Congressional Communities brings Congress closer to you. Through conversations with experts, advocates, and everyday Americans, we explore why our representative system is falling short and what's being done to strengthen it.
Do You Have to Run for Office to Make a Difference?
What if you could make a difference in your community without ever running for office? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Priya Elangovan, Director of Programs and Research at All In Together, a nonpartisan organization that helps women participate in civic life. Priya explains why local democracy feels out of reach, from late-night public meetings, to “civic deserts”. Priya explores why women out-vote men in every election, but under-represent as elected officials, and how the decline of community spaces has changed the way we connect with our neighbors. Most importantly, Priya shares why you don’t need to be a policy expert or elected official to create change. Your lived experience is your expertise, and sometimes the path to a stronger democracy starts with something as simple as connecting with the people around you.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org to learn more about your community.
All in Together Event mentioned: aitogether.org/events (https://aitogether.org/events)
Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab
13 Oct 2026
What Can Congress Learn From an Iowa Mayor?
This Iowa mayor spent a decade working to make citizens of one of the state’s most diverse cities feel seen, heard, and represented.
Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Quentin Hart, who served as mayor of Waterloo, Iowa, from 2016 to 2025, becoming the city’s first Black mayor and its longest-serving mayor in history. From expanding opportunities for Black-owned businesses and people with criminal records to advancing police reform, improving access to affordable high-speed internet, and addressing disparities between neighborhoods, Hart explains why equity means giving people what they need to succeed, not simply giving everyone the same thing.
He also reflects on what national leaders can learn from local government, where public service often means working face-to-face with residents. Hart’s experience offers a perspective on how democracy can become more meaningful when people don’t just see themselves reflected in government, they see government working for them.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org/) to learn more about your community.
Links mentioned: hartcivicstrategies.com (http://hartcivicstrategies.com)
Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab
29 Sept 2026
The First Black Woman to Lead Her City. Then She Held the Door Open.
Dr. Nancy Young was the only woman and the only person of color on her city council. She made sure she wouldn't stay the only one. Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Dr. Nancy Young, Tracy, California's first African American mayor and first elected female mayor, who served over eight years on the city council and two terms as mayor. Nancy talks about joining a council of four white men as the only woman and the only person of color, and how a simple check-in ("Councilmember Young, did you have something to add?") taught her to make room for newer voices. She explains why she rewrote the bylaws of Tracy's Youth Advisory Commission after finding that about 90 percent of its members came from a single high school. Nancy also shares her path from registered Republican to Independent candidate for California governor, and how her nonprofit, The Young Connects, raises money and connects neighbors to the organizations serving them. As Nancy puts it, her theme has always been "your voice matters," and if you don't speak up, nobody will ever know.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org/) to learn more about your community.
Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab
15 Sept 2026
The Room With No Mics, No Applause, No Winners
Nobody in this room is allowed to grab the mic and rant. Ambassador Allan Katz spent his career in diplomacy and city government before building American Public Square, a Kansas City nonprofit that gets people on opposite sides of gun violence, immigration, and abortion into the same room to actually listen, with real-time fact-checkers on standby and a civility bell for when things go sideways. We talk about the fight for a coal plant in Tallahassee that started it all, the moment he realized strangers were desperate for this, and the question underneath everything he does: what if changing someone's mind was never the goal?
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community.
Learn more about American Public Square at americanpublicsquare.org (http://americanpublicsquare.org).
Hosts:
Dan Carracino
Alex Clark
Executive Producer:
Alex Clark
Music:
Aditya Shrestha
Animation:
Seventy Seven Lab
8 Sept 2026
Why Your Algorithm Might Be Acting Like a Cult Leader
What actually pulls someone out of an extremist mindset, and what pulls them in? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Heather Rosso, a PhD candidate in Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, whose research spans lone actor violence, polarization, and disinformation. Heather explains why polarization isn't really about two sides clashing, but about people drifting so far apart they lose the ability to meet in the middle, and why the antidote, again and again, comes down to one person reaching out. She connects the dots between extremist recruitment, cults, intimate partner violence, and even online scams, and argues that the algorithms shaping our feeds function a lot like cults.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community.
Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab
1 Sept 2026
Should Congress Have 1,100 Members Instead of 435?
Why does the U.S. House of Representatives still have 435 members, even though the country has tripled in size since that number was set? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Dr. Christopher Malone, Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Education Innovation at the Consortium for Worker Education, to unpack his recent Newsday op-ed arguing that the House of Representatives should grow from 435 members to 1,100.
Chris walks through the forgotten history of proportional representation in Congress, how we could get back to it, and what it would actually mean for your day-to-day life. Along the way: what even counts as a "community," and why Chris thinks engagement, not perfect representation, is the real goal.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community.
Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab
25 Aug 2026
The Silent Majority Isn't Who You Think
What if the loudest voices in Washington don't actually represent what most Americans agree on? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Keith Allred, Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse and founder of Common Sense American, an organization with over 91,000 members that identifies where Republicans, Democrats, and Independents already agree. Then, they bring that consensus straight to Congress. Keith walks through the four-step model he built first in Idaho and now runs nationally, the surprising story of running for governor as an independent recruited by the Democratic Party, and how a bipartisan push on "workforce Pell" grants turned into real legislation. As Keith puts it, the biggest misconception isn't that we're divided, it's that we don't realize how much we already agree.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community.
Hosts: Dan Carracino, Alex Clark
Executive Producer: Alex Clark
Music: Aditya Shrestha
Animation: Seventy Seven Lab
18 Aug 2026
What If Your Community Decided How Public Money Is Spent?
What if we gave ordinary people real power over public money? Alex Clark and Dan Carracino sit down with Isabel Luciano of the Participatory Budgeting Project to explore what happens when communities, including young people, get to decide what their government should fund. In Phoenix, students got to decide how $600,000 would be spent to make their schools safer. What they wanted was not what you might expect: shade, water, and better bathrooms.
Participatory budgeting is built on a simple idea: people who live in a community have knowledge that policymakers and experts may not. Isabel shares what happens when we trust that knowledge: young people discover their own power and governments learn things they might otherwise miss. As she puts it, “you have a lot of knowledge just being a resident in your own neighborhood.”
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community.
Hosts:
Dan Carracino
Alex Clark
Executive Producer:
Alex Clark
Music:
Aditya Shrestha
Animation:
Seventy Seven Lab
11 Aug 2026
How Do People Actually Change Their Minds? — with the Co-Founders of MoveOn and AllSides
What happens when two people from opposite sides of the political spectrum decide to work together? We sit down with MoveOn.org (http://MoveOn.org) co-founder Joan Blades and AllSides.com (http://AllSides.com) co-founder John Gable to discuss why they are teaming up on trustworthy elections and an upcoming American Dream Roundtable, which will bring people with different viewpoints together to mark America’s 250th anniversary. Moving through money in politics and climate change, the conversation asks the larger question: How do people actually change their minds? For Joan and John, the answer starts with relationships and real conversations across differences.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community.
Register here for the AllSides American Dream Roundtable, in partnership with Living Room Conversations: https://www.allsides.com/american-dream (https://www.allsides.com/american-dream)
Hosts:
Dan Carracino
Alex Clark
Executive Producer:
Alex Clark
Executive Assistant:
Karina Nguyen
Music:
Aditya Shrestha
Animation:
Seventy Seven Lab
4 Aug 2026
This Emmy-winner Wants to Meet Your Congressman
Why would an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and successful CEO walk away from it all to focus on congressional representation? Alex Clark sits down with Congressional Communities founder Dan Carracino to discuss the future of American democracy, why local representation is more important than ever, and why the country's greatest untapped resource isn't money or technology—it's its people.
Please visit congressionalcommunities.org (http://congressionalcommunities.org) to learn more about your community
Hosts:
Dan Carracino
Alex Clark
Executive Producer:
Alex Clark
Executive Assistant:
Karina Nguyen
Music:
Aditya Shrestha
Animation:
Seventy Seven Lab
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Contact Congressional Communities
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Congressional Communities?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
