Purple America (www.purpleamerica.us)

With each election cycle, pundits and politicians make a living by dividing us into camps of ‘red’ and ‘blue’. Purple America is a grassroots campaign created by the non-profit group Project Love to discover the values we have in common instead of those that divide us and can foster intergenerational dialog about values.

Purple America began when Project Love co-founders Stuart and Susan Muszynski and their college-aged son Steven set out on a cross-country journey to find out first-hand what values we as Americans shared. Packing a couple of camcorders, they drove from their hometown of Cleveland to New York City, back to Cleveland, then on to Williamsport, PA for the Little League World Series. Continuing on to Los Angeles, Atlanta and Little Rock, they filmed hundreds of street interviews in their quest to discover American values in 2007. Each locale revealed a fresh focus, style and slant on what it means to be American.

At www.purpleamerica.us you can hop on the Purple America train to view each location’s highlights and weigh in on the values you discover by voting after you see each short video. Watch the videos as a family and decide for yourselves if Americans share similar values or are too different to be reconciled. Educators will learn how the site can help them engage students in a meaningful dialog about American values while meeting state and national standards in social studies and language arts.

In the coming months, www.purpleamerica.us will host many more activities and events, so visit often!