We all see the problems American democracy is facing...power dominated by unrepresentative political parties, wealthy elites, and special interests lobbyists, communities too politically divided, civically illiterate, and unmotivated to hold them accountable, voters forced to choose between the lesser of two evils in elections, etc.  There are +10k non-partisan organizations working across numerous movements (e.g. trying to dial down toxic polarization, advocating for structural reforms to our gov't, promoting civic education, helping communities learn to resolve conflicts, attempting to counter authoritarianism, and many more) to try to transform American democracy and civic health.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of siloes, anchored by silver bullet mentalities, and resultant struggles to gain momentum.  Following a career as an active duty officer in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps and some brief detours for Seminary and an executive program in Organizational Leadership, I co-founded the "Inter-Movement Impact Project" to help build connections across these movements, create infrastructure, and rehearse working together to prepare for collective impact.  My current focus is on helping midwife, nurture, and connect the "local democracy hubs" of diverse, non/transpartisan organizations that are emerging in communities across the country. These hubs partner with their communities to help identify the community's democracy + civic health needs, goals, and priorities (ideally using deliberative democracy processes), and then work with their communities to pursue these priorities together. 2025 is shaping up to be a dumpster fire, so now is the time for us to build community cohesion, resilience, and power.I enjoy meeting new people and connecting them with synergistic opportunities. Please reach out, and I would be happy to find a time to connect.