User:RedBaron12/BridgeUSA

BridgeUSA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its focus is on promoting civil political discussion and collaborative solutions on a transpartisan basis. The organization is primarily based on college and high school campuses with individual chapters hosting discussions, and BridgeUSA itself coordinating major initiatives.

Structure
BridgeUSA as an organization is primarily run by volunteers. An executive team oversees the management of the organization while other teams and individuals hold more specific duties. Smaller chapters run by student leaders on college campuses host regular discussions and form the membership of BridgeUSA.

History
Although the first Bridge chapters were formed in 2014, BridgeUSA was not constituted as an organization until 2016. It was formed through the combined work of students at CU Boulder, Notre Dame, and UC Berkeley who had created clubs to encourage civil political discussion. Initially, it was named BridgeCal.

The UC Berkeley chapter (and eventually BridgeUSA) was founded after violence at the UC Berkeley campus on February 1, 2017, preceding a speech by the alt-right political commentator, Milo Yiannopoulos. The speech was later cancelled. Significant controversy was later generated by BridgeUSA inviting conservative media pundit Ann Coulter to speak about immigration in a collaborative event with other UC Berkeley organizations. The event was not held due to the inability of the university to provide adequate security after multiple threats were made against the event.