The Harwood Institute’s research and on-the-ground initiatives in communities suggest a community needs a web of fundamental structures, networks, and norms—what we call Public Capital—to work effectively. One key element of our Public Capital framework is “A Shared Purpose for the Community.” A community’s shared purpose sends an explicit message about people’s aspirations and reinforces that everyone is working toward a common goal.

A Common Agenda—The Harwood Institute’s New Education Report

At the height of nasty and divisive debates about CRT, race and equity, and school board upheavals, three very different communities with unique challenges and demographics each produced a shared education equity agenda and are taking action on it. Our work with these communities—Reading, PA, Lexington, KY, and Clarksville, TN—proves we need not surrender to the narrative of polarization. Even on seemingly divisive issues like education, we can find ways to move forward together under the right conditions.

This new report—A Common Agenda: How Three Communities Overcame Societal Tumult to Create Educational Equity Agendas—tells a story about the power of community-led, community-driven change to ward off and overcome the divisive and narrow politics of our time. Grantmakers for Education’s Executive Director Nicole Rodriguez Leach contributed an introduction to the report to highlight what the education philanthropy sector can learn from these findings.

The report highlights seven common agenda items across these communities, from mental health and youth mentoring to after- and out-of-school activities. Just as importantly, we detail how leaders and residents in all three communities emphasized shifting their civic culture in order to craft and ultimately act on these shared agendas. Our work with Reading, Lexington, and Clarksville displays what it looks like to forge a practical and hopeful path forward even amid our real differences.

Read A Common Agenda

We Face a Choice This Election Season

We launched our “Enough. Time to Build.” campaign in response to what we’ve been hearing from community leaders around the country. National politics have seeped into local communities, election season rhetoric is tearing us apart, and the vacuum in our public square is being filled by the most divisive voices. All of this leaves us exhausted, worn out, on the verge of giving up.

But we face a choice in America today. Either we surrender the public square to these divisive forces or we step forward together and unleash our capacity to build communities that thrive.

We choose the latter. Today, we need a distinctly civic message to offer hope and possibility and remind us that real change starts locally. You can make a difference. You are not alone. There are practical things you can do to start building in your community today.

Join the Campaign

Catalyzing Community-Led Change in Rural Ohio

In 2022, American Honda Motor Company approached The Harwood Institute about how to strengthen their relationships and make more strategic investments in the communities where they operate across the U.S. The result was two community initiatives in central Ohio—one in Union County, where Honda’s American manufacturing operations first started, and another in neighboring Logan County.

These counties are around 90% white and largely rural. Jim Jordan, founder of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, is the congressional representative for both counties. While they are different from many of the other places we’re working deeply, they represent part of the rich mosaic of the country. Following initial engagement to identify key areas for strengthening civic culture and developing a shared purpose, we have now released a report based on what we heard in each county. Both communities face a vital question.

For Union County: How will it maintain the good things it loves while addressing the challenges of growth and change? We explore this in Moving Forward in Union County: Forging a Shared Path.
For Logan County: Will they stay on the current path and stagnate or get on a more productive path by coming together to forge a bright future? This question is the focus of Forging a Bright Future: How Logan County Keeps Building.

Following the publication of these reports, Rich and the team held a series of roundtables focused on what we heard from engaging people in each county, implications for moving forward, and the next steps for these Ohio initiatives.

This work in Ohio is one part of our strategy to demonstrate that Americans have the public will and ability to address society’s fault lines by coming together to get things done. We’re also working in Reading, PA; Alamance County, NC; Jackson, MS; Clarksville, TN; and Lexington, KY. Each has unique demographics, histories, and challenges. Individually, they represent the different fault lines plaguing society today. As a whole, they demonstrate our innate capacities to change how we work together and create a new trajectory of hope by applying the Harwood approach.

Upcoming Events

The New Basics Part 4: Personal Covenant and Personal Rejuvenation Tools | January 9, 2024 | 1pm EST
In order to be Turned Outward, it is critical to know what and who rejuvenates you. As we begin the new year, this webinar will detail 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. Register for this free webinar!

Getting Started Virtual Lab: Spring 2024 | March-April 2024

Our next Getting Started Virtual Lab kicks off March 25, 2024. In five weekly, interactive sessions with our team of Certified Harwood Coaches, you will learn how to catalyze a chain reaction of actions in your community, develop practical ways to learn what matters to people in your community, discern what kind of action your community is ready for, and identify how you can show up more intentionally in your work and life. Register for the Getting Started Lab to learn the Harwood approach and deepen your impact.