How It Works

What actually happens at an ACP conversation?

ACP partners with local organizations (community organizations, libraries, faith communities, civic groups) and young people to host conversations where neighbors share what's on their minds. What do they love about where they live? What feels broken? What do they hope for? How do they want to take action?

Those stories don't disappear after the conversation ends. ACP gathers insights from communities across the country and shares them back — so people can see not just what their neighbors are saying, but what Americans everywhere are thinking and feeling.

Step 1

ACP equips community partners and youth with the tools and training to host small-group conversations about what matters most to the people in the room.

Step 2

With consent, conversations are recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to surface insights across all the conversations happening nationwide.

Step 3

Insights feed a richer, narrative-based understanding of civic health — feeding into reports and reaching people across the country through media.

What happens to what you share?

When you join an ACP conversation, you're talking with a small group of neighbors. Those conversations are recorded with your permission, pseudonym use is offered, and post-session redaction requests are honored if you change your mind about sharing.

ACP works with Cortico, a civic listening organization developed in partnership with the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, to help make sense of what communities are saying across thousands of conversations. Their tools help identify common themes, shared hopes, and recurring tensions — without reducing anyone's story to a data point.

Your story stays your story. It's never taken out of context, and it's never used to push a predetermined outcome.

Sensemaking

From conversation to insight

After conversations wrap up, a process called sensemaking begins. Think of it as careful, human-centered listening at scale — people and technology working together to find the patterns across many conversations without flattening the individual voices within them.

The result isn't a report full of statistics. It's a clearer picture of what a community is experiencing — the things people agree on, the tensions they're navigating, and what they hope for. Those insights are shared back with local partners in plain language they can actually use.

Why it Matters

Part of something bigger

Every local conversation connects to a national effort. ACP is building a rare, people-centered picture of how Americans experience civic life right now — in their own words, from their own communities.

For participants

Participants benefit from a unique format for conversation — the opportunity to connect with others in a trusted community space, with structured facilitation that ensures diverse points of view are welcome.

For communities

Community partners benefit from a new way to engage their existing audience and reach new people. Listening and analysis tools aggregate conversation insights to surface what community members care about most.

For the country

Nationally, ACP benefits researchers, policymakers, and the public by building a richer, narrative-based understanding of civic health — feeding into forthcoming reports and reaching people across the country through media.