The art of listening has been lost in a sea of noise, politics, and debate.
That's the premise of Idaho Listens – American Values, which started in 2022 at Boise State University. It began as an experiment with a simple idea: "What happens when people decide to stop arguing and start listening?"
Eight times across Idaho, people have shared their stories and their values as the audience simply listened without argument, judgement or debate.
From Boise to Salmon to Twin Falls, the goal was to listen and to learn from those sharing their ideas.
Last year, the model spread to Michigan with their own version of Michigan Listens, and coming up on Wednesday, Sept. 16, the idea is headed for the national stage with America Listens in Washington DC.
Dr Andrew Finstuen, executive director of the Institute for Advancing American Values, along with Associate Director Isaac Castellano and Jarom Jemmet from Parma, who attended the first Idaho Listens event, joined Idaho Matters to tell us more about the Idaho program and how it’s spreading beyond the state.
