Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other

What does it look like to grow up in a city running power cords between neighbors' houses just to stay warm — and then spend your career trying to rebuild that ethic everywhere else?

Fred Riley is the Executive Director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute, where he leads a national effort to fund, highlight, and connect the grassroots leaders who are stitching communities back together. Fred grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, shaped by a mother who "kneaded the dough" of her kids like bread — and by teachers, pastors, and neighbors who saw something worth nurturing. That formation is the whole story of why Weave exists, and why Fred is the right person running it.

This conversation goes deep: from the Baltimore neighborhood that got a symphony performance because one woman cleaned out a vacant lot, to the moment Fred lived for months with his boxes packed — because he wasn't planning to stay. And somehow it circles back to why, at the end of the day, the most radical thing any of us can do is knock on a neighbor's door.

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Key Takeaways

• Weave the Social Fabric Project: Founded by David Brooks at the Aspen Institute, Weave identifies and resources "weavers" — people living counter-culturally in their communities by showing up for neighbors, organizing mutual aid, and building trust where it's been lost.
• Connected Service: Not volunteering for a community, but with one. Repetitive, in-person, relational — the kind of service that actually builds bonds rather than just checking a box.
• The Trust Map: Weave's tool at trustmap.org lets you find your community's trust score and connect to stories and resources that can help shift it.
• The Whole-Self Prerequisite: You can't show up for a community when you're not whole yourself. Fred's personal journey — weight, identity, a period of planning to end his life — is inseparable from the conviction he brings to this work.
• Cement the Relationship First: Fred's answer to the TP&R question: don't go in leading with politics. Find the shared humanity first. If the relationship is solid enough, the disagreements become manageable — or irrelevant.
• See People as Kids in Adult Clothes: A framework from Fred's own therapy: if you can picture the childhood behind someone's adult behavior, you unlock a level of empathy that makes even hard conversations possible.

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About Our Guest

Fred Riley is the Executive Director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute. He previously served as Chief Advancement Officer for the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati and built his career in youth development and community organizing. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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Links and Resources

Fred Riley / Weave

• Weave: The Social Fabric Project: weavers.org
• Trust Map: trustmap.org

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Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners

Thanks to Pew Research Center for making today’s conversation possible.

Links and additional resources:

• Pew Research Center: pewresearch.org
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• Meza Wealth Management: mezawealth.com

Proud members of The Democracy Group

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Clarity, charity, and conviction can live in the same room.