A new study finds that working side by side on local projects without persuasion or campaigning can reduce partisan hostility in rural communities.

The research examined six counties in Virginia and Georgia with Community Works chapters, a program of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative that organizes volunteers in rural communities to work on nonpolitical, hands-on projects like road cleanups and food drives.

Nicholas Jacobs is a professor of government at Colby College and leads the study. Jacobs said Community Works takes a different approach than political organizing.

"And what Community Works is trying to do is not necessarily change anybody's minds on the issues," said Jacobs. "It's trying to change how they feel about their neighbors who happen to vote a different way."

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The study found that counties without Community Works saw negative views of the opposing party rise. In Community Works counties, those shifts were consistently smaller, and the program appeared to dampen partisan swings rather than reverse them.

Most residents in Community Works counties had heard about new volunteer programs, primarily through local papers or word of mouth.

Meredith Dean is the national director of Community Works. Dean said the program focuses on small, practical projects that people in a community can agree on.

"We're tired of all the national division and nastiness," said Dean. "We, we are neighbors who've raised our kids together, and we just don't see each other as the devil. So anything that helps people in our community, we're ready to do it together."

The study found the program's effects were largest among Republicans and independents, whose attitudes toward the opposing party became less hostile. But it did not alter partisan attachments rooted in rural identity.

Instead, it shifted how residents evaluated governing competence and responsiveness.

The Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, a nonprofit focused on rebuilding trust in rural communities, created Community Works. Its founder, Anthony Flaccavento, is a former Democratic congressional candidate in Virginia.