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Meet the change leaders: Caleb Christen

Caleb Christen

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

A lawyer by trade, Caleb Christen has served in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps since 2007, including two deployments to the Middle East. He is now a senior officer in the Navy Reserve. Attending seminary and an executive education program in organizational leadership helped Christen identify that communities are not thriving as they were intended and that people must work together to transform American democracy and civic health.

As a result, Christen co-founded the Inter-Movement Impact Project to promote organizing for collective impact. His new focus is on “Better Together America,” a collaborative network providing support to the local democracy hubs that are emerging in communities across the United States.


Christen holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, a master of arts degree in Christian practice from Duke Divinity School, a post-graduate diploma in organizational leadership from Oxford University’s Said Business School and both a graduate certificate in international politics and practice and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kristina Becvar, co-publisher of The Fulcrum and executive director of the Bridge Alliance, had the opportunity to interview Christen a few weeks ago for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of his democracy reform work:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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Following Jefferson: Promoting Inter-Generational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

artistic animated portrait of Thomas Jefferson

Following Jefferson: Promoting Inter-Generational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

Part II: Preambles

The band of brothers that met in Philadelphia to draft a fresh Constitution shared one thing in common: They were children of the Enlightenment. It didn’t matter where they came from or what experiences shaped their lives, America’s Founding Fathers subscribed to the ideals of human reason, the rule of law, government by consent, and the all-important “pursuit of happiness.” The Enlightenment was their collective calling card.

That generational camaraderie found purchase in the immortal words of the preamble. “We the People of the United States,” the famous preface begins, “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Making promises, or at least challenging ourselves to reach a higher political vista, is pure Enlightenment thinking.

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Stories Matter: How Political Messaging Transforms Protests from Rights to Riots
Demonstrators protest in front of LAPD officers after a series of immigration raids on June 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Stories Matter: How Political Messaging Transforms Protests from Rights to Riots

The images emerging from Los Angeles this week tell two very different stories. In one version, federal troops are maintaining law and order in response to dangerous disruptions in immigration enforcement. In another, peaceful protesters defending immigrant communities face an unprecedented deployment of military force against American citizens. Same events, same streets, entirely different narratives. And, as it often does, the one that dominates will determine everything from future policy to how history remembers this moment.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Throughout American history, the story we tell about protests has mattered more than the protests themselves. And time and again, it’s political messaging, rather than objective truth, that determines which narrative takes hold.

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Colors Hunter - Chasseur de Couleurs/Getty Images

What ‘America First’ Really Looks Like

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Defining the Democracy Movement: John Bridgeland
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Defining the Democracy Movement: John Bridgeland

The Fulcrum presents The Path Forward: Defining the Democracy Reform Movement. Scott Warren's interview series engages diverse thought leaders to elevate the conversation about building a thriving and healthy democratic republic that fulfills its potential as a national social and political game-changer. This initiative is the start of focused collaborations and dialogue led by The Bridge Alliance and The Fulcrum teams to help the movement find a path forward.

John Bridgeland is the CEO and Executive Chair of More Perfect and former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President George W. Bush. More Perfect is a recently launched bipartisan initiative designed to engage a wide range of institutions and Americans in the work of protecting and renewing American Democracy.

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