healing divides
starts with conversation.
Living Room Conversations are a simple way to connect across divides - politics, age, gender, race, nationality, and more.
WATCH: Grover Norquist, Marianne Williamson, and other politically diverse leaders join in a Living Room Conversation on “Moving Forward Together” after the 2020 Election.
Getting at the heart of what we share in common with one another, these conversations have powerful, positive impacts across society – including a sense of respect, understanding, and even friendship in unexpected places!
The backbone of a Living Room Conversation is a conversational model developed by dialogue experts in order to facilitate connection between people despite their differences, and even identify areas of common ground and shared understanding.
Within this model, we have developed over 100 conversation guides on all sorts of topics that can otherwise be tense to talk about with friends, strangers, and even loved ones of differing backgrounds and political persuasions.
explore our work
What's New?
With the advance of technology, it’s easy to broadcast our thoughts and feelings and connect with both friends and strangers online. With the rise of the 24/7 news cycle and social media, there has been an increase of high-profile cases in which people receive public rebuke or lose professional opportunities due something they do, say, or post online, or when something from their past surfaces. Some believe that these instances are appropriate forms of accountability, while others believe they represent an out-of-control “cancel culture” that violates the spirit of free speech.
Living Room Conversations is doing our first ever call for art submissions! We are excited to introduce new images on our merchandise and want our Living Room Conversations Community to be a part of it. You are all at the heart of this work.
Trending Topics
During the pandemic, there has been an increase in reports of anti-Asian violence and discrimination with a majority of incidents being reported by women. Many attribute the rise in violence and discrimination to linking the Coronavirus with China and people of Chinese descent. As we work through what can be a painful, paralyzing, and uncertain time, it can be helpful to hold space to reflect on what we have experienced, to verbalize the questions we think are important to be asking, and to share our concerns and hopes for the AAPI community.
Trust is a critical component of building and maintaining healthy families, communities, institutions and countries. This trust is built over time and can be challenged by people with different views or backgrounds as well as events that call into question the intent of our institutions and media. How can we move forward and build trust for a healthier society?
Upcoming Events
How to Host a Conversation About Race
Living Room Conversations LIVE Premiere: Climate of Unity
Introduction to Living Room Conversations
How to Organize and Host Living Room Conversations
Press
Bay Area groups pivot in effort to bridge politics
Chris Collins had only been attending Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco for a few months when, after the 2016 presidential election, he
Healing family divisions from the trauma of 2020 starts with listening to people you disagree with, experts say
Brialle Ringer is a racial equity partner of Living Room Conversations, an organization that facilitates community conversations to help people bridge their differences and understand
How to answer Joe Biden’s call for unity without compromising your values
Like many progressives, I cringe when I hear the word “unity.” In his Inaugural Address, President Joe Biden told Americans: “This is our
Videos
LRC LIVE premiere: Communitarianism & Conservatism
The idea of conservatism evokes a spectrum of ideas, values
Piedmont Community Church on Bridging Ideological Divides
Leaders from Piedmont Community Church in Northern California discuss how
Living Room Conversation on Communitarianism & Conservatism – Highlights
Check out the highlights from this Living Room Conversation on
What a Living Room Conversation looks like
Two conversation hosts with different viewpoints each invite one or two others to join together for structured conversation on a specific topic. (We have a lot of structured topic guides to choose from, or you can create your own).
The Conversation Agreements and structure help assure a good experience and allow participants to get to know each other.
Living Room Conversations can happen anywhere: our homes, coffee shops, conference spaces, churches, and more and more online via video chat.
What People Are Saying
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Cheers!
Let’s make a congratulatory toast to the first cohort of participants in the Living Room Conversations Host Certification Program! This wonderful and talented group spent their
Thread the Needle
Universal Basic Income Our newest guide, Universal Basic Income, was created in collaboration with our partner, Common Ground Committee, a citizen-led nonprofit focused on finding common ground
New in September
Forgiveness & the Jewish New Year One of my favorite parts of the Jewish New Year is the invitation to be introspective; where did I