A primary goal of this initiative is to depolarize America’s school communities and to ready the next generation for a more civil politics.

Braver Angels has shown that it can help Americans of all ages improve their listening skills, speaking skills, and “political empathy” in the context of cross-partisan discussion and disagreement. We’re ramping up our efforts to bring these skills to our younger generation—especially high school and middle school students capable of complex interpersonal exchanges. We know that the patterns children develop from an early age can stick with them for life, so helping students gain these skills early in their education can keep them from falling into the toxic patterns modeled for them by others in our public life, and can help create the kind of future leaders we need.