We give people the means to strengthen relationships, deepen belonging, and renew hope in their communities.
Our Impact
Undergraduate StudentAt the beginning of the semester, there was not much participation in class. But by the end, almost everyone had something constructive to add every day.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
-
Jordan Cuffee ’21The dialogue training allowed me to push myself to speak up first. In an informal conversation, I’m not usually the first person to voice my opinion; I usually end up listening, rather than taking a stance on sharing my opinion. But the dialogue training empowered us to decide if we want to say something now or listen. It really made me feel part of the conversation, rather than being on the outside, observing.
Cary Academy, NC
-
Rebekah Shrestha, SVPEssential Partners has played a catalytic role in our ability to facilitate dialogue time and time again, and we could not have done this work without them.
Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact and Office of Strategic Planning, 92NY
Resisting Polarization in an Election Season: A Free Resource
Partisan polarization (Democrats versus Republicans) turns our huge, complicated, diverse democracy into a political sport where everyone has to pick a side and only one side can win. In this four-part, scaffolded, self-paced curriculum, we will help you develop the internal capacities, skills, and confidence you need to become a positive force in conversations around the election where you live, work, worship, and learn.
Related Resources
News: How Essential Partners is Taking Dialogue to Scale
“Rather than bringing people out and then have them go back into a dysfunctional system, we're working to change that system from the beginning. And it's a very, very grassroots approach.”
EP Co-Executive Director Katie Hyten talks to Beyond Intractability about our theory of change, scaling our impact, the power of student facilitators, our Reflective Structured Dialogue approach—even our name change, from Public Conversations Project to Essential Partners!
Recent Partners
