In August 2025, the Aspen Institute’s Alliance for Social Trust, in partnership with Allstate, launched a new webinar series: Trust in Practice: Building Local Trust from the Ground Up, bringing together community leaders, practitioners, corporate partners, and researchers to explore how trust is not just an ideal, but a practice. From grassroots efforts to cross-sector collaborations, these conversations lift up real-world examples of how trust is being built, repaired, and sustained.

The second session in the series is called Empathy in Action: How Local Leaders Build Trust Through Listening First, and took place on Tuesday, December 2 via Zoom Webinar.

At a time when social trust feels increasingly fragile, leadership grounded in integrity, empathy, and consistency is critical. This webinar features leaders who have successfully built trust by prioritizing “learning from listening” and centering empathetic communication within their communities.

The conversation brought together leaders to explore how they build strong, credible reputations; how they foster trust at both individual and community levels; what larger institutions can learn from these grassroots strategies; and how locally grounded approaches can be adapted to strengthen trust at scale.

Featured Speakers:

• Teresa Barajas, Executive Director, Rauner Family YMCA, YMCA of Metro Chicago
• Jordan Bowman, Executive Director, Journeymen Triangle
• Carlton Turner, Co-Director, Mississippi Center for Cultural Production

Moderator: Pearce Godwin, Founder, Listen First Project & Listen First Coalition; Senior Director, Urban Rural Action