The Building Civic Bridges Act
Addressing Polarization and Division in the United States
A civil democracy depends on the ability to speak together, and yet our country has never been more divided. We no longer communicate with each other, we no longer know how. And that is affecting us on a political, economical, societal, and personal level. It’s tearing apart our democracy, but it’s also tearing apart our communities, our families.
This is why we need the Building Civic Bridges Act, a small piece of legislation with the potential for vital change. It would authorize $25 million per year for the Office of Civic Bridgebuilding, responsible for:
- Administering a competitive grant program to support civic bridgebuilding programs across the nation
- Supporting the training of volunteers in civic bridgebuilding skills and techniques
- Supporting research on civic bridgebuilding, civic engagement, and social cohesion
- Coordinating with other federal agencies and organizations that are working to address political and social polarization
The BCBA is nonpartisan. It was introduced in 2022 by Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) with 23 additional bipartisan co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and by Christopher Coons (D-DE) and Benjamin Sasse (R-NE) in the Senate, and is set to take center stage again this year. While the bill may not have been adopted during the 117th Congress, the vision and importance of the BCBA have not waned. On the contrary, the need for this legislation has only grown more urgent as our society grapples with issues of polarization, partisanship, and social fragmentation. Democrat, republican, independent, any of the parties in between, all are welcome to the table to have a conversation. It’s a common sense bill. We have a lot of problems that plague us at a national level, but if we’re unable to communicate, as humans, person to person, then the solutions are limited. And quite often they will not be the solutions that actually address the issue in its entirety. That’s why over 60 organizations and individuals are currently supporting the bill.
Here is how you can support the Building Civic Bridges Act (BCBA):