The Building Civic Bridges Act (BCBA) [H.R.7698] [S.4196] aims to reduce polarization and encourage communities to address points of divide by building civic bridges. The bipartisan legislation, which positions the federal government to unify the nation, establishes a pilot nonpartisan Office of Civic Bridgebuilding within AmeriCorps.
The Office would have four core functions:
- Administering a multimillion dollar grant program to support civic bridgebuilding programs across the nation – funding nonprofits, public institutions, schools, and religious groups, among others – that are striving to heal toxic polarization in the United States through civic bridgebuilding and community reconciliation;
- Supporting the training of AmeriCorps members in civic bridgebuilding skills and techniques;
- Supporting academic research on democracy, civic bridgebuilding, civic engagement, and social cohesion; and
- Activating a public conversation about the importance of civic bridgebuilding by serving a key role as both a convening and coordinating partner to the national civic bridgebuilding movement.
This bill will promote the ability of local communities to tackle sources of division while empowering participants and organizations with a foundation on which they can address contentious issues and ultimately, bridge divides.
Our field is invested in critical bridgebuilding work already happening in schools, particularly within the walls of civics, social studies, and history classrooms, where students are learning critical skills, behaviors, and dispositions crucial to civic bridgebuilding and reducing polarization. These include civil discourse, engaging across differences, respectful debate, inquiry, and civic friendship, all at the heart of this legislation — as such, schools and organizations that serve K-12 students would be eligible to receive grant funding under the pilot grant program.