Past Events

In recognition of the U.S. Semiquincentennial, we will be conducting two public readings of our founding document, the Declaration of Independence. Join neighbors and community leaders on Friday July 3 as we contemplate the importance of this document.

• Corvallis: 10:00 am, City Hall Steps (501 SW Madison Avenue)
  View a recording of the reading, courtesy of Kevin Goodrich.

• Albany: 5:30 pm, Linn County Courthouse Steps (300 SW Fourth Avenue)
  View a recording of the reading, courtesy of Graham Kislingbury/Linn County Democrats.

Join us on Thursday July 9 at 6:00pm, at the LBCC Albany Campus (Calapooia Center - Vineyard Mountain Room) for a roundtable discussion of the document facilitated by students in the LBCC Civil Discourse Program.

Comments from Roundtable Participants: 

• Listen to others sincerely.

• I watched some politically very active and polarized people express happy surprise at discovering common ground. I think this teaches us that we'll attract people from more-polarized camps when we offer topics important to them.

• We're a lot more alike than we are different.

• Different people have much different ideas about how we can best make our government responsive to "the consent of the governed".

Interested to know what happened at the Braver Angels National Convention? Recordings of the plenaries and several other sessions are available on the Braver Angels YouTube Channel! The schedule is listed below (all times are PDT). Please see the Convention Schedule of Activities (expanded view, filter on location TPAC) on the BA Website for descriptions of each session.

Thursday, June 25
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm Opening Plenary: Inheritance & Responsibility
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Jazz, the Blues, and the Omni-American Dream

Friday, June 26
5:30 am – 7:00 am Plenary 2: Renewal Begins with Me
7:30 am – 9:00 am A Braver Way Live with Yuval Levin: Hope, Citizenship, and America at 250
9:15 am – 10:15 am American Covenant: Reflections on Polarization, Virtue and the Constitution
10:45 am – 11:45 am Beyond the 6-3: Inside Today's Supreme Court
12:30 pm – 3:00 pm Plenary 3: Action at Scale
4:30 pm – 6:00 pm Coliseum Debate: Immigration

Saturday, June 27
5:30 am – 7:00 am Plenary 4: Renewal Happens Together
7:30 am – 9:00 am A Press Worthy of the Pledge: Journalism for a Renewed Republic
9:15 am – 10:15 am Love in the Age of Polarization
10:45 am – 12:45 am What Happens When Immigration Foes Break Bread for a Year
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Plenary 5: A Pledge Renewed
4:00 pm – 5:15 pm Closing Night Concert

Sunday, June 28
6:15 am – 7:45 am Science, Humility, and the Courage to Rebuild Trust
8:00 am – 9:00 am Fireside Chat / Close Out


Additional Programming Friday, June 27 on C-SPAN
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm  “Action at Scale.” Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and the Citizens Commission on Immigration
4:30 pm-7:00 pm “Coliseum Debate: Immigration.” Four diverse leaders from our Braver Angels Immigration Policy Roundtable

We’ll be taking a break in June. Our next Alliance Meeting will be July 22 from 6:00 - 8:00pm. Put it on your calendar, more details to come.

In the meantime, we have Braver Angels programming to share! The Braver Angels National Convention takes place June 25 - 28 in Philadelphia. You'll be able to enjoy the Plenary sessions via the Convention website and on BA’s YouTube channel. As soon as they are available we will post the video links here. The Convention schedule, which can be filtered to display only the Plenary sessions, is available here.

In partnership with the Braver Angels Salem Alliance, we offer Being Red in a Blue Environment on Saturday, June 13, from 10:00am - 1:00pm. This will take place at Broadway Commons, 1300 Broadway St NE in Salem. 

Learn safe and effective ways to communicate conservative values and beliefs in environments where liberal ideas are assumed to be correct—and where more conservative people may be seen as ignorant, misguided, or even immoral. The workshop is free, but registration is required. Register here!

Comments from participants:

• We can claim a conservative identity without apolgizing, without being offensive, without accepting responsibility for the actions of other conservatives.

• [The single most important thing I learned is] Simply that Braver Angels exists. I didn't know anyone was doing this kind of work.

Join us for the Mid-Willamette Valley Alliance Meeting on Wednesday, May 27 from 6:00 - 7:30pm. This month, we'll watch a video in which four current and former DEI officers discuss their experiences and views. We'll then break into small groups for discussion, and finally will regroup to share our thoughts. The event will be facilitated by a student leader in the LBCC Civil Discourse Program, and will take pace at LBCC Chinook Hall in Corvallis. Please RSVP here! Email us with questions.

Comments from participants:

• [I learned] That DEI is a more complex issue than most think.

• Was great hearing from older folks about some of their experiences that I either haven’t or won’t have. Knowledge tempered by time has a particular value to it.

Our next debate will be held Wednesday, April 29 from 6:00 - 8:00pm at the Philomath Museum - 1101 Main Street, Philomath. Listen to opinions -- and share your own, if you wish! -- as we consider "Resolved: Voters should be required to present valid identification when casting a ballot." Register Here! Held in partnership with LBCC's Civil Discourse Program.

Comments from participants: 

• We all want secure and trustworthy voting.

• We need to talk to each other regularly about the difficult topics of our times.

• As a current college student, most of the views I'm regularly exposed to are left leaning, so hearing first hand the views and experiences of right leaning people helped give me a more broad and nuanced view of voter ID.

Join us for our montly Mid-Willamette Valley Alliance Meeting on Wednesday, April 22 from 6:00 - 7:30pm. We'll meet at Woodstock's Pizza in Corvallis (1045 NW Kings Blvd), in  the banquet room. Arrive early if you like, grab something to eat/drink, and meet your fellow Braver Angels. It’s Earth Day, so our discussion topic will be Nuclear Power. We’ll have plenty of time to discuss the topic with a partner, and reconvene to share our experiences as a group.

Join us for the inaugural Mid-Willamette Valley Alliance Meeting on Wednesday, March 25 from 6:00 - 7:30pm. We'll meet at The Barn in North Albany (640 NW Hickory St NW). We'll meet in the events room. Arrive early if you like, grab something to eat/drink, and meet your fellow Braver Angels. We'll collect your thoughts and ideas for building our Alliance, and will participate in a skills-building activity. 

We will present the Braver Angels Skills for Disagreeing Better workshop, in person, on Saturday, March 7, 2026 from 10:00am - 12:00pm. This will take place at the Linn-Benton Community College Albany Campus, 6500 Pacific Blvd SW. The workshop is free, but registration is required. 

Participants learn about the values and concerns of those who differ from them politically. The workshop teaches essential skills for communicating across differences and finding common ground.

Comments from participants:

• I may think I disagree but I may be misinterpreting what the other thinks.

• It was fun and it is very important to have this going on with different political viewpoints.

• We all need to learn and practice these skills.

We are excited to present the Braver Angels Depolarizing Within workshop, in person, on Saturday, February 7, 2026 from 10:00am - 1:00pm. This will take place at Linn-Benton Community College Albany Campus, 6500 Pacific Blvd SW. 

Participants develop strategies for engaging in politics without demonizing the other side, and for constructively intervening in conversations with like-minded peers.

Comments from participants:

• People need to be heard.

• ... the reminder to have the humility to know that I don't have all of the facts.

• The high value of being able to depolarize within the community you are accepted in.

Resolved: K-12 Schools Should Prohibit Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices During the School Day. Agree? Disagree? Join us on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 from 6:00-8:00pm at the Corvallis Museum - 411 SW 2nd Street in Corvallis to listen to the perspectives of others, and share your own. The event is free. 

Comments from participants: 

• Things are nuanced! It's not black and white.

• Why can’t our political leaders be as respectful as this group of speakers?!

• People I disagreed with had good arguments.

• Even if I am very stubborn to the resolution there are always other sides to look at.

• Listen to everyone's opinions.