One Small Step

Let's Talk For A Change

Have a real conversation with someone who sees the world differently than you do. No debates. No arguing. Just two people getting to know each other as human beings.

A StoryCorps initiative bringing together people with different political views for 50-minute conversations that remind us of our shared humanity.

What to Expect

The Healing Art Circle provides a supportive space to process emotions about current events and racial suffering through creative expression. Using an adapted Healing Circle format combined with art-making, participants explore their feelings in a safe, judgment-free environment.

Healing Circles Help Us:

Step out of ordinary time into a safe and accepting environment. We listen with compassion and curiosity, honor each other's unique paths to healing, and trust that each person has the guidance they need within them. We rely on the power of silence to access our inner wisdom.

Core Practices:

• Listening with attention: Being fully present for others' experiences

• Speaking with intention: Sharing authentically from the heart

• Tending to the well-being of the circle: Supporting collective healing

What You'll Need:

• Any materials or writing and art supplies you have available

• Any medium you choose (poetry, music, watercolors, collage, pen and paper, digital art, dance, etc.)

• No art experience necessary—all forms of creative expression are welcome

Past participants have created diverse forms of expression including poetry, music, watercolors, collage, paper and pen drawings, digital art, and dance. The focus is on the healing process, not artistic skill.

Core Principles:

• Strictly Nonpartisan: Tools and opportunities for all women regardless of party affiliation

• Inclusive: Special focus on underserved women, women of color, and young women

• Collaborative: "All in together" means partnering across sectors and organizations

• Action-Oriented: Moving beyond awareness to tangible civic participation

• Sustainable: Building lifelong commitment to democracy beyond election cycles

What makes AIT different:

• Only national nonpartisan organization focused exclusively on women's civic engagement

• Combines education, training, research, and media to create systemic change

• Reaches millions through media while training thousands on the ground

• Addresses gender-based violence survivors and marginalized communities

• Led by women with deep expertise in both civic life and business leadership

Dialogue and Bridging Workshops

Learn proven, science-based skills to navigate differences, build trust across divides, and solve problems together. From self-paced online courses to intensive facilitation training, these programs equip you with tools to bridge political, cultural, and ideological divides.

Three leading organizations offer workshops and training at every level—from 5-minute practices to multi-month fellowships.

Restorative Justice Apprenticeship: Circle Keeping for Community Building

Learn the ancient practice of circle keeping to build stronger communities, facilitate healing conversations, and create spaces where everyone belongs.

📅Spring 2026

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

Why Church Safety Matters

Your church should be a safe place. Everyone should feel welcome and protected. But many churches don't know where to start with safety planning.

What churches deal with:

• More than 75% of churches don't have a safety team

• Many churches don't know what rules they need to follow

• Church leaders want to help but don't know what to do first

• Communities need safe places to gather and worship

This event will help you learn simple ways to make your church safer for everyone.

Why Belonging Matters

Families sign up their kids for swim lessons or sports not just to learn skills, but to make friends and feel like they belong. Seniors come for exercise classes and stay to talk over coffee. People walk through our doors for programs, but they stay because they feel seen and supported.

Recent research shows that feeling connected to others is more important for success than age, race, or income. The Y uses this information to create programs that bring different generations together and help people feel less alone.

Every child, in every neighborhood, excels in a world-class public school and thrives in the Houston of tomorrow.

An education backbone organization partnering with Houston-area school districts to accelerate progress by increasing the number of children succeeding in high-quality learning environments.

An intro workshop for those facing transition, considering a pivot, or curious about what life could be.

What if your next chapter could be your most aligned, resilient, and whole?

Design Your Life is a reflective and interactive mini-workshop for senior fellows who are anticipating or navigating change—professionally or personally—and are ready to begin aligning their time, energy, and purpose.

Especially for those who are:

• Entering or navigating retirement

• Experiencing a life transition

• Hungry for more meaning and fulfillment

Participants will leave with:

• The basics of a roadmap for the season ahead.

• Renewed confidence in the face of change.

• A renewed sense of story, resilience, and possibility.

Note: Those interested in continuing the journey will be invited to participate in an ongoing community of practice scheduled for early 2026.

Space is limited — register soon to confirm your spot.

Discover funding approaches that strengthen trust, deepen community connections, and create momentum for Houston’s future.

This opening session of the Bridge Houston series brings nonprofit, philanthropic and board leaders together to reimagine how we resource our region’s’s future. We’ll examine fresh approaches to funding that go beyond filling shortfalls, focusing instead on cultivating trust, fostering openness, and strengthening connections across sectors. Participants will engage in dialogue with peers from diverse fields to explore how Houston can align its financial strategies with its community’s assets and aspirations. By the end of the session, you’ll leave with new perspectives, actionable ideas, and relationships that can help transform how funding flows to the places and people that need it most.

Our conversation will balance practical insight with cross-sector discussion, offering a space to think creatively while staying grounded in Houston’s realities. Whether you’re a funder, nonprofit leader, civic partner, or business executive, this is an opportunity to contribute to a vision of a stronger, more connected funding ecosystem for our city.