Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute
Welcome to Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, where we explore, define, and dream out loud about capacity building as an act of world building. In each episode, we explore insights, strategies, and transformative practices that empower individuals and organizations to create resilient, healing-centered environments. Join us to discover how capacity building can equip your team and community to thrive in the face of today’s challenges—and to co-create the impactful future you envision.
Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute
S2 EP5: Coalition Building & Social Futures with Dorit Cypis & Michael Doyle
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In this episode of Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, Acosta Institute Fellows Dorit Cypis and Michael Doyle explore what it takes to build generative coalitions across difference. Drawing from Dorit’s work as a visual artist, educator, and conflict mediator, and Michael’s background in human rights, nonprofit strategy, communications, and healing practice, the conversation moves through questions of identity, trust, vulnerability, safety, discomfort, and community-building. Together, they reflect on how difference is often feared, flattened, or siloed, and how deeper listening can create the conditions for more honest and transformative relationships. The episode invites listeners to consider the inner work required for outer work: noticing our own reactions, honoring what we feel in the body, asking better questions, and learning how to distinguish discomfort from true lack of safety. At its heart, this conversation is about developing the capacity to stay present with difference long enough for something more generative to emerge: cooperation, coalition, mutual respect, and a shared movement toward a common vision.
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