November 2022 Newsletter: Get in Motion. Change Starts with You.
At The Harwood Institute, we believe real change—made across fault lines—is possible. In fact, it’s happening in communities throughout the country right now. But talk alone is not enough. We do more than build bridges: we’re grounded in an active approach. We turn outward. We get in motion. We start small to go big. We make hope visible. We catalyze a chain reaction of positive ripple effects. Fundamentally, we’re rooted in action. Let’s get going together.
THE HARWOOD SUMMIT: A SPACE FOR RENEWED POSSIBILITY & HOPE
“I love being at the Harwood Summit with people who aspire to change the world…It feels lively, it feels noble, it feels aspirational, it feels like a climb toward something sweet and good and possible.”
-Rabbi Danny Zemel
Last month, public innovators from different geographical, generational, political, racial, and religious lines came together at the 2022 Harwood Summit at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. It spanned three days, included 50 leaders, and centered on a shared purpose: to join together to wrestle with the challenges we face, to think deeply about who we are and how we’re called to step forward, and to renew our commitment to building a new trajectory of hope in our communities and society.
The Summit is designed for people to have real conversations. It’s made up of carefully crafted discussion, probing questions, deep dives, and new camaraderie.
Rich Harwood, alongside the participants, raised questions like:
How can we move from despair and division to healing and hope?
Out of exhaustion, frustration, and even anger, how can I reclaim my sense of possibility?
What contribution can I make?
What’s the price to pay for not stepping forward?
How can I be an agent of hope?
We’re not alone in our challenges and we don’t need to move mountains to engender hope; we can start with small actions. But we do need to get in motion. Now more than ever, the world needs your contribution.
We’re already looking forward to gathering together, again, in 2023, and wrestling with our shared questions.
Investing in their community: four partners step forward
Ten years ago, Reading, PA, was named the poorest community in the U.S. and they are still fighting this narrative. Once a predominantly White working class community, the community is now over 60% Hispanic with residents from more than five Latin American countries. While real divides hold the community back, a coalition of community organizations is leading the way to create a greater sense of shared purpose so that every young person and family has equitable access to education and can participate in the American dream.
Last year, we partnered with Centro Hispano, an organization with deep community roots, to engage 36 leaders in in-depth interviews and to hold 16 community discussions (five in Spanish). A basic idea animated these efforts: under the right conditions, community-led change can cut through the noise and existing tensions to create a shared agenda and the public will to launch concrete actions.
The result was a community agenda focused on practical concerns regarding education, including mental health support and mentoring, English as a second language, early childhood education, and after- and out-of-school activities.
A national funder offered to step in and fund their agenda, but the people of Reading, PA, wanted to demonstrate what it means to come together across silos and make intentional investments to strengthen their own community’s civic culture.
Four local organizations—very different in their scope and history—stepped forward, each offering to fund a piece of the initiative in lieu of taking funds from a national organization. These partners had never worked together, but they were committed to crossing dividing lines and finding new ways to move forward together.
They’ve already gotten in motion. Centro Hispano, United Way of Berks County, The Wyomissing Foundation, and Berks Alliance are leading the way, each shepherding a core action team.
Last month, Mike Toledo, President & CEO of Centro Hispano, one of our Reading Partners, received the 2022 Shirk Community Building Organization Award in recognition of his commitment to strengthening the civic fabric of his community. “It’s an honor to be recognized for lifting up the voices of our most vulnerable in our community,” Mike said.
Tammy White and United Way of Berks County also have reason to celebrate: they surpassed their yearly campaign goal, raising over $11 million to continue being catalysts in their community. They’re making a difference—and people are pledging their support to continue the progress.
We’re honored to work with each of these partners who are walking the talk and choosing to step forward, turn outward, and catalyze meaningful change in Reading.
Staying in motion: Reading, PA’s Workspace
Earlier this year, the Reading public innovators took part in our Getting Started Lab as the first step to getting in motion on their journey towards community transformation. This month, many of these public innovators reconvened with Rich Harwood in a shared workspace—a strategic space designed to reground people in the work, innovate together, and engage in civic learning. Together, they addressed their challenges head on, celebrated their wins, and named their personal growth. They built shared confidence and commitment and each core team created a covenant—an action plan to move forward on their community agenda.
One participant shared that the “greatest gift” was that the workspace helped the innovators become grounded, organized, and re-energized both personally and as a group. From Reading, PA, we should take hope—authentic hope that we don’t have to remain gridlocked. It is possible to come together across dividing lines and forge a new, practical path forward.
Rich’s Healing and Hope Tour: St. Paul, Minnesota
The latest stop on Rich’s Healing and Hope tour, which kicked off this spring following the release of the Civic Virus report, was hosted by Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact in St. Paul, MN.
Rich met with college and university presidents and their staff members to discuss the civic mission of higher education – both on campus and in communities. Facing changing student and community needs in institutions that are steeped in tradition and slow to change, Rich challenged the group to consider, “How do we create a culture that encourages people to engage, produce, and ultimately create hope?”
There is a vacuum on campuses and in communities for dealing with tough issues, for bringing people together across dividing lines, and for marshaling the assets of colleges and universities to strengthen their campus communities and the communities they operate within.
In order to step forward and create meaningful approaches to deal with these challenges, they’ll have to rethink how they show up and how they become part of the civic fabric of their communities, working alongside local residents, groups, and organizations.
In The News
Op-Ed: The Suncoast is finding ways to come together
Op-Ed: Community’s future is in our hands
Tour Stop Coverage: Finding common ground – and offering hope
Tour Stop Coverage: A trajectory of hope: Harwood talks polarization, divide in U.S.
Sunday Letter: Reclaiming Hope Amid Fear: Election Day (Part 1) and Post-Election Day (Part 2)
Podcast: Rich Harwood on Impact Boom