We bet you have questions…

The Interdependence Relay is a year-long experiment in building and celebrating community. Starting in April of 2026, we’re hosting 50 gatherings in 50 states. We’ll be kicking off in Alaska and Hawaii, looping the continent, and then finishing in Maine. Some will be large, some tiny, some serious, others raucous. We hope there will be food, laughter, and a general feeling of welcome, but in dozens of different permutations. Each gathering will make a commitment (both to each other and to our whole nation of gatherers) about who we’re going to try to be to each other. They’ll also choose an offering or artifact to represent their group, place it in the Relay Box with fifty compartments, then send the whole package on to the next state for the next gathering. As the box travels the country, we’ll track its progress and celebrate our collective building and learning together. We may mess up along the way. In fact, we expect it. But we’re going to be kind to each other, learn a bunch, and have a huge amount of fun.

To be honest, we can’t imagine not taking on a project like this one at this specific moment in history. Yes, we’re excited to use the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of The United States as an opportunity to tell a story of the fiercely loving, community-centric dreamers who’ve always been the best thing about this country. There’s a reason why we chose the Declarations of Interdependence name.

That’s not the only reason, though. Anniversaries are powerful concepts, but that’s not the most important reason to help local gatherers feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves. We are living in a tenuous moment, a time of powerful forces pulling us apart and busy but weary hands trying to knit us together. Together, we’re trying to survive a government that claims only some of us belong in this country, an economic hierarchy where powerful people get richer the less we trust each other, and a technoculture eager to offer every possible fix for what ails us except an actual turn towards each other.

Increasingly, more Americans are realizing that the worst story of our country—the one about rugged individualism and survival of the fittest—has never served us, and never will. We want to know our neighbors. We want to build care infrastructure. We want to feel like it’s possible for normal people with big hearts to build a country. But it’s hard. And lonely. 

Yes, we think this project will be interesting. Yes, we think there’s a powerful story to be told of fifty gatherings celebrating a national milestone in a way that resists jingoism and simplified American histories. But most of all, we’re doing this because we love the gatherers, and we want to do everything we can to make gathering feel a little less lonely.

The Barnraisers Project, a scrappy little outfit that, over the past few years, has trained thousands of people across the world on how to build community and organize their neighbors. You can learn more about us on our website (and say hi whenever you’d like). There’s two of us, by the way—Garrett and Carly). For this project, we’ve gotten support from The Hearthland Foundation. We’re proud to be a part of their U.S.@250 Initiative, funding creative, community-focused ways of commemorating the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Interdependence.

The first step is finding hosts for our fifty gatherings. That’s where you potentially come in. We’re currently looking for applicants to be a part of the project (especially for our earliest states, in the first half of the country). 

You can find out more about the application timeline here, but let’s talk about what happens if you’re chosen: 

First, you’ll be assigned a general timeframe for when to plan your event, based on when the box is scheduled to come through your part of the country. 

Then, you’ll have an introductory call with Garrett to help prep for your event (don’t worry, you’ll get more help/coaching if you need/want it). At that point, you’ll also be welcomed into our online community of hosts. 

Next comes the fun part. You host your gathering. You’ll make your commitments (we’ll give guidance here, but the goal is to not overthink it!). You’ll choose something to put in the box and then send it on to the next gathering (often via the mail, but we have a hunch that some of you may enjoy delivering it in person. 

Finally…we’ll celebrate you. We’ll tell your story, both to others in our community and beyond. And you’ll get to hang around and celebrate all of the other gatherings, too. At some point, we’ll reach our final state and the box will be filled. We’ll want to have a party. What will that look like? We haven’t figured it out yet! But in a way, that feels fun and like a chance for discovery. We’ll get there, together. 

We’ve shared some thoughts here about what makes a great host, and a set of expectations for hosts here. Put simply, though, a great host will be somebody who loves the group that they’re gathering locally, and is both curious and excited about being a part of this experiment with us nationally.

A lot of coaching, an open line of communication, and troubleshooting (the more communicative you are with us, the better!). 

We’re also very fortunate to be able to offer a $250 stipend for all participants. We know it isn’t much, but we hope it helps out with food and/or space rental. And of course, we’ll cover transit costs for the box.

In all honesty, though, we anticipate that the best support you’ll receive will come from being able to connect with and build community with other relay participants. Whether it's on our Discord channel or during our monthly zoom call, you’ll get to hear what makes for a great gathering, how to keep a group together, how to navigate all the ways that human beings can be annoying to each other… you know, community building knowledge. 

For starters, right here, on this website. We’ll also be sharing updates on social media, (especially Instagram). As the project continues, stay tuned!

Ideally, we’d still love for you (and your group) to be a part of our community, even if the box doesn’t come to your gathering. You can still host, still share commitments, still join our discord, and still be a full part of the declarations crew.

Fill out the contact form on our website! We’re really excited for this story to be told far and wide.