RAFT For America

08/26/2026

Interested in RAFT for America? Apply on our website at raftforamerica.org and tell your friends to do the same!

08/24/2026

Atlanta News First recently featured RAFT for America and the idea at the heart of our work: bringing people of different social, political, and religious backgrounds together to navigate whitewater, build trust, and discover what’s possible when we work as a team.

Rodney Sadler and Lance Moseley, co-hosts of the Reuniting America Podcast, stopped by ATL Live to talk with hosts Savannah Louie and Ava Braatz about the program’s origins.

Lance and Rodney met on the river paddling with RAFT for America, and now they are continuing the conversation!

Discover how RAFT for America, a project by Team Democracy, uses whitewater rafting to bring political opposites together to foster trust and civil dialogue, as discussed on WANF’s ATL Live Show.

08/24/2026

What happens when you put people with different backgrounds, experiences, and political perspectives in the same raft?

NPR joined RAFT for America on Pennsylvania’s Lehigh River to find out. Between the rapids, participants talked about politics, the economy, conservation, immigration, generational differences, and what it feels like to be misunderstood. Through it all, they had to do one important thing: paddle together.

That’s the idea behind RAFT for America. When we create space to talk, listen, and work together, we can find connection across our differences.

🎧 Listen to the full story from NPR: Rafting brings people with different politics together

08/21/2026

What happens when you put people with different backgrounds, experiences, and political perspectives in the same raft?

Between the rapids, participants talked about politics, the economy, conservation, immigration, generational differences, and what it feels like to be misunderstood. Through it all, they had to do one important thing: paddle together.

That’s the idea behind RAFT for America. When we create space to talk, listen, and work together, we can find connection across our differences.

🎧 Listen to the full story from NPR: [Rafting brings people with different politics together] https://www.npr.org/2026/08/10/nx-s1-5910788/rafting-brings-people-with-different-politics-together

08/15/2026

Turns out people love talking to strangers about politics.

08/03/2026

What happens when people with different political views get in a raft together?

They talk. They listen. They learn from one another. And somewhere between the rapids and the conversations, they begin to see each other as people instead of political opponents.

Because it’s harder to hate someone once you know them. That’s what RAFT for America is all about.

07/31/2026

What happens when people with different political perspectives get in the same boat?

On the Lehigh River, participants paddled through the rapids while having honest conversations, building new connections and discovering common ground. As one participant put it, “If you paddle together, we actually go places.”

We’re grateful to the PA Chamber Foundation and M&T Bank for supporting this trip and helping make this experience possible.

Thank you to Kat Bolus and WVIA for capturing the hope, curiosity, and connection that can grow when we choose to move forward together.

https://www.wvia.org/news/local/2026-07-19/in-the-same-boat-lehigh-river-rafting-trip-pairs-people-to-find-common-ground-off-land

07/31/2026

What happens when people with different political perspectives get in the same boat?

On the Lehigh River, participants paddled through the rapids while having honest conversations, building new connections and discovering common ground. As one participant put it, “If you paddle together, we actually go places.”

We’re grateful to the PA Chamber Foundation and M&T Bank for supporting this trip and helping make this experience possible.

Thank you to Kat Bolus and WVIA for capturing the hope, curiosity, and connection that can grow when we choose to move forward together.

RAFT for America's first float of the season began on the Lehigh River. Participants from different backgrounds and ideologies work together while whitewater rafting.

07/20/2026

“If you paddle together, we actually go places.”

That idea came to life on the Lehigh River, where people with different backgrounds and political perspectives navigated 11 miles of rapids and honest conversations together. By the end of the day, participants left with new connections, greater understanding and renewed hope for what is possible when we lead with curiosity and grace.

Thank you to Kat Bolus with WVIA for capturing what it means to be in the same boat, literally and figuratively.

RAFT for America's first float of the season began on the Lehigh River. Participants from different backgrounds and ideologies work together while whitewater rafting.

07/20/2026

At RAFT, it is the people that make our initiative work and our trips so special. On our latest trip in June on the Lehigh in PA, this didn’t change. Our incredible participants come on a trip with open minds and good intentions. What emerges is always the same: new friendships, new perspectives, and a lot of fun.

Click the link in our bio to get involved and join the movement on our next trip, happening in less than a month in Bryson City, North Carolina.