We Are Not Each Other's Enemy: Adrienne Evans on Democracy

In this timely conversation, Steph Lokelani sits down with her dear friend Adrienne Evans, Executive Director of United Vision for Idaho (UVI), for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about political division, authoritarianism, and how everyday people can rebuild community across difference. From growing up in rural Idaho to a life-changing visit to Auschwitz, Adrienne shares hard-won wisdom from 17+ years leading UVI and over 107,000 conversations across 13 states. They talk rural Idaho organizing, the difference between mobilizing and organizing, why nonprofits are under real threat, Adrienne's upcoming memoir, and the new documentary "Democracy in Motion." A heartfelt, honest episode about staying human in a divided world.

About Adrienne Evans:

Adrienne Evans is the executive director for United Vision for Idaho, the state’s only multi-issue, progressive coalition. She’s a sociologist with a background in multi-issue movement development with an emphasis on the intersections of economic, social, and racial justice. A nationally recognized social justice organizer, strategist, renown public speaker and facilitator, she is an organizer at heart and in practice. Her perspective and work on key state and national campaigns has been a critical voice to move both policy and practice. She cultivates and works with organizations and leaders locally, nationally, and internationally to cultivate a new spirit of collaboration to develop strategies and interventions and to fundamentally address the existential crisis of democracy collectively facing all of us. Strategic, bold and unafraid to tackle our greatest challenges coming from one of the most conservative places in the country and situated in a state that is a target of rising anti-democratic, authoritarian, and militarized with deepening investment, she spearheaded a revolutionary program that has amassed the greatest set of quantitative and qualitative data from those aligned with anti-democratic and authoritarian movements to reorient the progressive movement and lay the foundation for strategic interventions to meet the gravity of a declining democracy. The project, United Vision Project is game changing for our ability to hold and advance a democracy for all of us, hailed by senior research partner, Steven Gardner at Political Research Associates as, “The first time anything like this has ever been attempted, the closest thing might be the work of Theodor Adorno studying the rise of authoritarianism after the Spanish Civil War."

Key Takeaways:

- Division grows when we stop seeing each other's humanity - curiosity and small acts of "neighboring" can rebuild it

- Organizing ≠ mobilizing: real change starts with relationships, not just turnout

- Only 6% of philanthropic dollars reach rural communities - nonprofits need grassroots support now more than ever

- Democracy is like a garden: it must be tended, or the weeds take over

- Adrienne's upcoming memoir and the documentary "Democracy in Motion" both explore what it takes to build a movement beyond party lines

- United Vision Project trains people to have real conversations across political extremes — learn more at UnitedVisionProject.org

🔗 Learn More:

United Vision for Idaho: https://uvidaho.org/

United Vision Project: https://unitedvisionproject.org/

🎧 Follow The Essence of You:

https://irlfilms.com/theessenceofyou

Chapters:

00:00 - Cold open, welcome & how Steph and Adrienne met

01:13 - Inside United Vision for Idaho (UVI)

05:24 - Political division hits home

09:17 - Finding common ground with neighbors

13:14 - Randy's story: rural Idaho & changed minds

15:48 - Organizing vs. mobilizing

18:49 - No Kings protests & taking real action

22:16 - Nonprofits under attack

24:18 - Democracy is like a garden

26:15 - Writing a memoir in the middle of it all

30:27 - Inside the documentary "Democracy in Motion"

33:17 - Building the world we want

37:35 - "Neighboring" & leading with curiosity

39:42 - Where our opinions on race really come from

42:55 - Community, belonging & veterans

46:26 - Auschwitz, hobbies & Adrienne's personal story

54:54 - Disillusioned with the two-party system

57:27 - Why politics does you, whether you like it or not

59:52 - Who is Adrienne at her core?

1:02:19 - Announcing Motion Storyworks

1:03:52 - United Vision Project & closing thoughts