Successfully engaging across ideological lines.

I grew up in the
Westboro Baptist Church:
Why I left.

What’s it like to grow up within a group of people who exult in demonizing … everyone else? Megan Phelps-Roper shares her personal experience of extreme polarization, along with some sharp ways we can learn to successfully engage across ideological lines.

Salt Lake City Village Square in the News

Shelly Jenson in The
Huffington Post:
Those People are Us.

Shelly Jenson of the SLC Village Square writes: “What I would like each of us to consider, to ponder, to hold with curious reverence, is whether carrying the belief that ‘those people’ are incapable of as much genuine feeling as I am, is in fact the deepest toxicity that divides our society?”

Village Square partner Dr. Jon Haidt

Jonathan Haidt:
The Righteous Mind + Moral Foundations Theory

Jon gets his own page. So far, it’s just Jon, Jefferson and Tocqueville. We’re delighted to have teamed forces with this exceptional thinker, and we’re learning together to apply actual science to beat this rotten political culture. We think he’s onto something and we hope we are too.

National Association of Counties + Village Square

Village Square featured in NACo Civility brochure

Village Square co-founder and current NACo President Bryan Desloge has launched a national civility initiative as his presidential initiative. Just when we needed it most. This brochure provides a roadmap.

village square in the news

The Village Square is in The New York Times

The Village Square works with The New York Times podcast “The Run-Up” on conversations between Trump and Clinton supporters

the village square + Harvard Law

The Village Square
at Harvard Law School

In the run-up to the contentious 2016 presidential election, Village Square co-founder Liz Joyner was invited to join a panel on “Political Dialogue” to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program.

The Square in Christian Science Monitor

America Divided?
Not in these communities

There are dozens of organizations that also have touched the lives of Americans across the country. From Village Square in Tallahassee… to Kitchen Table Democracy in Portland, Ore., civility-focused organizations are springing up in virtually every corner of country.

village square in the news

Life in the Wrong Political Bubble

byron dobson on created equal

Too wide to get our
arms around

“No matter how you want to address it,
race is a common thread through
every fabric of our lives…”

Village Square in The Washington Post

The Washington Post:
Kathleen Parker

In “Americans must take a stand
against our own extremists:”
“The Village Square…brings citizens
together to a bipartisan, formal debate
on issues crucial to the community.”