These four webinars from the Constructive Dialogue Institute give college leaders, educators, and student organizers practical tools for building campus cultures where people can talk across differences. Learn from real examples at leading universities.

What This Series Offers

• Research-backed strategies from leading universities

• Practical tools you can use right away

• Real examples from campus dialogue programs

• Expert guidance from university leaders

• Free recordings you can watch anytime

Campus speaker events can be flashpoints for division—or opportunities for real learning. This playbook gives organizers practical tools to design events that bring people together across differences, even when discussing tough topics.

What You'll Learn

• How to design events that encourage dialogue instead of debates

• Ways to set the right tone before, during, and after controversial speakers

• Practical steps for choosing speakers who model good conversation

• Tools for creating safe spaces where all students can participate

• Methods for turning disagreement into learning opportunities

When parents have good child care, they can go to work. When they can go to work, Houston's businesses run better. That's why child care is part of how our city works.

But many home-based child care providers struggle. They don't have money saved for emergencies. They don't know how to run the business side of child care. They can't get loans like other small businesses can.

What the Pilot Program Did

• Gave money to 30 home child care businesses

• Taught owners how to run their businesses better

• Helped them prepare for storms and emergencies

• Tracked what worked and what didn't

• Learned lessons to help more providers

New information about America's veterans was just released this month. It tells us who they are, how they're doing, and what help they need. This matters for everyone who wants to support the people who served our country.

Why Houston Should Care

• For Helpers: Learn what veterans really need, not what we guess they need

• For City Leaders: Get facts about veteran health, jobs, and housing problems

• For Business Owners: Understand the skills veterans have and the help they need

• For Community Groups: See where veterans need more support

• For Veterans and Families: Know you're not alone and find help

"I've experienced a number of times where I found myself thinking, 'Oh I never thought of it that way' or I recognized that someone else's experience opened me up to a new way of seeing that topic. I found myself seeing something for the first time."

— Conversation Participant

In a rare moment of agreement across party lines, parents from all political backgrounds share deep concern about the impact of social media and smartphones on their children. This is not a left issue or a right issue. This is a parent issue.

Why This Matters for Your Community

• For Parents: You are not alone in your concerns. Data showing overwhelming consensus across political lines

• For Schools: Evidence supporting phone-free policies that most parents actually want

• For Policy Makers: Rare bipartisan issue where Americans agree on the need for action

• For Tech Companies: Clear signal that parents want better protections for kids online

• For Communities: A unifying issue that can bring people together across differences

"When you travel, you learn the most about your own country. No matter how divided we think we are, there is much more we have in common."

— David McCullough III, Co-Founder and CEO

How to Make Your Voice Heard

• Find Your Representatives: Visit Texas Legislature Online to find who represents you

• Email the Bill Sponsors: Use the sponsor emails in each issue below to share your experience

• Contact Your Local Officials: Reach out to your state senator and representative about what matters to you

• Share This Article: Help others learn about the issues that quietly shape our lives

• Focus on Your Experience: Personal stories about how these issues affect your family, business, or community are powerful

Why This Matters

• The loudest political fights are about identity and culture

• Polling shows Texans already agree on practical issues like energy and healthcare

• These "boring" problems are where surprising alliances form

• Boring issues are where trust can be rebuilt across political divides

• This is where politics can actually make everyday life better

This groundbreaking event returns to Houston Community College for the first time since 2020, inviting you to experience the world through someone else's eyes using the power of virtual reality.

Join HCC Central for a special VR for Empathy event on Saturday, November 15. This groundbreaking initiative was first held at HCC in 2019, followed by a larger, more impactful edition in 2020, and now returns with fresh perspectives on how immersive technology can help us understand one another more deeply.

"This experience is exhilarating. It's like going on a rollercoaster that looks scary, but after you go through the drops and loops, you're like 'I want to do that again!' The Civic Gym is like that but without the long lines."

— Civic Gym Student Participant

American Enterprise Institute

Defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world.

Since 1938, AEI has been advancing ideas rooted in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, individual liberty, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture through rigorous research and open debate.

"The way we foster good public policy is through bipartisanship. Americans share a common ground that is deeper than the partisan disputes that divide us, and people on both sides of the aisle have good intentions."

— Bipartisan Policy Center Mission Statement