The Democracy & Belonging Forum’s Network Catalyzers Program supports selected Forum members in launching and growing their own virtual or in-person communities related to othering, belonging, bridging, and democracy. 

These communities are entirely member-run, but are in part resourced, promoted, and supported by the Forum. In 2025, six communities (and seven catalyzers) were selected to participate, addressing topics as diverse as bridging in rural France, food insecurity in Texas, and intergenerational engagement among immigrant families. 

What Is The Dignity Index?

The Dignity Index is a simple tool that helps you measure whether communication shows dignity or contempt. It uses a scale from 1 to 8, where higher scores show more dignity and lower scores show more contempt.

In our current world, public conversation has become harsh and divisive. Politicians, media figures, and everyday people often use contempt when talking about others. This makes problems worse and prevents us from finding solutions.

This toolkit helps parents and families develop skills for healthy disagreement. When family members disagree constructively, everyone feels heard, relationships stay strong, and children learn valuable life skills.

Disagreement is natural and inevitable in families. The question isn't whether we'll disagree—it's how we'll disagree. This toolkit teaches practical strategies for navigating differences with respect, curiosity, and care.

This toolkit gives you tools to:

• Listen to understand, not just to respond

• Express disagreement without attacking or dismissing

• Find common ground even in tough conversations

• Model healthy conflict resolution for children

• Repair relationships after heated moments

• Build family communication skills that last a lifetime

Whether you're navigating political differences with extended family, handling sibling conflicts, or working through parenting disagreements with a partner, these tools help create more connection and less division.

Share Our America Toolkit

A free guide to help you bring people together in your community. Learn how to start conversations that build understanding and respect between people who are different from each other.

The Opportunity: Pent-Up Demand

We're living in the most age-diverse society in human history, with nearly equal numbers of people alive today at every age from birth to 70 and beyond. This unprecedented demographic reality creates extraordinary potential for intergenerational collaboration — and Americans are ready to seize it.

World Grid Project

A comprehensive initiative to map and promote the development of a globally interconnected electric grid powered entirely by renewable energy, building on Buckminster Fuller's vision of universal carbon-free electricity access.

The Campaign

Meet Coleman F. Sweeney—a man who's made it his life's mission to be absolutely terrible. He gives cigarettes to kids, steals laundry, and is cruel to animals, children, and people with disabilities.

But when Coleman dies unexpectedly at a diner, the waitress discovers something shocking on his driver's license: he's an organ donor. This one selfless decision transforms everything, giving deserving people a second chance at life.

We're building a democracy where everyone has a voice and everyone can participate. Since 2014, we've invested over $500 million to protect democracy and create lasting change.

Democracy needs protection. Together, we can defend it.

A national initiative transforming public spaces to build stronger, more connected communities across America.

Parks, libraries, trails, and main streets become places where people of all backgrounds gather, trust grows, and neighborhoods thrive.

Summary

This Yale SPH Q&A explains how alcohol contributes to cancer risk and why U.S. leaders are exploring updated warning labels. Dr. Vasilis Vasiliou highlights mechanisms (e.g., acetaldehyde, oxidative stress), dose–response effects, and the way alcohol amplifies other carcinogens such as tobacco smoke. Guidance includes: don’t start drinking for health reasons; if you drink, keep it modest and consider personal/family risk factors.

Government policies often sound great in meetings but fail when real families try to use them. A healthcare policy might work perfectly on paper but be impossible to navigate if you're a single parent working two jobs. This research shows leaders how to design policies by starting with people's actual experiences, testing ideas small before rolling them out, and improving based on feedback from real users. When policies work for everyday people, democracy gets stronger.

Why This Matters

Democracy and social justice aren't competing priorities—they're deeply interconnected. The Forum recognizes that othering can't be countered through more othering, and that democracy rooted in belonging means engaging with those different from ourselves. In an era of rising authoritarianism and toxic fragmentation, building bridges while centering marginalized communities is essential for strengthening democratic systems that serve everyone.

Three Essential Steps

• Create more opportunities for connection - Space must be intentionally created, like a garden, for relationships to take root and grow

• Focus on shared goals - Americans prefer working together toward common community objectives rather than just discussing their differences

• Build on success - Research shows that the more people connect across differences, the more likely they are to want to continue doing so

Frientimacy: The 3 Requirements of All Healthy Friendships” by Shasta Nelson
TEDx Talk | 16 min video
A powerful and funny talk by our very own Chief Friendship Officer that breaks down what makes friendships meaningful and how to strengthen the ones you have.

Our unique program gives food-insecure families an opportunity to access unaffordable, better-for-you alternatives that drastically curb sugar, salt and fat intake. In communities where generational chronic health conditions are the norm, the Better Box is helping thousands take positive steps toward a more nutritious and sustainable lifestyle. Behind the scenes, our Direct-to-Need model leverages over 2,000 Wellfare volunteers and aligns procurement, warehousing, fulfillment, distribution and customer experience under one umbrella, making the program incredibly efficient, transparent and cost-effective. The Better Box is a dynamic and impactful first step in our long term aim to create true food security across the United States.