To gain these perspectives, national policy types need not spend half of every year in local operational details, nor do local operating leaders need to carve out half of their week every year to become policy mavens. Instead, intentional listening on a regular basis by state or national policy staff to local leaders when these leaders are supported by policy research to complement their local expertise will improve communication and policy outcomes.

To improve policy and shared understanding for a region that needed it, Appalachia, I proposed and then created the “Big Picture” Policy Committee among Fahe’s network of 50+ member organizations. These leaders represented different sizes of communities, different geographies, and different political orientations in the politically diverse region of Appalachia. Each month, about a dozen leaders from communities all over the Appalachian region that Fahe served would meet to decide their policy priorities, with me providing facilitation, research, and accountability.

At first, the local leaders were enthusiastic yet overwhelmed by the prospect of engaging national policy issues in depth, and it took all of the relationships I had built to help navigate their cautiousness. Once we began meeting and they saw how they could participate in issues they cared about, such as broadband access or creating jobs through repair of distressed homes in their communities, their confidence and interest solidified. My policy team and I invested essential staff resources to support these discussions, and the local leader members invested their time and effort making space for thinking about policy at a state or federal level, away from the hourly demands of operating their organizations in communities.

Once we had a policy direction from the Committee, the Fahe Board of Directors discussed and voted to adopt it as a policy position. Armed with this agreement, I was able to engage with national policy advocates and lawmakers in the broadband debate and lift up the experience and wisdom of the solutions that made sense in Appalachian communities.

One example of many: Broadband Internet in 2019. Broadband availability and affordability affected cities and rural areas before the pandemic made connectivity even more essential. Fahe members were on it; it was the first issue they wanted to work on. The “Big Picture” Policy Committee met over several months with my facilitation, research, and analysis support to craft a broadband policy at a nationwide scale featuring billions in investment, important market signals, and effective service safeguards. The policy document the Committee agreed upon was three pages long—concise enough to actually be understood, yet useful for the lawmakers we educated.

With the Board’s approval, Fahe joined the broad coalition advocating for broadband investment. I advocated in Congress during the same months that dozens of our coalition partners were doing the same. We won a historic victory with passage of $80+ billion in broadband telecommunications funding in 2021’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Among other wins, the definition of broadband service levels and level of investment tracked the Fahe policy position, which means that local leaders in Appalachia had their voices heard about receiving the level of broadband internet services their communities and families need.

In each policy it considered, the “Big Picture” Policy Committee was an exercise of deliberative decisionmaking, popular education, and listening to alternative viewpoints. As I educated national policy stakeholders on Appalachian leaders’ priorities, it became possible to see more functional and equitable policy outcomes for our country and our communities, just as in the broadband example. I firmly believe improving the way we listen to each other will improve our policy decisions, which will help us bridge our divides and build a more perfect union together.