on the Ground with Communities
Catalyzing communities toward shared action
We’re working deeply with a small number of iconic communities to prove that Americans have the public will and ability to address society’s fault lines by coming together to get things done. Each community has unique demographics, histories, and challenges. Individually, they represent the different divides plaguing society today. Collectively, they demonstrate our innate capacities to change how we work together and create a new trajectory of hope by applying the Harwood approach.
Current Community Initiatives
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Alamance County, NC
(2021-2025)
One of fastest growing counties in all of America is also one of the most divided places in America. They are confronting a fundamental choice: Be overrun by divisions or find new ways to build bridges and forge a better future.
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DeSoto County, FL
(2023-2025)
One of the poorest counties in Florida, beset by recent natural disasters, faces a critical question: Remain stifled and separated or come together to tap its shared capacity and build a brighter future?
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Greater Owensboro, KY
(2023-2026)
A family-oriented, faith-based community facing pressing issues. Today, they must decide: Adhere to the status quo and risk stagnation or seize new opportunities to come together and take shared action?
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Logan County, OH
(2023-2026)
A close-knit, proud community that struggles with fragmentation and where many are in danger of being left behind. They are at a critical juncture: Stay on the current path and potentially stall or get on a more productive path?
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Reading, PA
(2021-2025)
Once declared the poorest community in the US by The New York Times, this once predominantly White working class community is now nearly 70% Hispanic. In the face of deep fractures and education culture wars, Reading is at a key inflection point: settle for an ingrained negative narrative or come together to build a community that truly thrives?
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Union County, OH
(2023-2026)
The area is vibrant and growing fast. Yet concerns are growing too and the community faces a fundamental choice: Will people wake up one day to find a community they no longer recognize or will they come together to shape their own future?
Past Partner Communities
For the last 35+ years, we’ve worked in all 50 states and 40 countries worldwide. Learn more about some of the other communities with whom we’ve partnered:
Clark County, KY
CLarksville, TN
Jackson, MS
Lexington, KY
About Our Work in Communities
Each long-term community initiative is borne of a deep belief that the people of the community must shape and drive its future. The solutions are right there in the community and our work must build on the good that is already happening. By working together,each community can build a more inclusive, hopeful path forward.
We start our work with communities by engaging leaders and residents around what matters to them. Through leader interviews and resident conversations, we gain a deep understanding of what is happening in the community. Using Harwood’s Public Capital Research framework, we gauge the state of the community’s civic culture and reflect what we learned back to the community through a Public Capital report. This helps the community better see and understand what’s going on. The report holds up a mirror to the community, offering an honest reflection of its civic culture while identifying key areas for fostering a shared sense of purpose.
This first phase of engaging people—and the report that comes out of it—serve as the foundation for ongoing, long-term work.
The initiative then moves into an action phase that builds upon the report’s findings to catalyze long-term change. In this phase, the community addresses the specific issues raised in the report while fostering an environment where people, organizations, and leaders work together in new ways. Local teams of Public Innovators are trained to unleash a chain reaction of actions on what matters to people while strengthening the community’s civic culture.
The action phase kicks off with the first Public Innovators Lab, Getting Started, followed by the Unleashing Impact Lab to teach the community the Harwood approach and the practice of Turning Outward. The Labs are followed by ongoing coaching and Workspaces to support the community in taking action, creating meaningful change, and unleashing its potential.