A lot can be discussed over sweet tea and Southern barbecue, especially among more than 400 strangers gathered around a 350-foot-long table in Tallahassee, Florida. Diners poured in from all parts of town; some were new residents, while others were longtime Floridians. Some cared deeply about immigration while others wanted to talk about protecting the environment.
It’s all part of a new project called The Longest Table, which just won a $57,250 grant from the Knight Cities Challenge. Organized by the office of Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Leon County government, and a handful of community organizations, the project aims to use the dinner table as a medium for generating meaningful conversation among people of diverse ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds.
Such diversity can easily become grounds for heated debate. But “when you break bread with people, it changes it from being a debate to being about [building] relationships with people,” says Liz Joyner, executive director of The Village Square, which partnered with the city on the project.
[For more of this story, written by Linda Poon, go to http://www.citylab.com/politic...own-barriers/477714/]
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