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Repairing America’s Broken Democracy: Bridge Alliance Members Take Action – Keith Allred, Executive Director at National Institute for Civil Discourse

By April 20, 2022May 17th, 2022No Comments

citybiz // INTERVIEWED BY DAVID NEVINS

Keith Allred is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, an organization that works to build our nation’s capacity to engage differences constructively. His work has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, The Hill, and Congressional Quarterly. He was recruited to lead NICD because he had recently launched CommonSense American, a new organization that brings Republicans, Democrats, and Independents together from across the country to find and champion solutions with broad grassroots support. CommonSense American’s more than 35,000 members played a meaningful role in passing bipartisan federal legislation to end surprise medical billing in 2020 and to invest in America’s infrastructure in 2021. In 2022, they are working on bipartisan federal elections legislation.

Keith piloted CommonSense American at the state level in Idaho from 2005 – 2009. Its major legislative achievements led the Idaho Democratic Party to make the unusual move of asking him, as an independent, to be their nominee for Governor in 2010. Prior to returning home to pilot the citizens’ group, Keith became the first professor of negotiation and conflict resolution at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He started his academic career as a professor at Columbia. Keith earned a PhD in Organizational Behavior from UCLA and BA in US History from Stanford.

The National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD) is dedicated to building the nation’s capacity to engage its differences constructively. Founded by the University of Arizona and former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the NICD board is the most impressive group of bipartisan leaders in the country working to bridge our political divisions. Tom Daschle and Christie Todd Whitman co-chair the board today that includes Katie Couric, Alan Simpson, Dan Glickman, Olympia Snowe, Ken Duberstein, and Lee Hamilton. CommonSense American is NICD’s flagship program. The more than 35,000 members come from across the country and political spectrum. They work to identify and champion solutions wise enough to attract support across our divides.

Connect with Keith on LinkedIn.