We give people the means to strengthen relationships, deepen belonging, and renew hope in their communities.
Our Impact
Megan DeFranzaThere is a need not only for safe space within our churches but for our church leaders who often feel alone, or who may feel their job could be at risk if they engage in controversial conversations. How are they to make safe spaces in their own congregations for healthy dialogue if they rarely experience safe space to do the same?
Gordon College, Massachusetts
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High School StudentThe 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.
Raleigh, NC
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Undergraduate StudentI learned to expect the best of my classmates, even when we don’t agree. I can’t write off their opinions anymore, despite our disagreements.
Bridgewater College, Virginia
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.
Related Resources
News: How Essential Partners is Taking Dialogue to Scale
“Rather than bringing people out and then have them go back into a dysfunctional system, we're working to change that system from the beginning. And it's a very, very grassroots approach.”
EP Co-Executive Director Katie Hyten talks to Beyond Intractability about our theory of change, scaling our impact, the power of student facilitators, our Reflective Structured Dialogue approach—even our name change, from Public Conversations Project to Essential Partners!
Recent Partners
