Common Ground USA

Background

Common Ground USA (CGUSA) is a fiscally sponsored project established in 2021 by Search for Common Ground (SFCG), which claims to be the world’s largest dedicated peacebuilding organization. SFCG is a registered charitable organization in the United States as well as a non-governmental organization operating out of Brussels, Belgium. CGUSA attempts to address polarization, political violence, and social division in the United Sates and argues these ends can be achieved through the pursuit of “cooperative solutions” rather than conflict. Its formation followed prior SRCG projects, including the Millennial Action Project and related U.S. initiatives that worked on so-called racial healing, congressional leadership training, and legislative efforts concerning LGBT interests. ^{2 1 3}

Initiatives

Resilient States Project

Common Ground USA has formed the Pennsylvania Resilience Network as a group of politically diverse leaders from business, education, faith, healthcare, agriculture, and veterans’ communities with the intent of preventing and responding to threats, harassment, intimidation, and physical violence against those who participate in government. The group trains and provides resources in what it believes to be best practices and provides resources to assist leaders in implementation. ⁴

CGUSA’s Texas Resilient States Project is designed to empower business, education, veterans, and faith leaders to highlight what it believes is the common ground that Texans share. The organization partnered with Project Unity to host Together We Dine events in multiple cities to foster “open, honest” conversations to break down barriers and find common ground. CGUSA argues its work matters as division halts economic development. The group claims that political extremism and violence are on the rise in Texas and that social media misinformation is contributing to polarization and violence. ⁵

Common Ground Journalism

Common Ground USA launched Common Ground Journalism in partnership with The Fulcrum in response to what it calls the “unprecedented tumult” facing higher education. The group calls it an “inflection point” and offer programs to transform campuses from antagonism to pluralism. As of 2026, CGUSA was convening cohorts of 20-25 student journalists offering a $200 stipend, six live sessions with international journalists, a certificate of completion, and an opportunity to publish their work in The Fulcrum or at the Latino News Network. The group also offers an administrators’ boot camp that trains them on implementation of what it considers to be best practice common ground tactics from conflict experts on how to navigate current campus tensions. ^{6  7  8}

CGUSA offers a download for “50 Things Anyone Can Do to Make Us Stronger Together,” a tool designed to empower individuals to act in bridging the divisions even though they believe them too large for their individual actions to have an impact. ⁹

Common Ground USA offers a Peacemakers Tool Kit and Peacemaker Starter Pack to guide faith leaders’ responses to polarization, acts of hate, and online extremism affecting churches and cities that affect congregants. ¹⁰

Activities

Common Ground USA posted on Instagram on June 13, 2026 writing that “Soccer Should Bring Us Together,” further arguing that the FIFA World Cup should remind us that there are many more events that bring us together rather than divide us. In another Instagram post on May 8, 2026, the group praised a filing by Utahans to “protect” the state of Utah from a proposed data center, declaring it a demonstration of agreement that they all love their home state. ^{11  12}

Financials

CGUSA is a project of Search for Common Ground and makes no independent financial information publicly available. ¹