It’s news to exactly no one that we’re living in polarized times. But Strong Towns advocates are doing their best to push back against polarization in their communities. In fact, it’s a core value of our movement that we work with people on all parts of the political spectrum, because we know that the change we seek across North America won’t happen without everyone on board.
Today’s guests on The Bottom-Up Revolution podcast, hosted by Rachel Quednau, are doing the challenging but important work of bridging political divides in their home state. Carlos Alfaro and Jacob Pritchett founded Arizona Talks as a platform for learning, dialogue, and connection for individuals impacting public policy. They facilitate debates, conversations, and dialogues amongst residents and leaders throughout Arizona. It’s a diverse state full of lots of different political views, and Carlos and Jacob have navigated those waters to bring together Democrats, Republicans, and folks between and outside those labels for constructive conversation on the issues that matter.
In this interview, they talk about how this project came to be, some of their successes and failures, and their advice for others trying to build common ground in a polarized time.
Additional Show NotesArizona Talks website.
Send your story ideas to rachel@strongtowns.org.
Subscribe to The Bottom-Up Revolution on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Podbean, or via RSS.
Support this podcast by becoming a Strong Towns member today.
Emma Durand-Wood: Planting Street Trees and Neighborhood Connections
Spencer Gardner: Moving from Planning to Action
Lindsey Meek: An Engineer who ”Saw the Light”
Amy Stelly: Campaigning to Get Rid of an Urban Highway
Steph and Sean Tuff: Starting an Electric Bike Company
Danny Schaible: Creating a Street Design Team
Ari Feinsmith: Helping More People Get Out and Bike!
Montavius Jones: Celebrating Your City and Helping it Grow Better
Jen Stromsten and Alex Beck: Welcoming New Americans and Building up a Rural Economy
Jonathan Curth: Ending Parking Minimums and Seeing the Results
Ann Zadeh: Community Design for Stronger Towns
Nick and Amanda Lanata: Two Amazing Strong Towns Members
Beth Silverman: Uniting For-Profits and Nonprofits to End Homelessness
Karla Theilen: A Neighborhood Storyteller
Cooper Frost: Incremental Change in a Small Town
David Cantu and Maya Sanchez: Helping Neighbors Grow (and Sell!) Their Own Food
Jay Stange: Slowing Down Cars and Building Up Neighborhoods
Christa Theilen and Seairra Shepherd: Small-Scale Rural Farming
Robin Roemer: Stopping a Harmful Highway Project
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