The Scarborough Public Library will host “A Path Forward from Divisiveness,” a virtual interview with author, leadership consultant, and veteran convener of cross-party conversations, Mark Gerzon on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m.

The interview with Gerzon will be followed by facilitated discussion in small groups. The hybrid program includes participants inside the library watching the virtual interview and joining in-person small group discussion and participants whose experience will be fully virtual for both the interview and the small discussion group experience to follow.

Mark will explore some of the causes of divisiveness in our country and what we individually can do in response. The program will encourage participants to prepare to engage in constructive conversation with others who hold differing viewpoints. He will also share some of his favorite “tools in the toolbox” for participating in such conversations.

“A Path Forward from Divisiveness,” Dec. 7

6:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Virtual Interview with Mark Gerzon
7:30 – 8:20 .pm. – In-person and virtual facilitated discussion groups
8:20 p.m. – Facilitators report back on small group discussion.

“A Path Forward from Divisiveness is free and open to the public.” Registration is required. To maximize safety and to prioritize the facilitated conversations that will follow the interview with Mark Gerzon, the Library has limited the number of individuals who can experience the program inside the Library and the number of spaces in the fully virtual experience. Register to participate in person or virtually by visiting scarboroughlibrary.org/events. For additional information, contact Lucy Norvell at ljnorvell@scarboroughlibrary.org. The interview will be streamed on the Library’s YouTube Channel.

Concerned about the increasing polarization in American communities, Mark Gerzon has spent the last two decades working on the ideological frontier between Left and Right. The Library is honored to host a virtual interview with Gerzon. As founder and president of the Mediators Foundation, Gerzon is one of the key architects of the field of global leadership and an experienced facilitator in high-conflict zones. He has worked in both the private and public sectors as well as domestically and internationally and has advised a wide variety of organizations including the U.S. Congress and multinational corporations. He is the author of numerous books, including “Leading Through Conflict, Global Citizens,” and “The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide.

Scarborough Community Connections (SCC) is collaborating with the Library to offer the unique format for this civil discourse program. SCC was founded in 2018 to promote civil discourse in Scarborough and provide opportunities for residents to build needed skills. Scarborough Public Library has a demonstrated interest in helping individuals gain civil discourse skills. Hosting forums, offering civics programs, partnering with related town initiatives, and serving for over a decade as the home base for a monthly discussion group, Let’s Talk America, shows the Library’s commitment to fostering civil discourse and to the Library’s role as a democratic institution.

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