Announcing Rich Harwood Speaking Tour
Finding Dignity, Hope and Community in America Today
Enough is enough. Americans are now searching for answers as the country confronts rampant polarization, gridlock and even hate speech. People are looking for a trusted voice who can provide a clear path for how to channel their frustrations, energies and aspirations to get on a more hopeful trajectory. We will need to be ruthless in our pursuit of hope in order to rediscover what we share in common and actively build upon it.
Rich Harwood, President and Founder of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, is launching a yearlong multi-city tour to speak about how we can get on that more hopeful path. To get the country moving in the right direction, these efforts must start in our local communities. We cannot afford to wait for Washington, DC. We invite you to host a tour stop and bring this important message to your community.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What questions will the tour answer?
How do we bring people together when it feels like our society is breaking apart?
How can we unleash a greater sense of shared responsibility among us?
How can we be a part of something larger than ourselves to truly make a difference in our communities?
How can we personally find the courage and humility to take such a path?
What does a tour stop look like?
A tour stop will last 1 day
Rich will deliver a 35-minute speech with an extended Q&A laying out concrete ways for people and groups in your community to find dignity, hope and community
We also strongly encourage you to set up meetings with Rich and smaller groups, including key community leaders, your staff, board and donors.
Why should you host a tour stop?
If you want to take a leading role in improving people’s lives and doing that work in a way that builds the community
If you want to mobilize community leaders and others to take action and improve your community
If you feel stuck and you’re not sure how to move forward
If you’re frustrated with the status quo and you want to see positive, lasting change
About Rich Harwood
After working on more than 20 political campaigns and two highly respected non-profits, Rich Harwood set out to create something entirely different. He founded The Harwood Group in 1988 when he was just 27 years old. Soon after, he wrote the the ground-breaking report Citizen and Politics: A View from Main Street, the first national study to uncover that Americans did not feel apathetic about politics, but instead held a deep sense of anger and disconnection.
Over the past 30 years, Rich has innovated and developed a new philosophy and practice of how communities can solve shared problems and change their civic culture. The Harwood Group has evolved into the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation and the Harwood practice has spread to all 50 U.S. States and is being used in 40 countries.
Rich’s has invested his career in revitalizing the nation’s hardest-hit communities, transforming the world’s largest organizations and reconnecting institutions like newsrooms and schools to society. In Newtown, CT, after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Rich led the process for the community to collectively decide the fate of the school building. Rich is an inspiring, sought after speaker, who regularly keynotes major conferences and events. He appears regularly on major media outlets and has written four books, scores of articles, and numerous groundbreaking reports.
How can you get involved?
This tour is for the fast-growing number of Americans who know we can do better. If you’d like to bring Rich to your community, contact Colleen Bowman at cbowman@theharwoodinstitute.org or 301-656-3669.