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Members of Hands Across the Hills atop Pine Mountain, Whitesburg, KY, April 2018

Hands Across
the Hills
Leverett, MA | Letcher county, KY
Published in Fall 2024

The story of our six-year bridging project, with our voices, training resources & links to media coverage

231 pages, illustrated

Softcover edition (purchase details to come) 

Now Available Free: PDF FLIPBOOK or PDF FILE

Hands Across the Hills is a dialogue and exchange project founded in the aftermath of the 2016 election when residents of Letcher County, Kentucky and Leverett, Massachusetts came together to understand each other better — to listen closely, to affirm and challenge and learn from each other, and to open up about painful experiences.


We held diverse positions on many issues, yet we also soon learned how much we agreed on. We recognized each other as friends and neighbors. We discovered that we all believe our country is not divided beyond repair. We see this idea, that we are hopelessly divided, as a myth sold to us by politicians and mass media, to hide our nation’s all-too-real inequalities.


In 2023 this project came to a close — after six years, three in-person exchange weekends, two trainings in dialogue across divides, and untold numbers of public discussions, news reports, and media stories.

 

The work of building understanding and collaboration across divides is far from finished. This website will remain available until at least 2026, as a resource for learning more about Hands Across the Hills and doing this kind of work in other communities.

Cover of HATH book

Book on sale in fall 2024

Hands Across the Hills:

Chapter 1

View our short film capturing the spirit of the October 2017 visit of Kentuckians to Leverett.  Video by David Rabinovitz.

I Could Cry a River. Video by David Rabinovitz.

Hands Across the Hills on NEPM's Connecting Point, November 2019, after the Dialogue #3 in Massachusetts

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