Jillian Youngblood & Common Ground Solutions
Jillian Youngblood & Common Ground Solutions
There are over 150 substantive, national political issues about which there is more than 50% agreement??? Some with agreement in the 80-90% range??? Is it possible that the media – especially social media, and the lobbyists, and the pundits over-exaggerate our differences because “anger sells” and it helps them make more money?
What if there were a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that helps people become and remain active citizens who work together across party lines? What if this organization helped us get beyond the simple-minded, binary yes/no, on/off, red/blue debate over issues? And used hard, empirical data to prove that we’re not anywhere near as divided as it seems? And facilitated the crafting of recommendations for action that have broad, bi-partisan support?
Such an organization exists! It’s called Common Ground Solutions and is led by their Executive Director, Jillian Youngblood. Their goals are to:
- Highlight where common ground exists in our politics and bring it to the attention of policy makers, the media and the public
- Educate people so they can advocate for the policies they feel are important
How Common Ground Solutions pulls this off is also a breath of fresh air. They survey, then assemble mixed-bag groups of normal, everyday citizens from a single Congressional District, guide them through a process to dissect issues in productive ways to reach consensus, collect hard data and simulate the actual policy-making making process used by Congress. And yes, Common Ground Solutions has indeed nailed down over 150 substantive issues about which there is broad bipartisan support!
We are in fact far less polarized than Congress or the media would have us believe!
Listen in on this fascinating conversation about the Policy Making Simulation and the Citizen Panel, which includes direct participation of the group’s member of Congress. We also touch on the extensive Civic Education offerings that Common Ground Solutions has coming in January.
No, we’re NOT all that divided! Better yet, we all have access to a process and set of tools that will very clearly communicate to Congress exactly what we want them to do.