How to (Not) Kill Your Community

Media is often blamed for polarization – but nonprofit and local news models could offer a solution. Today, we sit down with Allison Taylor Levine, the VP of Marketing and Communications at the DCF, and the founder of the Local Journalism Initiative Delaware. We discuss how local news builds empathy, trust, and understanding, and how solutions-based journalism can move readers from fear and frustration to empowerment and action.

Dr. David Tam became the CEO of Beebe Healthcare at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’s made it his mission to build trust inside the communities Beebe serves, even as polarization has had dramatic consequences to public health. Dr. Tam shares his insights about how healthcare needs to evolve – and how conversations between patients and providers could be a key to bridging the divide.

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations and in the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware. Today, he shares insights on American polarization – its economic, political, and social roots, what’s causing it to accelerate, and what we can do to overcome it. Dr. Khan also shares his perspective on the declining freedom of speech within academic institutions – and how identity politics, virtue signaling, and personal moral hierarchies can blind us to our own intolerance and judgment.

Molly Giordano has spent years building a community-oriented space at the Delaware Art Museum, where open dialogues about art flourish. Molly weighs in on how polarization has impacted arts institutions, and pushes back against claims that art and art institutions have become too political.

Don Ward has deep roots in rural Sussex County – and he’s seen how polarization has affected communities like his. Don joins us this week here to talk to us about the dangers of judging others solely on their political views, how polarization creates divisions within religious communities, and what happens when development brings new faces into small towns.

Angela Davis. Herschel Walker. Dolly Parton. Dennis Rodman. All have come to the Wilmington Library at the invitation of Library Director Jamar Rahming. He believes libraries can teach us how to listen to opposing viewpoints, distinguish authoritative sources of information, and contextualize the news and stories we hear – helping to light a pathway to intellectual freedom.

Can we take the polarization out of … politics? Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride (a Democrat) and Representative Bryan Shupe (a Republican) say their philosophical differences don’t stop them from working together on effective public policies that strengthen our communities. We’ll talk about the role of both social media and legacy media in encouraging partisan divides, and the dangers of thinking too selectively when it comes to justice and social change.

Author and journalist Mónica Guzmán joins us to talk about the power of curiosity, and the conversations with her conservative parents which led her to write her book “I Never Thought of it That Way.” We’ll talk about the do’s and don’ts for respectful, productive conversations with people we know we disagree with, and learn about Braver Angels, the nation's largest grassroots organization working to depolarize America.

Season Four of Building Opportunity in Delaware is coming next week! This season we’re speaking with leaders in healthcare, politics, religion, education, and more, all about one thing: Polarization, how it’s impacting us, and what we can do to reduce division and build stronger communities. Season Four of Building Opportunity in Delaware begins November 30.

Cynthia Primo Martin retired from her role as the founder and executive director of Trustees of Color in 2019, but she didn’t retire from the work. Now, she’s back with a book, the “Handbook for Nonprofit Leadership: Recruiting, Training and Engaging Trustees of Color.” DCF President & CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay sits down with his friend Cynthia this week to talk about her work, her book, and how true equity in the nonprofit sector begins in the boardroom. “Handbook for Nonprofit Leadership: Recruiting, Training and Engaging Trustees of Color” is published by Cedar Tree Books and available for purchase online.