Conversations that Connect

Our Commitment to Knowing Our Neighbors.
When we say community-led, we mean community-led. Our commitment is to be and stay a big-tent organization, and as part of that commitment, each summer, our organizers and members knock doors and get to know more of our neighbors.

When we knocked Laura Arneson’s last year, she finally felt like there was a community of folks she could talk to about the issues in her community without fear of divisiveness. She’s gone on not only to attend GrassRoots School, but to help shape GROWW events and to join a leadership team.

In summer of 2022, we knocked 942 of our neighbors’ doors and had 299 face-to-face conversations. And we aim to only do better.

Each conversation is an opportunity to build trust, identify shared values, and create new relationships. Our hope is for this effort to engage more people in the work to help make Western WI a place where all people can thrive.

For a democratic society to function, we need to be able to consider and reflect upon opposing viewpoints. For that to happen, we need to hear from people who disagree with us, people from different backgrounds. For that to happen, we need to see each other as family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and human beings, not as political enemies or moral opponents. It all starts with a conversation.

Bill Hogseth
GROWW Organizing Director
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