Unify America

06/01/2026

A real conversation with someone who sees the country differently. That's the whole idea behind the Unify Challenge for All.

You're matched one-on-one with another American, you walk through a guided discussion about the issues that matter most in America, and you find out where you actually agree, often more than you'd expect. No debate. No winners. Just two people talking.

The next one is tomorrow at 4 pm ET. It takes about an hour and there's nothing to prepare.

Join in:

05/27/2026

Try something a little different this Thursday.

On May 28 at 2 pm ET, join the Unify Challenge for All, a guided one-on-one video conversation with another American you'd likely never get to meet otherwise. We match the two of you, walk you through the conversation, and you get to do something most of us don't do nearly enough: actually listen to someone whose life looks different from yours.

No prep. No politics expertise needed. Just curiosity and an open mind.

Grab a laptop, give yourself about an hour, and sign up here: https://app.unifyamerica.org/register

05/18/2026

Sixty-five Akron neighbors. Ten weeks together. One shared task: figure out what to do about housing in their city.

Something unexpected is happening along the way. Delegates are forming real connections across very different backgrounds, professions, and politics. Some are getting together outside the assembly. One delegate called it "probably the most representative body that Akron has seen."

That isn't a side effect of the work. It's part of what makes the work possible.
When you give people enough time to actually listen to each other, you get more than recommendations. You get neighbors.

Read the full story about Unify Akron from the Akron Beacon Journal: https://www.aol.com/articles/housing-initiative-creating-bonds-between-100205102.html

04/29/2026

At first glance, this might look like nothing special. A bunch of people sitting around tables, reading some papers, talking with their neighbors.

But what's actually happening in this photo is a civic innovation.

These are Akron residents taking part in a Civic Assembly: a group of community members, chosen by random lottery to reflect the makeup of the city, who come together to work through one shared challenge. In Akron's case, that challenge is housing.

Delegates learn from local experts and neighbors with real-life experience, listen to perspectives different from their own, and deliberate on practical recommendations that city leaders will respond to.

It isn't a debate. Nobody is here to win. They're here to figure things out together.

The idea that everyday people can gather to deliberate on the issues that shape their lives is as old as ancient Athens, but it's one the United States has rarely put into practice at this scale.

The Akronites in this photo are part of a growing movement to change that, by showing what happens when you give regular Americans the time, information, and support to tackle hard problems together.

See Unify Akron's progress in real time, and learn more about how Civic Assemblies work, at unifyakron.org.

04/23/2026

46 neighbors in Montrose, Colorado were picked by lottery for one assignment: spend 12 weeks together figuring out how every parent in town could have dependable access to safe, affordable childcare.

They delivered a 96-page report and five proposals their community is now building on. Something else happened along the way. 93% of participants said the deliberation helped them consider perspectives they hadn't before. 91% said it improved the quality of their decisions.

When the pilot ended, the group didn't go home. They formed Unify Montrose as an independent nonprofit and kept tackling local problems together.

Morgan Lasher, who leads our U.S. Democracy Leagues, put it this way: "The fastest way to build a civic identity is to deliberate with your neighbor."

Read the full story in The Denver Gazette: https://www.denvergazette.com/2026/04/11/montrose-citizens-assembly-puts-the-we-back-in-we-the-people-vince-bzdek/

By Vince Bzdek It started with a completely random encounter in a buffet line. Harry Gottlieb, founder of a national civic organization called Unify America, and his president, Michelle Sobel, were at a Chicago fundraising conference, talking about trying to find a good U.S. city for a pilot project...

04/21/2026

A Democracy League is a new kind of civic institution built on an old idea: regular people can solve their own problems, together.

Akron is in the middle of one right now. A Civic Assembly of residents, selected by lottery and supported to participate, is working on the city's housing challenges. Their recommendations will go to local leaders who have committed to take them seriously.

"Dialogue is great, but action is even better." That's Dreama Whitfield, an Akron resident in the middle of the work.

Learn more about how a Democracy League works: www.unifyakron.org

04/16/2026

04/07/2026

Too often, political conversations leave people more divided than when they started. Deliberation tends to do the opposite.

Here's what it actually is.

04/06/2026

What if the cure for political polarization was something as simple as sitting down and actually talking, with real information, real listening, and real give-and-take?

That's the argument at the heart of a compelling new column from Colorado Politics editor Vince Bzdek. He highlights research showing that when everyday Americans are given balanced information and structured space to deliberate, they consistently move away from extreme positions across party lines.

It's not just theory. We saw it firsthand.

In 2023, Unify America hosted its first Civic Assembly in Montrose, Colorado, one of the very experiments Bzdek points to as evidence that this approach is working. 64 community members from across the political spectrum spent 12 weeks deliberating together on local childcare challenges. The result wasn't just a set of recommendations. It was a community that felt heard, empowered, and capable of solving problems together.

This is what democracy can look like when we invest in it.

👉 Read the full column and share it with someone who needs a reason for hope today:
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/03/07/can-deliberation-save-democracy-vince-bzdek/

In September 2019, 523 Americans traveled to Dallas for an experiment called “America in One Room.” The gathering was designed to test a theory: Could representative citizens deliberate productively even in an era of intense polarization? The event focused on policy proposals in five polarizing ...

04/02/2026

A new report from Harvard asks a critical question: what does it actually take for public deliberation to lead to real change?

The answer, according to researchers at the Ash Center, is institutional commitment. When people are given a voice but no follow-through, it can leave them more disillusioned than before.

We took that seriously in Akron.

Right now, Unify Akron is running the city's first Civic Assembly, focused on housing. A randomly selected group of Akron residents are meeting weekly, learning from multiple perspectives, and developing real recommendations for the city. And the Mayor and City of Akron have signed an MOU committing to consider and act on what the assembly produces.

That is not a suggestion box. That is democracy in action.

The assembly runs through May 2026.

Want to follow along or get involved?
👉 https://www.unifyakron.org/

📖 Read the Harvard piece that puts it all in context: https://ash.harvard.edu/resources/the-ecosystem-of-deliberative-technologies-for-public-input/

Ensuring public opinion and policy preferences are reflected in policy outcomes is essential to a functional democracy. A growing ecosystem of deliberative technologies aims to improve the input-to-action loop between people and their governments.