The United Vision Project Training – February 2024

Please note that this event is a 2-day training program. Completion of Day 1 is required in order to attend the 2nd session. If you are able to join us for Day 2, please check the box for both dates.

America may never have been this divided, and we can either take action or watch our country fracture even more. Building on years of collective and deep organizing practice, our three organizations – United Vision for Idaho, People’s Action, and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) – have joined forces in a historic way to meet the challenges we face in practice and scale never achieved before.

The United Vision National Training Hub is a training program designed to develop our skills in authentic relational organizing, supported by an outreach project that makes it possible to text hundreds of thousands of Americans, meeting them where they are and holding conversations to learn more about what they believe, how they feel, and why they think the country is so divided. Ultimately, we are using this work to develop strategies that will help all of us work together and advance policies that result in real improvements in people’s lives.

February 21st – On Day 1 of our program we will learn the skills to hold authentic relational conversations. Imagine what is possible if we could spark a conversation with anyone no matter their opinions, background, or subscribed ideologies, but in particular with someone whose views you oppose that can often cause feelings of frustration, anger, or pain. Those conversations are difficult, but we must do everything we can to cultivate relationships across differences and meet people where they are and this program is the first step to realizing our vision to confront the challenges we collectively face today. And while much will be focused on how we can work to better understand others, we will also take time to reflect on ourselves. We’ll contemplate the echo chambers that influence us, and the role it plays in adding to our polarization.

The curriculum is a combination of training on deep and empathetic listening, strategic dialogue, understanding biases, and self-examination. The skills we learn will come from a variety of fields and applications including bridge building, de-escalation, non-violent conflict resolution, negotiation tactics, and depolarization. Equipped with those tools and a deeper understanding of your own thought processes, you’ll be ready to start putting the approach to practice talking with folks that likely hold strongly oppositional views from your own.

February 22nd – Day 2 will then provide the opportunity to text folks in different locations across the country and to hold a real and authentic relational conversation. Our community of texters and organizing leaders will be there to support you as you practice and hone your skills, collecting the experience over time that you need to feel more confident having difficult conversations not only within our program, but in your day-to-day lives and communities as well.

 

REGISTER HERE: https://www.mobilize.us/unitedvisionid/event/580586/