Unify Montrose Questions

Here’s the story from Harry, our founder:

It was a little random. Unify America was searching for a municipality with between 15,000 and 50,000 people in which to run this pilot for a Citizen’s Assembly. We were searching all over the country, but with a specific focus on Colorado because we had some good relationships in the state that we thought could be helpful in terms of funding and connections.

I was in Colorado Springs to give a keynote address at a conference for the El Pomar Foundation. The night before the address, there was an older gentlemen in back of me at dinner in the buffet line. He was from Montrose. He invited me to sit with the delegation of folks from the Montrose area who were connected to the foundation. Interestingly, the delegation had folks who were both right leaning and left leaning.

By the end of the dinner, the Montrose delegation urged Unify America to visit Montrose and they would set up meetings with local leaders.

And they did! We met with over 50 community leaders during our first trip in February. Sara Drury, our EVP of Deliberation, and I were so impressed with the civic spirit here. There was an earnest desire on everyone’s part to do what would be best for Montrose, seemingly without any ego or any politics. It was kind of amazing.

Since then, I’ve become more familiar with the local politics. But I still find that community leaders and residents really are united in wanting to do what’s best for the community, even if they don’t always agree with what that is.

And that is why we are in Montrose. It was the right buffet line at the right time!

Well, we’re a nonprofit incorporated in Illinois because that’s where our founder grew up and lives. Our staff are spread all over the country and generally, we work virtually. Our president lives in Denver.

In 2022 into early 2023, we were searching for a jurisdiction to pilot our model for an assembly of residents in a number of different states. The answer to the FAQ above tells how we landed in Montrose.

Your question suggests that since Unify America staff don’t live in Montrose, we must have an ulterior motive. Our motives are to help Montrose residents solve a Montrose problem in a way that works for Montrose, and to pilot our process for doing so. What we learn from our pilot in Montrose will teach us how to be more helpful when we facilitate future deliberations in other jurisdictions.

Some of us have now spent months living in Montrose and have formed relationships with people in Montrose that matter to us, personally. We came here looking for a place to run our pilot, but at this point, we love this place. We love Montrose.

By the time the process is concluded, Unify America will have invested well over a million dollars on this pilot.

This Deliberation is a pilot project. Unify’s goal was to try out a new model of citizen deliberation that begins with a shared goal, deliberates multiple possible solutions and concludes, if successful, with a shared set of solutions. Further, our model is designed to scale to allow, someday, hundreds and even thousands of citizens to participate across a state, a region of the country, or the entire nation. This is one of the reasons, for example, why we conducted the deliberation online, rather than in person -- to simulate what it would be like if delegates were spread across a much larger geographic area. We based this pilot on many deliberation best practices, but we have been testing out dozens of innovations.

So, what does Unify get out of it? Lots of learning. Far more learning than we anticipated. As expensive as the pilot will have been, we’ve gotten back every dollar in learning, allowing us to improve for next time. Years from now, Unify America will still be leaning on the lessons we learned in Montrose in 2023.

Obviously, Unify has another goal, equal in importance: helping Montrose solve a problem of its choosing - and childcare emerged as the problem upon which to focus.

If helping Montrose had been Unify’s only goal, it would not have made sense to spend over a million dollars. A much less expensive deliberation could have been run. And we hope the Unify Montrose Catalyst Club will take up the mantle of running deliberations to help Montrose solve its other pressing problems, like housing, homelessness, and mental health. Catalyst Club could run citizen deliberations at a fraction of the cost.

Unify America’s mission is to replace political fighting with problem-solving. And our strategy is to demonstrate that large groups of citizens can work cooperatively to solve big problems -- problems that are big and costly enough -- that spending a few million dollars on a deliberation makes all the sense in the world. Think of any of our big national issues - on education, abortion, immigration, violence, prisons, etc. Think of how many hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on Americans fighting each other over these issues…for decades.

Wouldn’t it be better if we spent far less money to work together and converge on a solution, through deliberation, that the vast majority of us support?

That is the vision. And that is why it was worth it for Unify to invest so heavily on this pilot in Montrose.

Unify Montrose is a partnership between Montrose residents and Unify America, a national, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps communities collaboratively solve problems using the model of public deliberation. Unify America’s long-term mission is to replace political fighting with problem-solving.

Unify America was incorporated in Illinois, where our founder Harry Nathan Gottlieb grew up and lives with his family. Harry has spent most of his time living in Montrose since the start of May.

Unify Montrose is the pilot deliberation pilot of Unify America.

There are several Colorado-based foundations that have provided support for Unify Montrose, including the El Pomar Foundation and the Boettcher Foundation. Unify America has also received funding from the Kettering Family Foundation, the Dakota Foundation, and individual donors.

The largest source of funding to date for Unify America, however, comes from Harry and members of his family. He started two successful companies, Jellyvision and Jackbox Games. That allowed him to get Unify America off the ground in 2020, and it is the primary source of funding for this pilot in Montrose.

Unify America's board of directors, funders, and senior leadership team include no elected leaders, lobbyists, political party leaders, or political pundits. While political figures like former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams (Republican) and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (Democrat) have been partners on specific projects (like the Colorado Unify Challenge), elected officials, lobbyists, and political party leaders have not and do not influence the direction of the organization.

In Montrose, neither the City nor the County are providing any funding for Unify Montrose. We are here because community leaders, about seventy altogether from across the political spectrum, attended focus groups and meetings in February, March, and April 2023 to help us understand, from the perspectives of residents, business leaders, and other community leaders, the challenges in Montrose. Childcare was one of five community issues that rose to the top of the list. The civic spirit of all of those leaders we met, and some strong encouragement for us to do our pilot in Montrose, is what led us here. The City and County were not involved in our decision to come to Montrose. After sharing some initial and worthy skepticism, Mayor Bynum (Democrat) and County Commissioner Hansen (Republican) were both open-minded and took the time to fully understand the deliberation we were here to run. They invited us to present to the City Council and County Board. At those meetings, we found that Montrose’s elected leaders were supportive of processes that bring in genuine public involvement in decision-making. The City and County both gave their assent to cooperate with our deliberation effort, but without committing to the results. The City and County helped us promote the pilot to would-be delegates, invited us to speak to groups about the deliberation, and made introductions to community leaders whom they believed should be involved.

Since we were founded in 2020, from time to time, we’ve been introduced to and met with political leaders across the ideological spectrum to learn about their work and to share the work we are doing. And we have and will continue to present our work to groups that are affiliated with political parties and various causes, again, across the ideological spectrum.

That is the extent of Unify America’s involvement with political figures.

Unify America is a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to replace political fighting with problem solving. Partnering with communities, non-profits, and other organizations, Unify America leverages interactive technology and engaging experiences to reduce political polarization, teach problem-solving skills, and empower everyday Americans with opportunities to make civic change. Together, we can create an America where we harness the power of our differences, recognize our shared goals, and collaborate to solve our toughest problems. Unify America is supported by individual donations and grants from organizations like the El Pomar Foundation, the Boettcher Foundation, and more. You can read more about Unify America, our founder Harry Nathan Gottlieb, and our vision by going to our website: https://www.unifyamerica.org/about-us

The Catalyst Club is our main vehicle for engagement outside of the Deliberation. But we have remained engaged with local leadership in education, childcare, and youth services. Their participation in an implementation phase, if any, will be critical to its success. We are speaking to groups about the deliberation. Harry will be presenting to the Noon Rotary group on October 17, for example. And we are hoping to get other invitations. Please email us at montrose@unifyamerica.org if you’d like Harry to speak to your group or organization!

Unify America hired Our Town Matters and Tonya Maddox in May 2023, and they've helped us with our community outreach in Montrose. Among other marketing tasks, the local agency has helped us buy advertising, set up social media accounts, and consulted with us on local recruitment strategies and community outreach campaigns.

Unify America has also purchased advertising space from Montrose Business Times.