June Edition - Noise Level
Welcome Back
Hello, and welcome to the second edition of our newly relaunched newsletter, Noise Level. We’re building a community to improve the online environment in our country in support of a stronger Shared America.
This month, with July 4th upon us, we’ve been taking a look at how communities across the country are coming together to celebrate America 250. While the media focus might be on the national commemorations, local communities are also celebrating in their own, unique way.
Here are a couple of our favorites.
Next week will be the last of Utah’s year-long Walk250 challenge, which concludes on July 4th. Residents have been encouraged over the last 12 months to log 250 miles of movement in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Participants are being encouraged to “add some 1776” to their steps too, by retracing the Dominguez-Escalante expedition. This was a five-month, 1,700 mile journey by two Franciscan priests through Colorado, Utah and Arizona in search of a route to the new missions in Monterey, California. An interactive map on the Walk250 website lets participants retrace their exact route.
2026 is a unique year for Colorado as it marks two anniversaries at once: 250 years of America and 150 years of statehood. There’s a huge range of celebrations going on across the state, but the 150 Tables initiative particularly caught our eye.
Residents are being invited to set a long table of any size outside between May and November of this year. The goal is to reach 150 long tables in total, with the centerpiece being the Mile Long Table meal in Denver on August 1, where 5,280 people will share dinner together. The initiative encourages strangers from all walks of life to sit together and celebrate their shared humanity, sense of belonging and understanding over a meal.
For Those Looking to Dive Deeper
We’ve been listening to The Economist’s new podcast series: Tocqueville Road Trip. This sees John Prideaux retrace Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1831 road trip across America – the journey that produced one of the most insightful books ever written about American democracy.
John speaks to Americans from all walks of life to find out how the republic is holding up at 250. We think it’s well worth a listen - and you can do that here.
Social Media Capacity Building
A big thank you to everyone who signed up to join our inaugural social media masterclass. Due to a number of scheduling conflicts, we are shifting the training to July. Please stand by for an updated calendar item if you have already registered. If not and you are interested, please email academy@sharedamerica.org to get added to our listserv. As a reminder, we will use this training to explore the types of content that perform well on social media and why so that we are better equipped to engage in, and shape, the conversation online.
Finally…
We’ve been studying the U.S. social media ecosystem in recent weeks, mapping the content and creators who are deliberately stoking division, often for financial gain. We’ll be sharing our findings in an exclusive briefing for friends of Shared America soon – please look out for details on how to sign up in the next edition of Noise Level.
As always, if you know of Americans doing wonderful things in their communities (including yourselves!), we’d love to hear about them at: inspiration@sharedamerica.org.
Wishing you a wonderful July 4th next weekend during this milestone anniversary of our nation’s founding.