When you think of diversity, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Do you lean into its challenges or do you tend to back away from the areas that make you uncomfortable? In today’s society, we Americans have become all too accustomed with focusing on the differences we hold, rather than embracing the similarities between us as brothers and sisters in Christ. Fortunately, there are organizations rising up to confront these issues head-on.
WaterStone is proud to announce our partnership with The Third Option City. The Third Option City focuses on bringing people from all backgrounds together by highlighting what makes us similar to one another. Their state of the art “Similarity Training” teaches individuals how to have hard conversations in constructive ways that will cultivate a sense of unity among peers, colleagues, and strangers.
The Third Option City mission statement reads:
“The Third Option City is dedicated to a strategy to unite the country one city at a time by developing relationships honoring our similarities and celebrating uniqueness, by providing a journey of self-discovery, and by forming truth-telling partnerships.”
Inspired by the book The Third Option, The Third Option Similarity Training aims to unite our country and heal the racial divide. All cities are made up of 8 Pillars. Government, Media, Education, Family, Business, Healthcare, Sports/Entertainment, Faith. Third Option Cities occur when all 8 pillars are actively committed to pursue racial unity by honoring our similarities while celebrating our individual uniqueness.
As a result of our partnership, The Third Option City recently completed their “Train the Trainer” program with the La Mesa Police Department in San Diego, CA, working now to roll out the Similarity Training department wide. We are looking forward to continuing this partnership with additional organizations in the coming months.
Learn more about The Third Option City’s Similarity Training here.
Learn more about giving with WaterStone here.
Additional Resources:
Similarity training program aims to cultivate unity within organizations
The Third Option Similarity Training aims to build communities
‘Third Option City’ seeks to unite the country by providing a journey of self-discovery