Mapping the US Bridgebuilding Field: Situating Organizations in the Ecosystem of Social Change

ABSTRACT This article explores the ecosystem of bridge‐building initiatives in the United States. Drawing on an original database of 223 organizations, interviews with 7 staff across 6 organizations, and a literature review related to bridge‐building, polarization, and collective action, we first describe the range of existing initiatives and their areas of focus. We then explore the work of these organizations in terms of their contributions to scaling the bridge‐building field as well as the focus of many on community‐level issues and collaboration, which enables a shift from talk to action and contributions to social change. Our findings provide empirical support for the concept of “massively parallel peacebuilding” (Burgess and Burgess; Burgess et al.); they also illustrate alignment between bridge‐building and systemic change.