July 18, Final Session – The Final Triads
Session 6 – Monday August 1, OPTIONAL Feedback Session
Content Repository (Jump-to Buttons)
Participant’s Note – if you identify any additional valuable content please eMail it to Fran Barton (Our Curator) at franbarton@aol.com and copy BuildingBridgesPH@gmail.com. Thank You!
Income Inequality Information Sources
| Description | URL or File |
| Pew Research – How do Americans View Economic Inequality | Video |
| TED Talk – Richard Wilkinson: How Economic Inequality Harms Societies | Video |
| Other Pew Research Economic Inequality Articles | Article |
| Council on Foreign Relations – The U.S. Inequality Debate | Article |
| PIIE – The New Tax Law’s Impact on Inequality | Article |
| Just the Facts: Income, Wealth, Poverty | Report |
| McKinsey – Inequality: A persisting challenge and its implications | Article |
| McKinsey – For many Americans, economic opportunity seems increasingly out of reach | Article |
| Pew Research – Trenda in Income and Wealth Inequality | Article |
| Pew Research – An Experiment to Inform Universal Basic Income | Article |
| The New York Times -Thomas Piketty’s Case for ‘Participatory Socialism | Article and Podcast |
| Books: Divided. The perils of Our Growing Inequality. By David Cay Johnston |
Session Content
Session 1 Slides and Handouts:
Session 2 Slides and Handouts:
Session 3 Handouts:
Session 4 Handouts and Slides:
Note – an email from BuildingBridgesPH@gmail.com was sent on Saturday 7/16 to all registered participants in the group with a link to the video replay of the Caucus presentations.
Session 5 Handouts
Supplemental Content
Cross-partisan News Aggregators
The Flip Side
AllSides
1440 (# of minutes in a day)
Partisan Divide Websites
| Description | URL |
| Pew Research Political Typology Quiz (Where do you fit in the political typology?) | Quiz |
| Braver Angels | www.braverangels.org video |
| Better Arguments | www.betterarguments.org video |
| Organizations Bridging Divides | Organization Index ICCTR |
Articles
| Description | Download Link |
| Pew Research Typology Report | Report |
| Jonathon Haidt May 2022 The Atlantic | Atlantic Article |