+More Perfect Union

🔴 AND WE’RE LIVE. Welcome to +MPU’s National Coffee + Courage Challenge! Americans are on unsteady ground and are feeling uncertain about the future of our country. We've forgotten how to engage with those we disagree with, how to humanize the “other side.” The #CoffeeAndCourage Challenge strikes at the very heart of the problems our nation faces: the ability to connect despite our political differences. We are not Democrats or Republicans. We are Americans, and it's time to stop yelling at our screens and start brewing change, one cup at a time. For more details about how you can participate and who's completed Challenge so far, check out our landing page at the link: https://lnkd.in/eipmp5yY You can support us with a donation here: https://lnkd.in/e8ZE66yi #BrickbyBrick #MPUBrickyard #Community #Connections #DisagreeBetter #CoffeeAndCourage #FindingCommonGrounds

⭐ If you’ve ever wondered what can come out of a Coffee + Courage Challenge or what it can lead to, we have to give our props to our Brickyard Leaders and how they dedicate a day out of each month to make a third place for members! All throughout the year, we have a Coffee Club program where we pay for your coffees or beverages at a cafe or shop of your choosing (we’ve become familiar patrons of a few coffee shops now!) so that you can have conversations, network, or brainstorm solutions to community problems. Featured are the Austin Brickyard, the Silicon Valley Brickyard, and Glen Rose Brickyard! Take the Coffee + Courage Challenge here: https://lnkd.in/eipmp5yY 👈 #BrickbyBrick #MPUBrickyard #Community #Connections #MPUCoffeeClub #CoffeeandCourage #DisagreeBetter #FindingCommonGrounds

Two very full days at The George W. Bush Presidential Center looking at the big picture of veteran and military family support systems, challenges, and paths forward. Not only did we hear from amazing and inspirational speakers like General Dempsey, we also collaborated across service sectors, and went deep into specific areas such as employment, education, veteran narratives, and healing through non-traditional means. Every time I get the chance to collaborate with Jason Galui, D’Juan Wilcher, and the entire Bush Center team I leave brimming with ideas. It was also amazing to see a fellow member of the West Point Class of 2004, Garrett Cathcart, and learn more about their impact at +More Perfect Union.

During a recent conversation with Sana Kai Johnson about the American dream, we found that despite different backgrounds, we had a lot more in common than we thought. We found that the American dream to each of us was tied closely to family! Sana shared how to her the American dream means that she has both her given and chosen family. Her chosen family doesn’t look like her, come from different countries and have completely different political views, but they focus on their #CommonGrounds. I talked to her about my American dream which was instilled to me from my parents and grandparents. The grandmother I am named for didn’t finish the eighth grade because she had to drop out to take care of her younger brothers. Her dream of education to change lives was instilled in her children who in turn instilled it in their kids. The American dream meant being able to leverage opportunities to change the trajectory of your life and pursue your own hopes and dreams for the future. What’s the American dream mean to you? I challenge 💯 Sarah Smith-Barry Rachel Wood and Craig Casipe, MBA to the #coffeeandcourage challenge! #findingcommongrounds If you’d like to talk in person with the +More Perfect Union SATX Brickyard about the American Dream, join us this Saturday, Oct 5 at 12 pm for coffee and conversation at Philo Coffee, 606 W French Pl, San Antonio, TX, 78212.

🛻 Earlier in the year, just before summer’s start, our Director of Rural Initiatives, Brian J. Von Herbulis, Programs Manager, Trip O'Connell, and Director of Operations, Victoria Rametta, loaded up into a truck to drive through five cities in the Lone Star State of Texas! From Houston, Conroe, Austin, Dripping Springs, and Glen Rose, they met with the folks who lived in those areas and participated in service events, such as: 🥫volunteering at the Montgomery County Food Bank during a severe thunderstorm that left 700,000 without power and in need of help. 🩸donating blood at We Are Blood in South Austin while we face a national emergency blood shortage. 🍻 supporting the generationally owned family business, Sexton Mill, with history dating back to the 1920s. 🧀 Thank you everyone who came out to show your support and we’re ready to take our next trip on the road to Wisconsin for Wormfarm Institute's Farm/Art DTour this Oct 4-7! Described as “a celebration of art, land and sky, of creativity and connection. This free self-guided drive through 50 miles of scenic roads is a chance to see working farmland punctuated by site-responsive artworks and roadside poetry, hear pasture performances, taste fresh and fermented foods at the Food Chain, support local farm stands, and more.” #BrickbyBrick #MPUBrickyard #Community #Connections #BrickyardRoadTrip #RuralInitiatives #DisagreeBetter #Wisconsin

Since the +More Perfect Union "Coffee + Courage" Challenge started, we've had amazing people from all over the country participate in the challenge including actors, CEOs, Generals and military veterans, college students, news commentators, and community leaders. For my challenge, I recently sat down with two Georgetown graduates, a behavioral scientist and a democracy and political science expert, Max Henning and Abigail Carlson, to discuss the challenges our democracy currently faces and how we can work together at the community level to improve our country for all Americans. What was so amazing about the conversation was that we spent an hour talking about the state of our nation, and not once did we say negative things about specific politicians or disparage a political party. We simply focused on finding solutions to challenges we could address. We left our conversation with smiles, hugs, great lattes, and a commitment to working together to make the world a better place. My time together with Max and Abby made me wonder, what if leaders focused more on finding solutions versus finding ways to blame each other for problems that impact us all? The challenge is STILL going, so that means there is still time to sit down with a work colleague, family member, friend, or stranger and have a meaningful conversation over coffee. I guarantee that despite what you may see in the media about how different we all are, a conversation over a cup of coffee will reveal how much we have in common. I now challenge my friends Jennie Wunderlich and Jarrad Turner Sr. to habr a cup of coffee with someone who may share different views and to find common ground! So take the challenge with me TODAY: https://lnkd.in/eM5-r5ec #Disagreebetter #CoffeeandCourage #Civildiscourse

🚜 Where are we headed next for our third installment of our Brickyard Road Trip series? To the Wormfarm Institute Farm/Art DTour in Wisconsin! In this series we hope to give you a broader perspective on what it is to be an American and how we share more in common than you might think. Heading to southern Sauk County with trailheads in Plain and Sauk City, WI, our Director of Rural Initiatives, Brian J. Von Herbulis, and Programs Manager, Trip O'Connell, will be driving and walking through the full stretch of a 50-mile self-guided art tour. 🎨 They’ll see Wisconsin’s Driftless Region: through site-responsive artworks and agri/cultural attractions, small country churchyards and grazing cows, and award-winning cheese factories. Together with thousands of fellow wanderers from down the road, or hundreds of miles away, they’ll bring us along for a 360-degree panorama that mixes art, land, and sky. Follow the trip as it happens on our Instagram and Facebook Stories! Photos courtesy of Wormfarm. #BrickbyBrick #MPUBrickyard #Community #Connections #BrickyardRoadTrip #RuralInitiatives #DisagreeBetter #Wisconsin

We are fostering dialogue, building understanding, and finding common ground (pun intended) among individuals with differing viewpoints +More Perfect Union. For me, it starts with the home! Life is better and more enriching when it's diverse. Take the Coffee & Courage Challenge, https://lnkd.in/eGQY7T7A & #Disagreebetter #CoffeeandCourage #Civildiscourse

🎁 Happy National Coffee Day! Thank you so much, Compass Coffee for your generous support! We hope that this will be the gateway to many more partnerships throughout the country and that we can continue to partner up and give back to our members. The code is eligible for our members and appears in our morning newsletter which you can join immediately upon signing up at the link: https://lnkd.in/eiiRFXm8 #CoffeeAndCourage #FindingCommonGrounds #DisagreeBetter

On a recent trip to Auburn University to visit my daughter, I participated in the +More Perfect Union #Coffeeandcourage challenge. Engaging my daughter and her boyfriend, both first-time presidential election voters, in a conversation about the country's state, the American Dream, civic responsibilities, and their hopes for our country was eye-opening. Despite their young age, they expressed genuine concerns about economic challenges and the importance of civic engagement. It's inspiring to see the next generation so invested in the future of our nation.#EngagedYouth #FutureLeaders I challenge others to take the +More Perfect Union Coffee and Courage Challenge and engage with someone who likely has different views than you. I'm confident that as Americans, you will find common ground. Find out more about the Coffee & Courage Challenge here: https://lnkd.in/eM5-r5ec I'm calling out Larry Danna to take the Coffee & Courage Challenge!