Join ThoughtStretchers Education for an interactive online discussion on the key findings of The Harwood Institute’s new report, A Common Agenda: How Three Communities Overcame Societal Tumult to Create Educational Equity Agendas, with Rich Harwood, Founder and President of The Harwood Institute, and Brigitte Blom, President and CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. 

Rich and Brigitte will dig into what it takes for educators to catalyze community-led change and help to overcome the divisive, narrow politics of our time when it comes to the pursuit of education equity.

This online discussion is scheduled for April 18 at 4pm EST. This event is free, but registration is required. You will receive a Google Meet link in advance of the event in order to join. Come with questions for the audience Q&A!

About The Harwood Institute

Founded in 1988, The Harwood Institute equips people, organizations, communities, and networks with the tools to bridge divides, build capacity, and tackle shared challenges. By Turning Outward, we enable communities to become a collective force for change.

About The Prichard Committee

Since 1983, the Prichard Committee has worked to study priority issues, inform the public and policymakers about best practices, and mobilize citizens, business leaders, families, students, and other stakeholders in a shared mission to move Kentucky to the top tier of all states for education excellence and equity for all children, from their earliest years through postsecondary education.

Amid today’s increasingly divisive politics and growing mistrust, it is imperative that we find ways to come together and take action. The best place to start is in our local communities. That’s why Living Room Conversations and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation are teaming up for an interactive online discussion on April 4, 1 pm EST/10 am PST focused on building trust by building together.

Join Joan Blades (Founder of Living Room Conversations) and Rich Harwood (Founder and President of The Harwood Institute) for an intimate fireside chat, including audience Q&A, on what it will take to build trust in our local communities and how we might find the common ground we need to fundamentally move our communities forward.

The event will also equip you with practical tools to build trust and take productive civic action this election year.

Join this Grantmakers of Education-hosted discussion about the power of community-led, community-driven change to ward off and overcome the ideological divides and fault lines plaguing so many of our communities. This panel will discuss the Harwood Institute's report, "A Common Agenda: How Three Communities Overcame Societal Tumult to Create Educational Equity Agendas." With a foreword written by EdFunders' Executive Director Nicole Rodriguez Leach, the report details how three very different communities each produced a shared education equity agenda at the height of the education culture wars. Each community is currently taking action to deliver real community-driven change through their agendas. The report highlights different lessons funders can learn about shifting civic culture and the kind of process it takes to discover a community's aspirations to inform strategy, approach and funding. The panelists will speak to the report's key findings, the unfolding narrative in each community and what funders can learn from each community's progress.

This event is intended for Grantmakers for Education members and other education grantmakers.

There is no cost to attend this Grantmakers for Education program. Registration closes 15 minutes prior to the program time. By registering for this program, you agree to their Learning Environment Commitment. Thank you for your patience; we review each registration in advance.

It’s time to rethink what it means to rally! Amid our nasty politics, we need a space that builds us up, not further divides us. That nourishes us, not perpetuates negativity. That rallies us around one another and the good work happening in our communities. That restores a sense of possibility and hope. So we created the Civic Rally, hosted by Rich Harwood. Join us every other Friday at 1 pm EST starting March 22 to be nourished and supported as we work to build our communities.

Come as you are, when you can. You just need to register once to attend any of the rallies.

Join the Sloan Museum and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint for a special event in the Owning Our Truth, Embracing Our Change informational series. On January 17, at 10:00am at St. Michael's Conference Center, nationally-renowned speaker and author Rich Harwood brings his national civic campaign ("Enough. Time to Build.") to Flint for a special keynote address followed by audience Q&A. This event is free and open to the public. 

Rich's campaign calls on community leaders and active citizens to reclaim the public square from the most divisive voices and unleash our capacity as builders and doers. This event will explore how the Flint community can forge a new pathway forward, create a can-do narrative, and catalyze action using the most basic parts of Harwood's road-tested Turning Outward approach to community-led, community-driven change. 

Register for this event.

“The New Basics with Rich Harwood” webinar series will help you deepen and accelerate your work using our approach by providing you with real, practical ways to put our key concepts and resources into action. Whether you’re new to our work or you have been using our approach for years, this webinar series will expose you to stuff you haven’t seen before and open your eyes to new ways of doing things.  

The final installment in this webinar series will cover the Personal Rejuvenation Tool, which will help you figure out what you need to sustain yourself and the Personal Covenant, which can help you stay accountable to meeting your goals in community work.

On this webinar, Rich Harwood will:

• Detail the Personal Covenant and Personal Rejuvenation Tools

• Help you understand how these tools can help you stay Turned Outward, sustain yourself and stay accountable over time

Click here to register.

“The New Basics with Rich Harwood” webinar series will help you deepen and accelerate your work using our approach by providing you with real, practical ways to put our key concepts and resources into action. Whether you’re new to our work or you have been using our approach for years, this webinar series will expose you to stuff you haven’t seen before and open your eyes to new ways of doing things.  

The second in this webinar series will cover the Harwood North Star—one of our key roadmaps to guide your efforts in this work. The North Star will help you stay grounded in the practice so that you can accelerate, deepen your efforts and keep moving over time.

On this webinar, Rich Harwood will:

• Walk you through the components of the North Star, what they mean and where they came from

• Provide you with concrete ways to use the North Star to stay true to where you need to go and to stay grounded in what’s important in this approach

Click here to register.

“The New Basics with Rich Harwood” webinar series will help you deepen and accelerate your work using our approach by providing you with real, practical ways to put our key concepts and resources into action. Whether you’re new to our work or you have been using our approach for years, this webinar series will expose you to stuff you haven’t seen before and open your eyes to new ways of doing things.  

The first in this webinar series will cover the Key Mantras. The mantras are our work boiled down to its most essential components. People tell us the mantras help them move faster and stronger and use our work more effectively.

On this webinar, Rich Harwood will:

• Give you a detailed look at each of the mantras, what they mean and where they came from

• Show you how to incorporate the mantras into your own work and life

• Help you understand how to use the mantras to build allies in your own organization and in the community, a critical step in helping you catalyze and spread change in your community

View the recording.

The Danville Regional Foundation will welcome Rich Harwood to the Dan River Region for a keynote event at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

During this event, Rich will lay out concrete ways for people and groups to begin working together by focusing on what they share in common and what they hope to create.

This dinner event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required by clicking here.

Rich Harwood will join the International Executives Resources Group to discuss critical factors affecting US division and its impact on our political and social environment.

Divisions in the country are intrinsically about social and psychological conditions—such as fear, anxiety, and a lack of empathy and belonging—rather than about ideological polarization. Today, rather than being ‘polarized,’ Americans are profoundly isolated and disoriented, producing within people a fight-or-flight response. There are proven key actions we can take, which Rich will outline during the webinar.

The webinar is targeted at IERG members, but is open to all. Click here for more information and to register.

Norfolk's Department of Neighborhood Services welcomes Rich Harwood to kickoff their 2023 theme: Ignite 2023! Spark Community Change. Rich will bring his track record of inspiring small groups of change agents around the world to produce major shifts in the civic culture of communities to Norfolk as the next stop on his Healing & Hope Tour.

The evening will feature socializing and networking with heavy hors d'oeuvres followed by a community conversation.

The event will be held on the 6th floor the amazing Slover Library overlooking Norfolk's skyline. Parking is available in the City's Main Street Garage at 113 Atlantic Avenue.

Click here to register.

Rich Harwood will join Bob Jones for Florida Civic Advance’s Third Thursday Webinar series to explain what's really going on in America, and outline a practical, hopeful path forward. Cheri Coryea of the Patterson Foundation, our partner in Sarasota for the Civic Virus study, will contribute her take on the report from a local point of view. The webinar is targeted at Floridians, but is open to all. Click here to learn more and register.

Rich Harwood will join Dr. Bobby Austin, President of Neighborhood Associates to discuss how to engage various communities to see what can be done to build community spirit in pursuit of a common enterprise to combat the divisiveness holding back progress. They will dialogue and invite the audience to join this crucial conversation, with an eye toward creating and strengthening solutions that work.

Click here to register.

Hosted by the Grantmakers of Kentucky in partnership with Philanthropy Southeast, Rich Harwood is bringing the Healing & Hope message to the annual Grantmakers of Kentucky meeting to explore how philanthropy can help communities find their way to common ground, common goals and shared progress. Click here to learn more about the event including registration details.

Hosted by the City of Stamford and the Ferguson Public Library, Rich Harwood will Rich will speak about Civic Virus: Why Polarization Is a Misdiagnosis, to help the Stamford community make sense of what’s going on in our nation and how to reimagine and recreate our communities. Stamford was one of 16 communities that participated in the research for the report, we are excited to bring this important conversation back to Stamford on Rich’s Healing & Hope Speaking Tour. This event is free and open to the public. Click here to register.

Hosted by Impact Alamance, Rich Harwood will keynote a community-wide event to kick off a multiyear partnership toward community-led transformation between The Harwood Institute and Impact Alamance. Part of Rich’s Healing & Hope Speaking Tour, this will be an inspiring conversation about how the Alamance community can unleash its potential given the challenges we face as a country. The event is free and open to the public.

Rich Harwood will bring the Healing & Hope message speaking as one of six impressive presenters at the “Restoration: Redirecting the Path Towards Positive Educational Outcomes Conference” hosted by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Committee’a School-to-Prison Pipeline and Restorative Education Committee on Tuesday 4/26 from 12-3 pm EST. The event is open to the public, no registration required! Learn more about Rich’s Healing & Hope Speaking Tour.

Announcing Rich Harwood’s event in Jackson, MS, as part of his Healing & Hope Speaking. Rich will speak about about his groundbreaking new report, Civic Virus: Why Polarization Is a Misdiagnosis, to help change agents in Jackson make sense of what’s going on in our nation and in their communities and how to create a hopeful path forward together. This event is hosted by the Community Foundation for Mississippi.

The Harwood Institute, in partnership with Leadership Clarksville, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Clarksville, and Women Veterans of America, are hosting a community-wide event to discuss findings from their report, Clarksville-MoCo: Stepping Into the Future.

Over the past few months, in-depth interviews with community leaders and community conversations with residents were held across Clarksville-MoCo. In this report, you’ll hear the voices of Clarksville-MoCo, their shared aspirations for education and discover a path forward for the community.

Rich Harwood will be keynoting this event and will lead a dynamic conversation about the report findings and what they mean for the future of Clarksville-MoCo. This event is open to the public. More details and register here.

We are excited to announce the first virtual event on Rich Harwood’s Healing & Hope Speaking Tour! Rich will talk with Professor Brian Smith of Ripon College about “Civic Virus: Why Polarization Is a Misdiagnosis.” Presented by the Center for Politics and the People and the psychology department at Ripon College. Watch the recording here.