Photo: EP Dialogue Session
Addressing polarization where you live, work, worship, and learn

We give people the means to strengthen relationships, deepen belonging, and renew hope in their communities.

Our Impact

Photo: Scranton Dialogues
Fostering Campus Resilience with the University of Scranton

"Facilitated dialogue creates a classroom atmosphere in which exploring uncomfortable issues and asking difficult questions is an expected part of the process, and it allows students space to engage each other without fear of the vitriol common in our public discourse."

  • Essential Partners' process gives people the space to be intellectually curious and to engage with others on important issues in a way that also benefits their own understanding of what they believe.

    Elizabeth Zehl, Undergraduate Student
    Randolph College (VA)
  • As a former rebel, I really believe that if we had known about dialogue, perhaps we would not have had a civil war.

    Windor Dorko
    Liberia
  • The thing that surprised me, was the amount of respect given to each person while speaking in the meeting. I thought that discussing politics would eventually cause problems, but it did not.

    High School Student
    Raleigh, NC

Five Weeks of Dialogue: An Essential Email Series

This five-week email series is designed to supercharge your efforts to reduce polarization, bridge divides, and change the way people engage differences of identities, values, and perspectives. Whether you're thinking about large-scale projects or looking for small, simple, everyday tools to foster healthier relationships, you'll be able to use these skills and resources where you live, work, worship, and learn.

Photo: Four people seated, talking
Image: New Pluralists + EP Logos

News: Essential Partners is a New Pluralists Grantee!

We are thrilled to announce that we have been selected as one of 32 grantees for the New Pluralists Healing Starts Here initiative! We'll be partnering with civic and faith groups, nonprofits, schools, law enforcement, and municipalities in North Carolina’s Research Triangle to build a culture of resilience, belonging, and compassion across differences of identities and perspectives. 

Recent Partners

Image: Cary Academy logo
Image: Share Our America logo
Image: Starts With Us logo
Image: Southern Methodist University name and seal
Image: South Sound YMCA logo
Image: Carnegie Library logo
Image: FIS Global logo
Logo: Tufts University, Massachusetts
Image: City of Melrose seal
Bridgewater College logo
Winthrop Rockefeller Institute
Image: Newburyport Public Schools logo
Image: Roundabout Theater Company logo
Logo: The Colossian Forum, Michigan
Image: Cody WY School District logo
Image: Miami Dade College logo
Image: Shenandoah logo
Image: Revolutionary Spaces Logo
Image: Ravenscroft School logo
Image: Mass Humanities logo