On September 29th a coalition of community leaders came together from different sectors throughout the county, including local government, education, nonprofit, small business, law enforcement, physical & mental health, youth, and faith based with the goal of facilitating healthy conversation about the topics that divide us. As our community goes through changes, some embrace those changes and some resist them, but we are all in this together so it is critical that we learn to work together to ensure the best for everyone in our community. That goal starts with healthy conversation which was the focus of Bridging Divides – El Dorado.
Through a series of presentations and exercises led by organizers Ken Futernick and Paul Zappettini along with supplementary commentary from several community leaders within the audience, and co-facilitators from Braver Angels and Living Room Conversations, this coalition from across the spectrum of sectors was led through the process of exploring what healthy conversation and debate look like.
The morning began with impassioned words from Ken and Paul about the importance of this convening and everyone’s willingness to participate in finding common ground in conversations that normally divide. Present at the event were individuals from different ends of political, religious, and ideological spectrums, all ready and willing to learn how to better communicate with their peers that they may not see eye to eye with. After Ken and Paul discussed the purpose of Bridging Divides, the attendees got to hear from several of the community leaders present in the audience, including Jude Wood – Executive Director of Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Brian Veerkamp – El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors, Dr. Ed Manansala – El Dorado County Superintendent of Schools, and Bill Roby – Executive Director of the El Dorado Community Foundation. Each spoke about the critical need for this convening and encouraged all in attendance to take what they learned back to their respective sectors for the overall betterment of our community.
The first activity presented to the group saw attendees pair up with someone they didn’t already know and converse about what they each love about living in El Dorado County. This exercise was intended to help individuals find common ground despite their differences. The next activity was led by Becca Kearl, Executive Director of Living Room Conversations. In this activity, small groups formed to talk about where they are currently experiencing divisions and how those divisions have affected them personally or how those divisions have impacted their organizations. Next, attendees again paired off with someone they didn’t know and practiced a deeper listening activity. In this activity, each participant spent a couple minutes listening to their partner without interrupting or reacting while their partner talked about an issue they were passionate about. The partners then switched roles for the second half of the exercise and a few attendees shared their experiences with the exercise, both how it felt to listen without reacting and how it felt to talk about something with no interaction from the listener.
After lunch, each different sector separated into breakout sessions to identify leaders, challenges, needed resources, and the next steps in bridging the divides within their respective sectors. The groups spent roughly the last hour of the day in these breakout sessions as this portion of Bridging Divides was critically important to moving forward with the lessons learned and how those lessons can be adapted to the greater community as a whole to bridge that which divides us. Each group’s breakout session saw extensive conversation and collaboration about finding a way forward, breaking through the noise, and establishing common ground from which to approach the problems faced by our community. When everything was said and done, attendees left the event a little more prepared for addressing the divides within El Dorado County.
The El Dorado Community Foundation would like to thank Ken Futernick and Paul Zappettini for their heroic effort in bringing Bridging Divides – El Dorado to our community. Their hard work and dedication to making this a successful event was evident in the exceptional levels of organization and execution on display. We would also like to thank co-facilitators, Braver Angels and Living Room Conversations for their part in making this a very successful day. You can learn more about Bridging Divides – El Dorado by visiting www.bridgingdivides-eldorado.org.
