News

Check back here often for latest news from The Horizons Project team and from our partners!

Defending Democracy by Expanding the Agenda

*By Research Assistant Sivahn Sapirstein and Director for Race and Democracy Jarvis Williams. As 2024 continues, all eyes are on the Presidential election. Many Americans are focused on the colossal...

THE VISTA: February 2024

February is the month of St. Valentine and so it’s a perfect time to reflect on the courageous power of love to sustain our relational organizing and care for each...

THE VISTA: January 2024

Happy 2024 from Horizons! A year when half the population of the world will be going to the polls. One of the main lessons from recent electoral successes - like...

Understanding Pillars of Support

Horizons has been focusing on how various Pillars of Support, notably faith-based organizations, businesses, unions & professional associations, and veterans/military groups, have contributed to authoritarian systems and how they have...

THE VISTA: December 2023

As we close out the year, the team at Horizons would like to extend our gratitude to all our partners and colleagues for the much-appreciated collaboration, learning, and commitment to...

THE VISTA: November 2023

This fall was a busy month of convenings for the Horizons’ team, making us particularly aware of the need to make time for building deep community when we are in...

THE VISTA: October 2023

This has been an emotionally heightened month worldwide as we confront the violence in Israel and Palestine and a rise of hate speech and violence in the US and globally....

Faith in Democracy: Mobilizing Religious Communities for Democratic...

*By former Research Assistant Sama Shah Promoting Democracy, Protecting Faith The importance of a robust democracy in safeguarding the rights and fostering the civic participation of the religious cannot be...

THE VISTA: September 2023

September is a busy month for those working at the intersection of democracy and peacebuilding, as several important days of commemoration are celebrated while the United Nations gathers for its...

THE VISTA: August 2023

As summer ends and we kick off the academic year here in the US, Horizons continues to grapple with the inherent tensions of different approaches taken within the broad ecosystem...

SENSEMAKING WITH HORIZONS: The Alabama Brawl, August 2023

Jarvis Williams, the Director of Applied Research and Julia Roig, the Chief Network Weaver at Horizons come together in this short video interview to reflect on the “Alabama Brawl” that occurred in...

THE VISTA: July 2023

The summer lull is in full swing in the US as July comes to a close, while we grapple with rising temperatures and guard our energies for the 2024 electoral...

Welcome to Jarvis Williams, New Director of Applied Research at The...

Enjoy this short interview between our Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig and our new Director of Applied Research Jarvis Williams as he describes his excitement and motivation about joining the...

THE VISTA: June 2023

The month of June is a busy one with the celebration of Juneteenth (check out this great reading list.) Also, the kick off of Civic Season – with hundreds of activities between...

The Global Far-Right Authoritarian Alliance Threatening US Democrac...

*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Just Security. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban sparked widespread outrage a year ago with a speech to members of the...

THE VISTA: May 2023

During the month of May, many important resources have been released on both the rise of authoritarianism and on global polarization. Horizons appreciates the opportunity to learn from across regional contexts and supports...

THE VISTA: April 2023

During the month of April, we are reminded of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda who said, “they can cut all the flowers, but they can’t stop the spring…” Horizons continues to...

THE VISTA: March 2023

During this last week of March, the U.S. is hosting the Summit for Democracy and Women’s History Month comes to a close. As proclaimed by one of the Summit’s side events: The Status of Women...

THE PILLARS PROJECT: Veterans and Military Families

*By former Director of Applied Research Jonathan Pinckney. Why should veterans and military families care about authoritarianism? American democracy is in a moment of crisis. Long-standing authoritarian trends and practices...

THE PILLARS PROJECT: Labor Unions and Professional Associations

*This article was written by former Director of Applied Research Jonathan Pinckney. Why should labor unions and professional associations care about authoritarianism? American democracy is in a moment of crisis....

THE PILLARS PROJECT: The Faith Community

*This article was written by former Director of Applied Research Jonathan Pinckney. Why should faith communities care about authoritarianism? A flourishing democracy is one of the strongest protections for the...

THE PILLARS PROJECT: The Business Community

*This article was written by former Director of Applied Research Jonathan Pinckney. Why should business leaders care about authoritarianism? There is a long-standing recognition among many American business leaders that...

Exploring Narrative Practices for Broad-based Movements in Contexts...

*This piece was originally published on March 1, 2023 on OpenGlobalRights by Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig and James Savage. Versión en Español The rise in authoritarianism and democratic decline around the...

Narrative Engagement Across Difference (NEAD) Project

The Narrative Engagement Across Difference (NEAD) Project is a unique consortium of actors – organizers, philanthropists, and academics – who have come together to gather insights into collaboration across difference in the...

THE VISTA: February 2023

The Horizons Project is celebrating Black History and Black Excellence this month and every month. This is especially important as this history is currently being contested and censored in some US...

THE VISTA: January 2023

Happy New Year from The Horizons Project! In January we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and take the opportunity to look back on one of the greatest...

How Can Funders Support Pro-democracy Movements?

*This article was written by Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig and was first published on Alliance Magazine. As the United States celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day on 16 January, it...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Multiple Lanes to Multiracial Democracy

*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Waging Nonviolence. King understood that no single approach would be sufficient to combat the interconnected evils...

THE VISTA: December 2022

December is a month to both reflect on the past year and look ahead. As we surveyed 2022, we compiled these top insights to share with you from our organizing efforts over...

THE HORIZONS PROJECT’S TOP INSIGHTS & LEARNINGS FROM 2022

Since our official launch in January of 2022, the Horizons’ team has spent the bulk of our time building relationships with the many inspiring organizers, network leaders, researchers, and funders...

THE VISTA: November 2022

At the time of writing our November newsletter, the results of all the US mid-term elections are still unknown. One clear win for democracy was that most of the local Secretary...

The Pillars of Support Project

Click here for the Pillars of Support Project Page The complexity of the problem has hampered efforts to coordinate action against authoritarianism. Yet such coordination is crucial. Research shows that the most...

THE VISTA: October 2022

As the mid-term elections in the United States are fast approaching, check out this recent article from Horizons’ Chief Network Weaver, Julia Roig, on How to Rise Above Partisan Politics to...

How to rise above partisan politics to uphold our democracy

Recent polls have revealed that “threats to democracy” are a top priority for many of us living in the United States. On the one hand, this is good news. Acknowledging the...

Building A United Front

*This article was written by former Director of Applied Research Jonathan Pinckney. The scope of the challenges of democracy in the United States are vast. For a movement to protect...

Violence and the Backfire Effect

*This article was written by former Director of Applied Research Jonathan Pinckney. Any movement that seeks to stand up against powerful opposition and advocate on important political issues must be...

THE VISTA: September 2022

The Horizons Project is growing! We are pleased to formally welcome both Nilanka Seneviratne as the Director for Systems and Operations, and Jonathan Pinckney as the Director for Applied Research. September is always a...

Bridge-Building and Power-Building: An Ecosystem Approach to Social...

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THE VISTA: August 2022

In the Northern hemisphere, August is a quiet month when we try to stay cool, hopefully take time off, and then prepare for the academic year to kick off again....

The Horizons Project Discusses Sensemaking

Get to know The Horizons Project team better, as our Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig and our Director of Partnerships and Outreach Tabatha Pilgrim Thompson share their own approaches to sensemaking in one of the episodes...

Presenting Horizons Presents

There are two types of people in the world, those that like podcasts and those that do not. If you’ve checked out any of our VISTAS, then you know that...

Rethinking “Polarization” as the Problem

On June 6, 2022 Horizons’ Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig, shared the main stage at Rotary’s 2022 Presidential Conference in Houston with Gary Slutkin, the founder of Cure Violence and Azim Khamisa, the founder...

For US Independence Day, January 6th Hearings Reveal Authoritariani...

*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Just Security. The January 6th hearings have exposed a fundamental truth about authoritarianism: that it ultimately...

THE VISTA: June + July 2022

To say June was an intense month in the US would be an understatement. We encourage everyone to keep tuning in to the January 6th hearings, a testament to the rule of...

Authoritarianism: How You Know It When You See It

What is democracy? Forms of rights-based representative government in which: elected government leadership is constrained by constitutionalism, the rule of law, the separation of powers, the free expression of the...

Forgiveness, Accountability, and Societal Healing

The Horizons Project is partnering with Rotary International to explore how to embed concepts and practices of forgiveness, accountability, and societal healing within Rotary clubs and their partners around the world.Forgiveness is often...

THE VISTA: May 2022

As we grapple with the horrific mass violence that occurred this past month – and that continues daily in the United States – one piece that gave us solace and...

ACTIVATING KEY PILLARS: Combatting Authoritarianism to Uphold Democ...

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to help US organizers, bridge-builders, and ordinary people understand the key attributes of authoritarian systems, how authoritarians wield power, and ways to counter it....

THE VISTA: April 2022

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING, AND LISTENING TO AT HORIZONS In April, we joined many friends and colleagues in mourning the sudden loss of Peter Ackerman, a visionary and treasured leader in...

Sensemaking

One of the three lines of work of The Horizons Project is “sensemaking.” As organizers and coalition-builders who believe in the power of emergent strategy, the practice of sensemaking is something...

THE VISTA: March 2022

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO AT HORIZONS In March, as the war in Ukraine took up so much of our news feeds, we have been inspired by the...

THE VISTA: February 2022

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO AT HORIZONS The Horizons Project continues to reflect deeply as a team and with our partners on the wonderful resources produced by so...

It’s time to take inspiration from Ukraine and double down on globa...

*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Waging Nonviolence. As courageous Ukrainians and Russian antiwar protesters resist Putin’s brutal war, we can...

Our Relationship to The Future: Narratives, Imagination Skills and ...

How do we think and talk about the future? This is one of the tension points Horizons has identified within the social change ecosystem: our different feelings about, and relationships to the...

THE VISTA: January 2022

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO AT HORIZONS  There are so many wonderful insights and ideas that inspire us at The Horizons Project, helping to make sense of what’s...

Kicking Off the Horizons Project

We are thrilled to announce that in January 2022, The Horizons Project has launched under the auspices of our fiscal sponsor, the New Venture Fund. We are very grateful for the...

Meet the Horizons Team!

The Horizons team is made up of experienced organizers, facilitators and trainers with a deep commitment to prioritizing relationships with all our partners. We look forward to finding ways to...

America’s Democracy Moment

*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Just Security. As Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th, it is crucial...

Combatting Authoritarianism: The Skills and Infrastructure Needed t...

*This article was written by co-Leads Julia Roig and Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Just Security. As the United States celebrated Martin Luther King Day this January,...

How Domestic Civic Movements Could Reshape US Foreign Policy

*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Just Security. President Joe Biden’s early reversals of Trump policies have included at least three...

Seven Foreign Policy Issues to Watch In 2022

*This article contains contributions from Director of Partnerships and Outreach Tabatha Pilgrim-Thompson and was first published on InkStick. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is a column in collaboration with Foreign Policy...

Healing Resistance: A Conversation with Author Kazu Haga

Nonviolence is a cornerstone of activism and radical change, but less attention has been given to the restorative power of nonviolent resistance. In this recent Horizons Project event, Senior Advisor...

Good vs. Toxic Polarization: Insights from Activists and Peacebuilders

Polarizing narratives are key tools of nonviolent mobilization and social justice activism. But today, deep-seated polarization, exacerbated by a growing faction that rejects basic democratic norms and practices, threatens the...

Democracy Narratives and Sacred Values

What are the common values that underpin US democracy? What is the “big story” we all share about how society should work and how we fit together as citizens? In...

The Freedom Struggle in Florida

*This article by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan was first published May 14 on Salon. The situation in Florida clearly represents a threat to American democracy. Florida has become the epicenter...

MAPPING THE ECOSYSTEM OF SOCIAL CHANGE

This overview was created after a convening of organizations and networks who are endeavoring to map the larger “ecosystem of social change,” including social justice, bridge-building, and democracy organizations, practitioners,...

Watching the January 6th Hearings through the Lens of both Accounta...

*This article was written by Chief Network Weaver Julia Roig and was first published on The Fulcrum. “How did we get to this point?” was how the third day of the January...

Facilitating and Training in Cross-Sector Movements: Turbo-Charging...

On September 14, 2022, The Horizons Project hosted a webinar to bring together movement trainers, facilitators, and organizers to discuss the current state of movement-building support in the US and...