Heartland Democracy Center

Kid connect (youth) Heartland conducted kid connect youth programs. Kid connect encourages middle and high school students to better articulate identity and values using discussion, literature, community exploration, artistic expression, and humanities-based study. As we think about barriers to success and power structures, we teach students how to build their own paths. We partnered with several public schools, parks and recreation systems, and arts organizations to bring challenging topics of diversity, race, violence, and difference to over 150 students, working in multiple sessions with each cohort, and creating long-term relationships between students and teachers and deeper connections among students.

Brave conversations (outreach) Heartland Democracy brings programs, speakers and deep group dialogue to our communities. We present bold topics often spoken around or avoided: deconstructing fear, race and cultural tension, political violence and inflammatory speech, countering hate and acting urgently in our communities. We discover stories of healing, new relationships, and stronger places of diversity. During these past two years Heartland Democracy was able to use programs and relationships to spark new topics in the press and broader media, tell our story on a national platform podcast, and host a young crusader against, and victim of, violent extremism, for a week of dialogue, trainings, and public events.

We circle (women) the we circle program is our women's program. Heartland partners with immigrant and refugee communities by organizing women who are interested in building stronger, more resilient communities. We work with women who desire a deeper and more effective engagement in the world and support our participants in determining the resources, learning, and the networks they need. No two programs were the same; they were as unique as the individual women themselves. The goals were the same, however: nurture strong female leaders, support families, and create safe communities free from violence of all kinds. We worked with east african women, and women who immigrated from southeast asia. We partnered with latina organizations and public schools to reach out to our mexican, central and south american community members. Many of our participants experienced violent extremism in a variety of ways. We created safe environments and trusting relationships so that all topics could be approached, with empathy and nuance, bringing historical and political knowledge, curiosity, and support to each stage of the work. We brought culturally competent programming and facilitation to approach difficult topics of family trauma, violence, persistence and strength, and parenting challenges. With over 150 hours of programming, including a 2-day facilitator training program for refugee and immigrant women, Heartland opened up new skills, dialogue and connections to incredible groups of women in our community.

Empowering u (partnerships) empowering u is Heartland Democracy's legacy program, a deep civic empowerment program with wide application to other important community goals-the development of social, political, and economic capital on the part of people who often desire a strengthening of their community networks. Participants answer questions posed by their coach, moving through discussions of identity, community, and values. The components of our empowering u curriculum are the foundation of each curated curriculum and program we create across cohorts. At a time of polarization, tribal mistrust, calls to violence, and seemingly intractable conflict in our communities and in the world, there is a compelling need to support work that finds ways to bring people together, give them a sense of their own value and power, and build communities that honor the deepest and truest values of america's Democracy. Heartland Democracy is one such organization, and we have appreciated the support of our government and the american people through this federal grant. Our very name goes well beyond describing our geographical identity; it goes to the heart of what makes a vibrant Democracy. The strength of our country, with all of its flaws both historically and at present, has rested on an embrace of diversity, a respect for norms that honor that diversity and the continued support of democratic processes that engage rather than marginalize others. Heartland Democracy is unique in its efforts to reach people who were not used to speaking of their own potential, their own agency, their own power. When people feel powerless, they can seek out destructive and divisive and sometimes violent paths to wrest a semblance of control from the absence of real opportunity. We work to steer those energies to hopeful, peaceful, constructive choices. Our processes allow trust, relationships, deep knowledge, and open dialogue from which people better understand their own values and honor their sacred traditions, while discovering tools to connect with and help improve the communities around them. In other words, Heartland Democracy is profoundly transformational, both for individuals and the world they live in. We completed amazing work and created amazing connections under this grant, and for that we, and the people we encountered, are incredibly grateful.