Interreligious and interfaith studies have emerged over the past several decades as a dynamic multidisciplinary field responding to changing global religious realities. Increasing religious pluralism, the growth of religious nones, intensifying political polarization, and the destabilizing rise of social media and AI have created new challenges for religious communities and scholars who seek to understand and cultivate constructive engagement across difference. Within this context, the future of interreligious and interfaith studies will depend not only on theoretical reflection but also on careful attention to local practices in which religious communities learn to live together amid diversity. This paper argues that local interfaith initiatives can serve as laboratories for the future of applied interreligious studies. Drawing on qualitative research with members of the Alachua County Faith Leaders Alliance (ACFLA) in Florida, this study explores how interreligious collaboration contributes to grassroots peacebuilding and offers emerging models for the field.