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Democracy Under Fire
Political polarization is plaguing our nation. A person's vote can now predict their religion, race, ethnicity, gender, neighborhood, favorite television show, and favorite grocery store.
I developed Civil Discourse, a platform that provides youth and adults alike free conversation guides and nonpartisan topic research, to engage in less intimidating and more fruitful political dialogue with their communities. The process emphasizes learning fundamental discussion techniques such as listening first and finding common ground.
As online resources are becoming increasingly popular, I hope this platform is of value for youth and adults alike to promote unity within their communities.
I encourage you to scroll, read, and enjoy.
About The Founder
Thank you for taking the time to explore the Civil Discourse Education Platform.
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I am Olivia Chiang, a student at The Nueva School and Cadette Girl Scout living in Bay Area, California. Struck by the severe polarization plaguing our political system, I designed this platform to encourage youth to engage in positive and respectful dialogue to foster closer and kinder communities.
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In 2021, this passion project grew; I founded the nonprofit Let’s Talk Unite (LTU) to expand my efforts to raise awareness about polarization’s ramifications and transform the way we approach political discourse. As part of LTU, I lead local workshops on identifying bias and manipulation, design open-source conversation guides, and host a podcast featuring interviews with leading researchers concerning the intersection between polarization and corporate interests, vaccine hesitancy, and religious identity, titled Let's Talk Polarization.
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I am also dedicated to promoting positive educational experiences for all students. While volunteering with the nonprofit 100 Days of Conversations, I studied 100+ conversations on youth education and co-presented at the National Department of Education and Assessment for Learning Conference.
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Long term, I aspire to conduct transformative research that disrupts our echo chambers and reshapes our politics.
Founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to reducing political polarization through collaborative dialogue.
Host events for 1,200+ community members in collaboration with the City of Palo Alto and The Nueva School.
2020-Present
Let’s Talk Unite
Host bestselling authors and university professors to study polarization through economics, COVID, religion, etc.
Produce biweekly podcast episodes on Spotify and Anchor, totaling 12 episodes and 4,000+ listens.
2019-Present
Let’s Talk
Polarization Podcast
Performed research with the UCSB Department of Religious Studies investigating how scientific Christians reveal aspects of American political discourse and public policy.
Presented research at the RMP 2022 Symposium and RMP 2022 Poster Session.
Summer 2022
University of California,
Santa Barbara
Found themes in 117+ national student-led conversations on education reform.
Co-presented research for the Assessment For Learning 2021 Ignite Talk, National Conference of State Legislatures’ Blog, Human Restoration Project Podcast Ep. 87, National Department of Education.
2019-2022