Vaccines are being rolled out on a broader scale and there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but what happens when we come out of it? What have we learned about conversation from COVID-19 as we’ve all been separated physically? How will what we’ve experienced change how we go about conversation face to face, post pandemic?
Dr. Jennifer Thompson sat down with Liz Joyner, Executive Director of the Village Square and Jeremy Garson, In House Counsel and Chief of Staff, the Bridge Alliance about these questions and more. They share their experience working in the civil discourse space.
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About our guests:
Liz Joyner is the executive director of the Village Square, a nonprofit dedicated to reviving civic connections across divisions inside American communities. Named by former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe as one of eight organizations to support if you’re concerned about the deepening partisan divide, the Village Square has received support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Reid Hoffman Foundation and was the recipient of the 2015 Statewide Impact Award from Leadership Florida.
Liz has a Masters Degree in Social Work, conceptualizing the Village Square after her experience working in politics convinced her that the way we work out our disagreements in today’s public square is fundamentally flawed. She was nominated by Leadership Tallahassee as Leader of the Year in 2010, named by the Tallahassee Democrat as one of “25 Women You Need to Know” in 2015, by the Girls Scouts as a “Woman of Distinction” in 2016 and was honored by United Church Women as a Woman of Peace. She is also a Knight Foundation Fellow, a participant in the 2015 Conclave on Political Polarization.
Jeremy Garson is an attorney who is licensed in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2014 and, prior to joining the Bridge Alliance, served as a labor/employment attorney. Jeremy has previously served as a constituent caseworker handling veterans’ affairs and tax casework for a Democratic Congressman. He also worked on a Democratic presidential campaign. He is dedicated to pushing against the nation’s “us vs. them” mentality and ensuring that progressives, conservatives, libertarians, and everybody in between have voices at the collective table. Jeremy is passionate about sports, and in particular Michigan Wolverines basketball and the Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia 76ers.