Bridging the Political Divide: College Student Edition

Chicago, IL (October 26, 2022) — Unify America, a nonpartisan nonprofit on a mission to build problem-solving and civics skills, partnered with professors and staff members across 46 universities for its Fall 2022 Unify Challenge College Bowl.  

Student participants from across the country joined the virtual Unify Challenge over six days to share perspectives across differences and strengthen their civic muscles. 

Here’s how it worked: Two college students—total strangers from different schools with different political leanings or backgrounds—were matched into a one-on-one guided video conversation to talk about big goals for the country. 

The student pairs report finding more agreement than they expected as the partners walk through 17 different goals for America with topics ranging from free speech and criminal justice to immigration and education.

In fact, according to a post-Challenge feedback survey, 86% of participating students rated the experience an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10, 70% said they feel more hopeful about the country after taking the Unify Challenge, and interestingly, 54% said they were more likely to vote in the upcoming midterm elections after taking the Unify Challenge