We have hundreds of civic leaders focused on preaching to the choir: themselves.  What they’ve forgotten is that it doesn’t matter how many great policies you have if no one knows or cares about them.

Conversations about what we should do about our city should start with facts, not policy.  Because we can’t craft good policy without a shared set of common, real facts.  We need to stop bending the truth in service of predisposed priorities, and instead, focus on what’s real, and have honest conversations about it.  The whole truth, and nothing but the whole truth.

It’s ok to be angry.  When we look around there’s a lot we can be frustrated about.  But it’s not ok to stay angry.  We all want a better world; we just need someone to help us all build it together.  Let’s meet each other in our anger, and find a way out of it to build something better.

James Ramsey, a self-described “prototypical millennial” joins us to talk about what it meant to discover himself growing up, a journey we can all identify with.  At some point, you have to let everyone else’s concept of “you" go, and make yourself happy at the end of the day.

We say we have a lot of support for veterans as a country and a city, but the truth is actually very different.  For the billions of dollars we pump into the “system," those programs are from the top down, and fail to properly support those who need it most. We spend billions training people to be weapons, and when they come home, we do nothing to help them untrain and get the help they really need, from us or each other.

We’re taught to run away from conflict, and that it’s bad for us.  But the reality is much different.  Conflict, when approached from common ground, curiosity, and a desire to understand others, is essential to growth.

At the core of every problem in LA is one common problem: the people of this city no longer believe that their leadership cares about the issues most important to them. And the public no longer believes that anything they can do will matter.  But we’re going to change that.  Rise Together is focused on re-inspiring voters in this city to believe change is possible, and vote only for change.

All the plans you have in life won’t matter if you’re not ready to see where it all goes.  Join former Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President and legendary Hollywood executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs to talk about how the journey of life if the most important part.

A lot of people ask me why I care, what drives me.  The answer: empathy from having “been there.” I may not know your struggle, but I know the struggle.  And because of that, every decision matters.

No matter who you are, life is a story—your story.  But the question becomes how are you going to make that story? Join hit film producer Ben Everard (YES DAY, LIGHTS OUT) to learn how to craft a story…and maybe make a movie in the process.