Nate Garvis, Vice President of Government Affairs for Target Corporation (he has a Twitter feed but doesn’t appear to have his own web page), gave a great speech at last week’s National Civic Summit last week titled, “Weaving Civic Fabric Out of Our Tangled Mess.” The pre-speech abstract:

Polarization has become a powerful . . . → Read More: Target Corp. VP Nate Garvis on civil civic conversations]]>

Nate Garvis, Vice President of Government Affairs for Target Corporation (he has a Twitter feed but doesn’t appear to have his own web page), gave a great speech at last week’s National Civic Summit last week titled, “Weaving Civic Fabric Out of Our Tangled Mess.” The pre-speech abstract:

Polarization has become a powerful force with social and civic consequences and has potential to strengthen based on the vast leap in communications technologies that have allowed us to become more insular. Nate will offer his keen perspective on the forces shaping society today and suggest ways to weave ourselves back together by promoting civil, civic conversations that better connect citizens in our communities for the common good.

Here’s the audio of Nate’s speech.

Click play to listen. 33 minutes.

I chatted briefly with Nate after his presentation and told him that I moderate the online discussions on Locally Grown, a civic issues blog in my hometown of Northfield, where we get 500-1000 comments a month. Our discussion guidelines have two unusual rules that have helped to ensure civility over the years.