Thank you.
The core issue is trust among community members. The opportunity to do this is based on our civic institutions, which have been eroding in our communities. This is why it's critical to reinvest in those opportunities and create space for people to have those conversations. We have to make it acceptable for spaces like libraries, YMCAs and community institutions to host those pieces.
Honestly, it doesn't come easily, because people are uncomfortable having those conversations. We can do it in ways that might sound out of place in this community—ways that are fun and build communities on shared values and the things that bring us together. We can start from a place of shared values—the things we all care about, such as our families, our neighbourhoods and our friends. If we can start from those places, we can also have the more challenging conversations about the places in which we disagree.
It's something that all of you do in your work. It's about ways of being intentional about this and encouraging our civic institutions to take up the mantle and take it on.