Connective Tissue

"Counterintuitively, organizations that set the strongest boundaries on community behavior are also the best at bridging. That’s because bridging is hard, and it can only be accomplished by strong institutions that endure." --- Jason Mangone?is a long-time mentor and friend who now serves as the Executive Director of?More in Common’s U.S. team. Jay has a very impressive bio — serving in the Marines and as a volunteer firefighter,?writing a book?with General McChrystal, and being an awesome dad to four kids — but what I respect about him most is his continued commitment to self-deprecation. In this guest essay for Connective Tissue, he introduces a new report from More in Common, titled “The Connection Opportunity,” and shares his reflections on the type of “muscular” institutions we need to facilitate connection across difference. It’s a thought-provoking piece with the level of self-deprecation I've come to expect from Jay. Consider giving the full piece a read and letting us know what you think ?? https://lnkd.in/eRyh_tDw

"I’ve been talking with policymakers working on AI risk ... I keep getting feedback like, 'We're so glad you're working on AI and relationships. It comes up in every meeting, but it's in none of our frameworks.' And I’m thinking, 'If it's coming up in every meeting, then why is no one working on it?'" --- Ron Ivey?is a friend and colleague from the?Harvard Human Flourishing Program. He’s spent his career working across government, philanthropy, academia, and the private sector around one animating question:?How might we design our technologies, businesses, and economies to serve human flourishing? In addition to collaborating with Ron on projects from time-to-time, Ron and I exchange Signal messages on a weekly basis, both 1-to-1 and in a group with our mutual friend?Ian Marcus Corbin. It was in this context that I forwarded Ron a fateful tweet — first shared with me by?Connective Tissue?co-founder,?David Vasquez II?— which would eventually lead to work he’s doing today on AI and human flourishing through HumanConnections.AI. (Note:?I take no responsibility beyond clicking the forward button). So, I wanted to chat with Ron on all things AI and human relationships. What are the risks that AI poses to human relationships and community? What are the possibilities, if any? How should we think about these possibilities and risks in light of the incentive and accountability structures AI companies face? And where are there opportunities for agency at a moment when AI seems to be accelerating toward utopia or dystopia, depending on who you talk to? Like all really good conversations, this is one of those Q&As where you likely won’t agree with everything in it. I certainly am?more “doom” than “boom”?when it comes to AI and connection. But as Ron notes in the interview, the conversation about AI and human relationships is an essential one to have — especially because it’s often missing from an AI discourse focused on?economic impacts and national security. So, consider giving this full Q&A a read. I learned a ton in the process, and you might, too ?? https://lnkd.in/eRJreYKM

So many issues facing our communities, and our nation, can be traced back to a lack of basic human connection: diminishing trust, worsening health outcomes and fewer opportunities to encounter, interact with and work together with our fellow community members. The enormous negative ramifications of an increasing deficit of social connection in the U.S. makes this an all hands on deck issue. That means we need to consider not only practice changes, but also policy changes?—?at all levels of government?—?that support more social connection. So the question for policymakers then becomes, how? Read this article for insights from leaders with experience in local, state and federal government on the role of the public sector in supporting infrastructure for more social connection. https://lnkd.in/erA9B_CS Erika Poethig Anita Cozart Kendal Smith Sam Pressler Alexa Bush Main Street America Kelly Humrichouser #civicinfrastructure #connection #policy #government #Percent4Place

Bob Putnam, America’s “Old Testament prophet with charts,” is seemingly everywhere these days. I’ve had five different people send me five different interviews and events featuring Bob this past week alone. He’s doing the conference circuit and the TV circuit and the podcast circuit and I presume some sort of workout circuit to keep his endurance up. He’s in our earholes and our eyeholes and, with?Join or Die?now on Netflix, our living rooms whenever we want. Putnam would not be off base in?quoting?the famous rapper and?litigator, Aubrey Drake Graham, “I deserve this shit, I deserve this shit.” He’s been one of the most influential political scientists of the past 50 years, not only for?"Bowling Alone,"?but also for?"Making Democracy Work,"?"Our Kids,"?and?"American Grace." His research has been invaluable in helping millions of Americans — academics, community builders, and ordinary citizens alike — deepen their understanding of community in America. He even received?the National Humanities Medal?from Barack Obama in large part because of how his thinking?shaped?that of the former President.?(But did he, like me, win the “Nicest Eyes” superlative in 8th?and?12th grade? I don’t think so). In recent months, however, I’ve come to see Bob’s re-emergence in the zeitgeist as a sign of our cultural?"decadence," particularly when it comes to community in America. Bob is a vitally important voice, but he is far from the only voice. By granting one emeritus professor intellectual hegemony on all things community in America, we inadvertently limit our understanding of the past and constrain our visions of what’s possible for the future. This generational moment of civic renewal demands intellectual abundance, not constraint. We need an expanded range of stories of our past?because?we need to imagine new possibilities for our future. In short, we need to honor all of Bob’s contributions — and we need to go beyond Bob. But where do we begin? I share some of my thoughts in this week's edition of Connective Tissue ?? https://lnkd.in/eMeSRRx7

For some reason, NPR's "It's Been a Minute" podcast invited me to join Brittany Luse and Vauhini Vara to discuss technology, loneliness, and the privatization of community. Unfortunately, I broke my promise to Gabe Armstrong-Scott and didn't use my COOKIE MONSTER voice to answer questions. But we did riff on a bunch of interesting themes, including: ? How the VC-backed B2C startup model can be fundamentally misaligned with the slow, friction-full work of building community. ? How the premiumization of startups that promise connection repackage and paywall something we all are capable of (to quote Elise Granata). ? How technologies are tools that reflect our values; just as they can be tools for isolation, they can also be tools for "conviviality." This was a suuuupa fun conversation that just barely scratched the surface. Consider giving it a listen and letting me know what you think ?? https://lnkd.in/eTnTtU7N

I spend a lot of time these days thinking about how we can "reimagine us" in local community. Mindset is a large part of it, e.g., re-orienting towards the value of building community, and especially building connections across differences. For that reason, hugely appreciating this interview between Sam Pressler and Elise Granata! Beautifully said...the act of building community can itself become a reward when we value "showing up" to make new connections and learn to find "tolerance with discomfort"!

What a wonderful Valentines ?? Day gift! This interview between Sam Pressler & Elise Granata is just wonderful. (You should definitely check out both their newsletters Connective Tissue & GROUP HUG) Link ?? to the article in the comments Her “big dream for GROUP HUG is to shift our very philosophies about what it takes to build community…. , de-shaming the fact that it can be hard to do these things, and also honoring the space it takes to make them happen. The dream is to shift the very posture it takes to build community, and then to play around with all these different resources — zines, toolkits, and events to help people make that shift if they want it.” (My comment: did someone say zines?!?! ??) “….rather than a perfect step-by-step list for rebuilding civic life, I think about concepts like “endurance” and “resilience” and “curiosity” and “bias towards action.” It takes a willingness to go to something the first time, and, if it’s not perfect but you want to be the type of person who keeps showing up, you might need to be able to endure it and feel some discomfort. It takes resilience to be able to fight with people, have awkwardness in friendships, and keep showing back up anyway. As for what we might let go of: bailing quickly on things, or being quick to make assumptions or judgments about community spaces. All of this depends on where you're at in your journey. You may really want to be a part of a space that has a bunch of other people with your exact lived experience, and you may never reach beyond this for valid reasons (safety, your own capacity, etc.). But if we want to be cultivating community — particularly bridged communities across different life experiences and backgrounds and identities — we're going to have to build a bit of that grit and that tolerance for discomfort.” (My comment: did someone say ‘tolerance for discomfort!?!?!?’ ??????)

What does it take to embrace the "mysterious, magical, unpredictable human funk that makes being in community with other people a wonderful or awful thing?" That's the question that drives Elise Granata, a self-described “facilitator, community steward, and excitable person” who writes the?GROUP HUG?newsletter. I first encountered?GROUP HUG?late last year after reading Elise’s piece, “What We Lose When Optimizing Community,” and I felt like I found my newsletter spirit animal. Not only was Elise pointing to the “privatization of community” dynamic that I had been exploring for a while, but her writing was also fun, silly, weird, and accessible in the best possible way. I immediately knew I wanted to chat with Elise for Connective Tissue, and now we're out this week with the interview. In it, we explore several themes that come up in Elise's writing and work: ??How do the things we feel when we’re in community with others affect how we show up (and continue showing up)? ??What happens when we transactionalize and commodify community? ??How do we hold the tensions between writing about community and actually practicing it? I appreciated the way this conversation offered a mix of practical reflections for us to hold as community builders and members, balanced with big questions and provocations about the structure of community life. Please consider giving the full interview a read ?? https://lnkd.in/eJyFsdVR

We’re at the start of?a generational cycle?to renew civic life in the United States, and part of the answer involves renewing our sense of "membership" in the places we live. Think of membership as deep belonging: it’s being such a part of a community that we feel responsible for honoring its past, stewarding its present, and co-creating its future. When this sense of membership is cultivated, we go beyond being consumers, clients, and constituents of the world around us—and, instead, become collaborators, citizens, and caretakers of it. Cultivating this sense of "civic membership" or "city membership" is the responsibility of everyone—neighbors, community groups, and local governments alike—and renewing it will likewise involve all of us relearning practices we have forgotten and imagining civic possibilities anew. That’s why we at Connective Tissue (me) and the Democracy Policy Network (Pete Davis) are publishing a new toolkit on how municipal governments and community groups can regenerate membership in their local communities. The toolkit draws on elements of the Connective Tissue Policy Framework and past newsletters to begin defining what’s possible for place-based membership and provide tangible examples of what it looks like in practice. We don’t see city membership as a static experience; rather, we see it as a dynamic life cycle that involves: ? Welcoming newcomers—whether through the support of welcoming liaisons, welcome kits, orientations, activities fairs, or welcoming microgrants—to help new residents begin cultivating their sense of membership soon after they arrive. ? Boosting civic opportunities and participation year-round through developing basic municipal infrastructure (e.g., membership directors), making civic spaces more accessible, and activating neighborhoods with microgrants, microspaces, and neighborhood leadership. ? Approaching past residents as "alumni" to be engaged as lifelong contributors and members, hosting annual civic homecomings, creating place-based alumni groups, and establishing local halls of fame. Fortunately, whether any given policy, program, or strategy advocated for in this toolkit is implemented or not, the very act of prioritizing membership can spur towns and cities to imagine new possibilities for approaching civic life. What may start small with a block party or welcome kit can evolve into civic opportunities that were previously unimaginable. Read the full Connective Tissue essay and access the toolkit via the link below ??

Thinking a lot about the space between what we officially know about loneliness and how people actually make sense of it every day. Grassroots media, driven by independent voices, can be really helpful here. That’s why I’ve been drawn to Substack lately. A few are really hitting the spot for me–each exploring the interplay between our tech obsessed modern life, loneliness, and social connection. Sharing links in the comments. What’s in your media diet these days??