Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Protesters gather at the Wisconsin State Capitol, holding signs.

Trump's Water Policies Put America's Drinking Water at Risk

Bruce Springsteen In Concert, facing his audience.

Springsteen’s October D.C. Festival Pushes Music Into Democracy Fight

6 US Cities that Show America What Independent Leadership Looks Like

6 US Cities that Show America What Independent Leadership Looks Like

America at 250: A Country in Distress

America at 250: A Country in Distress

Happy teacher asking girl with hand raised sitting in classroom at elementary school

When It Comes to Our Children’s Education, Trump Gets An ‘F’

Fulcrum Democracy Forum: Maxine Rich

Opinion

Fulcrum Democracy Forum: Maxine Rich

Maxine Rich, Program Manager with Common Ground USA at Search for Common Ground

Hugo Balta
By Hugo BaltaFeb 16, 2025
Hugo Balta
Hugo Balta is a journalist, educator, and communicator. Hugo is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network, a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network, and an adjunct professor teaching journalism courses.
See More Writings by author

Maxine Rich is the Program Manager with Common Ground USA at Search for Common Ground.

Rich applies proven methods from international peacebuilding to shore up social cohesion in the United States. She oversees efforts to reduce online polarization and build grassroots resilience to extremism.

I spoke with Maxine on a recent episode of Fulcrum Democracy Forum (FDF). The program engages citizens in evolving government to better meet all people's needs. Consistent with the Fulcrum's mission, FDF strives to share many perspectives to widen our readers' viewpoints.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Maxine and I know each other through Common Ground: Journalism, an initiative where students explore strategies and challenges to reporting on-campus conflicts. I am an instructor.

Previously, Maxine led the design of global programs on religious freedom and women's empowerment, researched violent extremism in Morocco, and strengthened peacebuilding partnerships with the US Government, UN, and peer organizations.

She has also served as the Maryland Director of Urban Rural Action and as a dialogue facilitator with Soliya and First Year Connect, a virtual exchange program supporting college students to understand and communicate across differences.

Here are other Change Leaders who I had the opportunity to interview as part of the Fulcrum Democracy Forum series:

    I am the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. I am also the publisher of the Latino News Network and an accredited solutions journalism trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.


    Latest news

    Energy Costs Decide Power — Voters Demand Relief
    Environment

    Energy Costs Decide Power — Voters Demand Relief

    Composer uses music to connect Latino heritage and environmental justice
    Environment

    Composer uses music to connect Latino heritage and environmental justice

    Sen. Lindsey Graham Dies at 71, Leaving a Complex Political Legacy
    Ethics & Leadership

    Sen. Lindsey Graham Dies at 71, Leaving a Complex Political Legacy

    Read More

    Jonah Goldberg: The right and left need to control the radicals in their own parties

    From left, congressional candidate Claire Valdez, congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote rally at King's Theater on June 18, 2026, in New York.

    (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/TNS)

    Jonah Goldberg: The right and left need to control the radicals in their own parties

    It’s starting to sound like we’re in the middle of the Spanish Civil War.

    For those of you who forgot, the Spanish Civil War was the great prequel to World War II, in which the combatants were proxies for the Communists and the Fascists. Stalin’s Soviet Union supported the former, Hitler’s Germany aided the latter.

    Keep ReadingShow less
    The Reward — Angela and James: An American Dynasty

    Ring–Fitzgerald Homestead, Will County (1987). A house still true to its original form, carrying forward the Rings’ steadiness, aspiration, and good citizenship across five generations.

    Photo courtesy by Patrick Fitzgerald.

    The Reward — Angela and James: An American Dynasty

    They got an early start; the morning light came on fast. The Ring siblings were headed to the Joliet depot with young Angela in tow — the same depot where Lincoln’s funeral train had passed in silence thirty years earlier. Now they were bound for the White City, forty miles northeast. The Columbian Exposition was a turning point for both Angela and America. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, pitched just outside the fairgrounds, rivaled the Exhibition itself.

    One photograph captured it all. Taken in a fairground photo booth, the Ring siblings stood in their summer clothes, huddled around eleven-year-old Angela. Their faces were bright and open — a single moment preserved in time. Determined to outshine the 1889 Paris Exhibition and its Eiffel Tower, Chicago answered with George Ferris’s great wheel. At night, the city glowed, outlined in electric white light.

    Keep ReadingShow less
    The Knicks and the Practice of Us

    Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks celebrates with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy during the New York Knicks Championship ticker tape parade and victory rally celebrating winning the 2026 NBA Finals on June 18, 2026 in New York City.

    (Photo by Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images)

    The Knicks and the Practice of Us

    I didn’t grow up anywhere near Madison Square Garden. My childhood unfolded in the Midwest, far from New York’s tangled boroughs and yellow cabs. My father brought the city with him, tucked in the vowels of his accent and the teams he rooted for. He was a Jersey boy at first. Then, a reluctant Midwesterner. Geography, though, never truly loosened its grip. In our house, sports allegiance wasn’t a choice. It was inherited—an expectation passed like a family recipe. Or a story retold until it blurs into fact.

    For my father, and then for me, the Knicks were never just a team. They were a test of endurance. Before I could distinguish a pick-and-roll from a triangle offense, I understood Knicks loyalty: you waited. You hoped in public, persisted when heartbreak was routine. Knicks fandom was boot camp for disappointment. The main skill was getting up after being knocked down.

    Keep ReadingShow less
    Reclaiming Patriotism: Between Nationalism and Pessimism

    People gather over a giant Declaration of Independence

    Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

    Reclaiming Patriotism: Between Nationalism and Pessimism

    As America approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence, I am more in the mood to protest than to celebrate. Does that make me unpatriotic? The answer depends on how we understand “patriotism.” For a nation that is founded in revolution, let’s affirm a deeper and more profound love of country, a civic patriotism celebrative of our larger ideals including pluralism, dissent, and a commitment to social change.

    Two Types of Patriotism

    Keep ReadingShow less
    © Copyright 2026