Community Dialogue Project

Cultivating intentional empathetic community.

The Community Dialogue Project (CDP) provides educational programs and resources that build relationships and advance open inquiry across differences in identities, histories, backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs.

Equipping students with the skills and strategies to engage across profound differences is central to Brown’s academic mission and the Division of Campus Life’s priorities of building inclusive community, providing developmental advising and mentoring, embedding equity and inclusion, and fostering health and well-being.

Our Work

CDP fosters learning, reflection, and connection across differences—at Brown and beyond.
We help students and community members build relationships, practice open inquiry, and engage meaningfully across identities, experiences, and beliefs.

CDP Helps Our Community To:

Develop skills for dialogue: learning to listen, speak, and respond across differences with empathy and curiosity.
Build inclusive communities: strengthening trust and relationships that support belonging and equity.
Promote holistic well-being: recognizing that individual and collective well-being are deeply interconnected.
Engage in difficult conversations: approaching challenging topics with care, openness, and courage.
Take action for equity and justice: applying dialogue skills to create more compassionate and equitable spaces at Brown and in the wider world.

Our Impact

Through trainings, facilitated dialogues, and group experiences, CDP supports Brown’s mission to advance inclusion, equity, and well-being, empowering participants to engage thoughtfully and build communities grounded in respect, understanding, and shared growth.

Discovery Through Dialogue

Brown’s Discovery Through Dialogue project reflects and expands the University’s long-standing ethos of open inquiry. By cultivating meaningful conversations among and between students, faculty and staff across a variety of viewpoints, we advance Brown’s mission to discover and preserve knowledge and understanding. The Community Dialogue Project is a pillar of Discovery Through Dialogue.

Learn about Discovery through Dialogue

Brown has always been characterized by its principled standards of intellectual openness and respectful discourse. We address differences through dialogue, debate and listening to each other. While no one can predict how national and international events will unfold and impact college campuses …, we will do everything within our power to ensure that Brown’s campus is a home where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, and is free to share their perspectives and beliefs with those who agree and those who don’t.

President Christina H. Paxson