Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

Meet the change leaders: Katie Hyten of Essential Partners

Katie Hyten
Essential Partners

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

Katie Hyten is the co-executive director of Essential Partners.

She completed her master’s degree in international negotiation and conflict resolution at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, where her research addressed foreign policy in religious conflicts. Hyten has held appointments as a visiting fellow and lecturer at Tufts, where she developed and co-taught “Dialogue, Identity, and Civic Action,” and as a consultant for Harvard Medical School’s Scientific Citizenship Initiative to co-design a course on science communication for ethical community engagement.


During Hyten’s tenure at Essential Partners, she has served as the program lead on collaborations with local grassroots groups, churches, foundations and colleges, training stakeholders to design, convene and facilitate dialogues across differences. She has helped communities hold dialogue about topics such as the role of guns in American life, ethnic violence and civil society, racial and ethnic diversity, as well as campus inclusion and belonging.

Prior to joining Essential Partners, Hyten served as a mediator and independent consultant in conflict resolution processes and helped develop and manage the first university-wide interreligious institute at Pepperdine University. She was awarded Harvard’s Program on Negotiation summer fellowship to support her research and work with Search for Common Ground in Lebanon.

Raised in a military family, Hyten lived in six states before entering college. She and her partner now live in Massachusetts when they’re not visiting family in Colorado, Alabama and Australia.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Hyten in April for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of her democracy work:

The Fucrum interviews Katie Hyten, the Co-Executive Director of Essential Partnerswww.youtube.com


Read More

Why Can’t Politics Be More Like March Madness?
ball under basketball ring
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Why Can’t Politics Be More Like March Madness?

Every spring, March Madness briefly turns America into something rare: a nation cheering, arguing, celebrating, and commiserating together without tearing itself apart.

For a few weeks, we forget who is a Democrat, Republican, or Independent. We forget which states are “red” or “blue.” We forget the tribal labels that dominate much of American politics. Instead, we focus on something simple: which team plays the best basketball?

Keep ReadingShow less
Democracy Fellowship Spotlight: Rebuilding Shared Civic Purpose
USA flag on black rod
Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

Democracy Fellowship Spotlight: Rebuilding Shared Civic Purpose

Earlier this year, the Bridge Alliance and the National Academy of Public Administration launched the Fellows for Democracy and Public Service Initiative to strengthen the country's civic foundations. This fellowship unites the Academy’s distinguished experts with the Bridge Alliance’s cross‑sector ecosystem to elevate distributed leadership throughout the democracy reform landscape. Instead of relying on traditional, top‑down models, the program builds leadership ecosystems—spaces where people share expertise, prioritize collaboration, and use public‑facing storytelling to renew trust in democratic institutions. Each fellow grounds their work in one of six core sectors essential to a thriving democratic republic.

Below is an interview with Kristina Becvar. She currently advises clients across the democracy ecosystem, including bridging and dialogue, participatory practices, nonpartisan reform, civic engagement and education, governance, and trusted information, bringing expertise in strategy, communications, and research. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund and co-publisher of The Fulcrum.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Antidote to Our Growing Crises Must Transcend Politics
blue white and red flag
Photo by Mark König on Unsplash

The Antidote to Our Growing Crises Must Transcend Politics

Each day, the challenges in our nation pile up. In just recent weeks, there has been the ongoing war in Iran and the Middle East, and ongoing debates about the growing negative impact of the Internet, looming AI challenges, and the Epstein files. The anticipation of divisive, even ugly, midterm elections only adds more angst to our woes. It can feel like we have lost control over our present and our future.

Is there an antidote? Yes. But we must seize it together.

Keep ReadingShow less