Sponsored Opinion: Building connection in divided times

In 2015, after 15 years in combat zones as a Marine and in East Africa working to alleviate extreme poverty, Jake Harriman came home to the United States and barely recognized it. The veteran and nonprofit leader was alarmed to see that Americans were increasingly siloed, with few chances to meet people beyond their own circles and beliefs. Trust and communication were eroding between neighbors; partisan affiliations had become so central to how people saw themselves, it was shaping society in harmful ways. Differences were not leading to productive conversations; rather, they were pulling communities apart.

“There was just this awful, bitter fear and hatred ripping the country apart,” said Harriman, who felt he needed to do something.

He had served 7 1/2 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and was the founder and former CEO of Nuru International, a global nonprofit collective that strengthens rural livelihoods and market systems in low-income, fragile communities. Through Nuru International, he and his team had helped more than 500,000 people move out of extreme poverty and had raised more than $100 million to scale the organization.

Having seen what a determined team with resourceful strategies could do abroad, Harriman wanted to know what one could do at home.

He spent four months studying democracy reform initiatives and meeting civic leaders working on division and isolation. The result was The Brickyard, a veteran-led movement and nonprofit organization that works to strengthen communities and heal divisions through social connection, community service and civic education and engagement. Built by trusted members of local communities, The Brickyard was formed to strategically engage veterans in civic life and bring people together through shared democratic values.

The Brickyard’s goal is to convene people from across the ideological spectrum to work side by side on service projects, fitness challenges and potluck dinners. Through these events, community members from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences sit side by side to make new connections and build stronger communities. Its strategy has already proven impactful: In 2023, Brickyard leaders in Glen Rose, Texas, organized a “Share the Love” community roast where locals gave away clothes, toys and other goods. More than 200 people attended.

For Harriman, moments like this are how communities find a sense of shared purpose and rebuild — and this can ripple outward nationally.

“Our long-term vision is that we want a Brickyard in every small town and city across the country. We want The Brickyard to be the new meeting place for America, the next generation of civic organization where Americans can come together in a safe environment and have dialogue and meaningful connection with people who are not like them,” he said.

The Brickyard has grown quickly, from around 1,000 members in 2024 to nearly 40,000 across all 50 states in 2026. Harriman’s strategy for it took shape long before this, during his childhood in Whetsell Settlement, West Virginia, among 40 families who lived off the land, hunted for food and often worked several jobs to get by. These formative years in a low-income community in Appalachia gave him a chance to see what agency and social cohesion looked like. Years later, that childhood and his military service shaped how he understood extreme poverty: not as living on less than $1.25 a day, the World Bank’s threshold at the time, but as lacking the freedom to make lasting, meaningful choices for one’s own life.

Those ideas also run through Harriman’s new book, “Rescuing the Idea of America,” which lays out five steps for individuals to help strengthen their communities: believe, serve, connect, lead and restore.

Believe: It starts with hope. This means acknowledging how hard things are, said Harriman, while believing a better future can be built.

Serve: From there, people must look outward, serving others instead of just themselves. “By doing that, we can develop a whole new level of trust,” he said.

Connect: The hardest step, Harriman said, is to connect with people who don’t share our backgrounds or beliefs. This can mean meeting over coffee or collaborating on a shared project. “It’s really hard to hate somebody while they are swinging a hammer next to them and building something together for somebody in the community,” he said.

Lead: Rather than waiting for the next candidate to fix the country’s problems, Harriman maintains that the solution should start with the person in the mirror. “All of us have to step forward to lead in this moment in servant leadership,” he said.

Restore: Last is to restore agency to people who have lost their voice by providing access to education, healthcare, safe spaces and economic self-sufficiency. “It does not mean giving a handout. It means giving a hand up,” Harriman said.

Built one on top of the other, Harriman believes these steps can unite Americans around shared values and bring the country closer to what he calls the idea of America: not a place or an object, but a promise that everyone has the freedom to make lasting, meaningful choices.

Harriman says a community that has succeeded in The Brickyard’s vision is one where all its members are engaged in shaping their shared future.