Our O&B 26 Tracks
Find your way through the conference
- The Power of Bridging and Bridging for Power: Narratives, movements, and practices for working across difference and to bolster democracy
- Belonging and Democracy in Action: How a bridging politic and practice can bring about and sustain a multi-racial democracy founded on unconditional belonging
- Structures & Policies for We the People: What are the institutions and policies that we need for true belonging? Concrete examples of how we can change systems to operate in the best interest of all, not just a few, and that advance good governance and belonging.
The Power of Bridging
In a world where othering and separation exists, there is a need to bridge. But what is bridging and why is it powerful?
Bridging is an orientation that: insists on the inherent humanity of every person; offers a way to recognize our interconnection; helps us resist dehumanizing practices, and better inoculates us against division
Bridging is a story rooted in multi-dimensionality. that recognizes and celebrates our differences.
A bridging story is organized around what is possible.
Bridging is a set of practices that:
- recognize common humanity
- engage in deep listening
- engage complexity-thinking—no one is a single story or identity
- reject zero-sum thinking
Bridging does not mean we agree —In fact it is when we don’t agree that we need to lean more on our fundamental principles.
To combat polarization, isolation, and weaponized division, we must have people, and we must be people, willing to take the risk to bridge.
Belonging and Democracy In Action: Local to Global Proofs of What is Possible
A world without othering may seem impossible, but the reality is that there is already a global movement for belonging gaining momentum, with groups all over the world who believe a world built on care and inclusion is at least a possibility, and this possibility is one we can organize around.
This track is designed as a mutual learning space to learn about scaling impact from belonging-builders and pro-democracy networks and coalitions. Sessions in this track will offer:
- Case studies on organizations, cities, states using belonging frame
- Global and local models and examples of pluralism and belonging
- Strengthening pro-democracy networks and coalitions
- Pathways for belonging practitioners to learn from each other and strengthen their work
- Claiming belonging in the public sphere
Structures & Systems for We the People: Institutions and Policies that Work for All of Us
Structures and systems shape our everyday lives. In an era of institutional capture and erosion, soaring economic inequality, extractive systems that threaten the entire planet, we must take stock of our institutions and norms, to see where they are fraying and, with an honest look, ask if they can be fixed. Or should they be?
This track will provide sessions that look at the institutions, policies, and systems that influence the main spheres of democratic life and participation.
Institutions are powerful and fragile at the same time. How do we better understand their power, or take advantage of their fragility? We need to to look for gaps, apply pressure, and, in a democratic project, ensure they work for all the people, not for only a select few.
By understanding systemic scale and the role of systems and institutions in building and advancing (or impeding)belonging, we may better identify points of convergence, including ones that cut across geographical, cultural, and partisan lines. This track will offer learnings on systems at different levels and types, from local, state, regional, national, to global, from governmental to informal.