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At CPL, our mission is grounded in principles and practices of convening. We cultivate and inspire leaders from all walks of life to be engaged, inspired, and part of essential conversations that imagine and build a world that works for all. We believe that anyone can be a change agent and set intentions that have a positive impact on those we serve.
We have the honor and pleasure of partnering with organizations and individuals from across the globe to engage and focus on what matters and empower you to innovate, to lead.
Each month we host an intentional, convened thought leadership conversation. Please join us! Read below to learn more about this month’s Essential Conversations.
ESSENTIAL CONVERSATIONS
presents
Reuniting a Divided America around a Roadmap for the Future
with Center for Collaborative Democracy CEO, Sol Erdman
Wednesday, May 14
9:00-10:30 am CT US
For American democracy to survive, we need a new social contract and brave purposeful leaders forearmed for today's unique challenges.
The Grand Bargain Project is designed to unite Americans around a Practical Plan for advancing 6 Key Issues that 90+ percent of us see as critical to our future.
Expected Outcomes
A critical mass of Americans, influencers and stakeholders will increasingly unite around the grand bargain, creating an exponentially growing movement to demand replacing divisiveness and dysfunction with constructive action in all six areas.Pro-Grand Bargain lawmakers will then be empowered to tell their colleagues:
To show voters we’re on their side, and keep our jobs, we need to strongly support this widely popular agreement as the starting point for our deliberations.
An ambitious plan. But no one has shown us any other credible way to reunite America. Nor do we see any other way to induce policymakers to agree on how to boost economic mobility, curb the debt, minimize destructive weather, or attain the other key objectives.
Our country thereby needs the grand bargain if the American people and our democracy are to thrive.
Watch what Sol Erdman has to say . . .
Join us for this Essential Conversation on
Wednesday, May 14
9:00-10:30 am CT US
Learn more:
Reuniting A Divided America around A Roadmap For The Future
Join CPL and Sol Erdman, from Center for Collaborative Democracy, to be part of this amazing opportunity to reimagine democracy as we know it by:
Creating a new social contract for our future based on the Preamble to the Constitution.
"We the People" are the opening words of the Preamble to the United States Constitution, signifying that the power of the U.S. government originates from the citizens, not the government itself. It establishes the Constitution's fundamental purposes, which include forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty.
Systemic Remedy
To reunite the American people around a shared vision of our future – before it’s too late -- we are proposing common-sense reforms in the above six areas that, when combined, would vastly improve life for all.
We distilled ideas — from major stakeholders, think tank leaders, former policymakers, political activists and citizen groups — into 41 reforms, each one sentence long, that — when combined — would yield historic progress in all six areas, and at lower cost than current policies.
Building an Exponentially Growing Movement
Bridge Alliance, various Rotary Clubs, and other civic groups are working with us to incorporate the Grand Bargain into their community-building programs.
CPL, Braver Angels and others will host workshops in which participants deliberate over the evolving plan.
To foster nationwide dialogue, we will hold at least three workshops in each of the 435 congressional districts. Citizens will deliberate over the combined reforms — in community meeting and online. We will, in turn, distill the results into a form that we will deliver to political leaders as representing the will of the America people.
Wednesday, May 14, 9:00-10:30am CT US
Make a donation today to support the Essential Conversations and CPL’s work of creating a world that works for all.
About Sol Erdman
Sol founded the Center for Collaborative Democracy to develop innovative tools for reaching constructive agreements on long-festering political controversies. Erdman's expertise on resolving ideological conflict emerged at midlife, when he attended the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law school and did cutting edge research with two of the program’s founders. Erdman’s articles on how to bridge seemingly irreconcilable differences have appeared in Barrons, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the National Civic Review, State Government News, Roll Call and the Los Angeles Times.
Erdman’s first career was at Oppenheimer & Company, a New York investment firm where he rose to senior vice president and head of options arbitrage. He has a BA in theoretical mathematics from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard.
About Howard 'Bud' Wilson, Advisor
CPL thanks Bud Wilson for his introduction to the Center for Collaborative Democracy, Bud Wilson is a nature-based leadership development trainer and advocate for ecological, social, & personal renewal. With over 40 years of experience in executive positions as a researcher, writer, educator, and community leader, Bud brings a keen understanding of systems change and human behavior. After graduating Harvard College with an interdisciplinary degree, he spent a decade as Director of Conferences for Snowmass Village convening thought leaders and change agents across all domains of society. He has designed and coordinated experiential education programs for the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio, Rotary International’s Preserve Planet Earth Campaign, John Denver’s Windstar Foundation, and the University of Michigan, among others. His wide variety of projects and interests have taken him to more than 20 countries for which he is immensely grateful.