Connection Hub2023-02-10T20:25:18+00:00

Connection Hub

Connection Hub

Resources, tools, and reflections on human connection.

A Call to Connection

This groundbreaking primer on the state of connection in our nation is now available. Combining scientific research, stories of impact, and recommended practices to help foster deeper connections in our lives, this new primer seeks to ignite a national conversation about why we need each other.

Welcome

There’s an active and committed ecosystem of actors — community organizers, educators, researchers, policy makers, thought leaders, cultural influencers, and funders — working hard to address America’s crisis of connection. Einhorn Collaborative created this hub to lift up their stories, insights, and reflections. We hope they serve you and the organizations you work in partnership with to bring the power and possibility of human connection into our everyday lives.

Reflections

Stories, insights, and reflections from our team, peers, and partners
  • Group of diverse students studying together

Civic Education Moves Forward By Working Together

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Civic Learning Week is an opportunity to energize this movement and highlight the important role civic education plays in sustaining and strengthening our constitutional democracy by ensuring that each new generation gains the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to become informed and engaged members of our self-governing society.

  • Our Future is In Our Hands

A Call to Think Big and Bold About Our Future

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It is easy to see how a gloomy outlook on the country and a cynical view of humanity conspire to stifle our collective imagination. Yet that capacity to envision and work toward better futures is most needed in times of upheaval and rapid change; that is, now.

Philanthropy in Action: Local to Global

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Our Building Strategy Lead Jonathan Gruber spoke on a panel with New Pluralists' Executive Director Uma Viswanathan and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Senior Program Officer Sharon Roerty at the Foundation for Social Connection's 2022 End Social Isolation and Loneliness Action Forum.

  • Group of diverse students studying together

Civic Education Moves Forward By Working Together

By |

Civic Learning Week is an opportunity to energize this movement and highlight the important role civic education plays in sustaining and strengthening our constitutional democracy by ensuring that each new generation gains the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to become informed and engaged members of our self-governing society.

  • Students in a classroom.

Investing in Civic Education to Safeguard Our Democracy

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The majority of Americans across the political spectrum support more funding to ensure every child receives an adequate civic education, yet over the last twenty years, 44% of school districts reduced how much time educators spend on social studies in elementary schools.

Learn more about the three pillars of Einhorn Collaborative’s strategy: Bonding, Bridging, and Building

Through the Prism

By asking human beings the same five questions, we remind ourselves that everyone has a powerful story that deserves to be heard.
  • Robert Waldinger

Through the Prism with Robert Waldinger

Robert Waldinger, MD, is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and Zen priest. He is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted. Dr. Waldinger is the author of The Good Life, which examines the central role of relationships in shaping our health and well-being.

  • Headshot of David Levine

Through the Prism with David Levine

David Levine, Founding Director of Teaching Empathy Institute (TEI) in the Hudson Valley of New York, is an educator, author, recording artist, and documentary filmmaker. He has 40 years of experience working in a multitude of educational settings as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, workshop facilitator, and systems-change planning specialist. David has published numerous articles on belonging, empathy, and classroom culture building and has written six books, including A Year of Belonging and Field Guide to a School of Belonging, both of which were recipients of the Nautilus Book Award, American Book Fest Best Book Award and Indie Book Award in successive years (2019-2022).

This Month’s Resources

Our monthly roundup of the latest tools, research, and reporting from across the fields in which we work

Created by The Dinner Party, this collection of rituals highlights practices from across spiritual traditions that people throughout time have used to navigate loss and life after.

New Pluralists, a cross-ideological funder collaborative we are proud to be a part of, views addressing polarization as central to curbing hate in the United States. “We see pluralism as the antidote to all of the tendencies that we’re seeing playing out, particularly at the edges and the fringes that are causing people to become more susceptible to becoming polarized and radicalized,” said New Pluralists Executive Director Uma Viswanathan.

On Wednesday, April 12, join a conversation hosted by Over Zero and the American Immigration Council to learn more about The Belonging Barometer and the implications that this measurement has on our physical, social, civic, and democratic well-being.

Claudia Chwalisz, Founder and CEO of DemocracyNext, reflected on her experience listening to three separate podcasts with James Bridle, Amanda Ripley, and adrienne marie brown and finding a throughline in the practices and culture underpinning democracy.

Host Roy Wood Jr. of Beyond the Scenes from The Daily Show speaks with NYU developmental psychology professor Niobe Way and co-founder of  “A Call to Men,” Ted Bunch, on the lack of intimacy and close friendships experienced by boys and men, their fear of openly expressing emotions, and the additional cultural pressures that Black and brown men face to foster relationships in their lives.

Studies find that satisfying relationships are linked to a lower risk of developing multiple chronic diseases in older age, and social connection is the strongest protective factor for depression.

In his opinion column, David French, a New Pluralists field builder, talks about the two Overton windows – one red and one blue – through which we are filtering speech, ideas, and values in the U.S., and how they are breeding intolerance and apathy among people across the ideological spectrum.

Research

The science behind how human connection shapes our lives
  • The Belonging Barometer: The State of Belonging in America

The Belonging Barometer: The State of Belonging in America

Belonging is vital to our individual and societal health, but it can be notoriously difficult to measure. The Belonging Barometer report, recently released by Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council, provides a first-of-its-kind measure of belonging that is robust, accessible, and readily deployable in efforts to strengthen community resilience and social cohesion. It also shares findings from a national survey to give a baseline snapshot of the state of belonging in our country.

  • Cover of Social Connection Report: The Ties That Bind and Nurture

Social Connection Report: The Ties That Bind and Nurture

For parents, the nature and strength of their social connections are key determinants of their health and well-being, and in turn, their children’s development. New research, commissioned by Capita with support from Reach Out and Read Carolinas, draws attention to important issues facing parents of young children in North Carolina, including loneliness, social isolation, and lack of parental support. The findings aim to guide approaches to strengthen social connectedness for parents across age cohorts and around the country.

  • Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy report cover

Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy

The power of our imagination has an impact on the state and direction of our democracy. Having positive visions of our shared future can give us a sense of agency and motivate us to work together to achieve mutually beneficial societal outcomes. The “Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy” report, a collaboration between Suzette Brooks Masters and the Democracy Funders Network, offers insights into the value of positive visioning, challenges to imagining better futures, and how we can overcome them.

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Tools

Here are some ways to put human connection into action

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No matter who we are, how we live, or what we believe, we all share a deep need and capacity for human connection and belonging. It’s at the core of our shared humanity — and baked into every human’s DNA.

No matter who we are, how we live, or what we believe, we all share a deep need and capacity for human connection and belonging. It’s at the core of our shared humanity — and baked into every human’s DNA.

Authors & Guest Contributors

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