January 2023 Newsletter: Step Forward to Reclaim Our Public Life
Right now, our public discourse is being dominated by those at the extremes who want to tear us down and tear us apart. They’re stoking fear, mistrust, hatred, and division. More than ever, what we need is public devotion—a kind of patriotism rooted in love for our nation, our community, and our fellow citizens. This devotion is not merely a sentiment; it calls us to take action—even, and most especially, when we don’t like the direction our public discourse is going. At The Harwood Institute, we’re committed to sparking people, groups, organizations, and foundations of good faith to answer the entreaty to step forward and reclaim our public life.
The Harwood CIRCLE of Catalytic Funders Gathered in D.C.
We kicked off the first in-person meeting of our Harwood CIRCLE of Catalytic Funders last week at Planet Word in Washington, D.C. The CIRCLE is about bringing together local, regional, and national catalytic funders who want to collectively discover and develop new ways to take action to accelerate and deepen impact in communities and people’s lives. Each of these funders have used – or have expressed interest in using – the Harwood approach and what it means for the communities they work with. They plan to share the insights they discover with other funders and community leaders across the nation, with the goal of spreading new community-focused philanthropic approaches.
The first questions the CIRCLE explored were: how can catalytic funders approach unleashing change in their communities? What are the implications for who they engage and how they measure and evaluate change? Next, they’ll unpack what it takes to be a catalytic leader.
We’ve formed the CIRCLE at a critical moment. Right now, the people and groups driving the conversations in our public square are the loudest, most divisive and acrimonious. They seek to tear us down and tear us apart.
They’re also often the best-funded.
Seeking spaces where it’s safer to work, many foundations have run to the edges of community life. But the funders in our CIRCLE are actively working to find ways to step into the center of our public square and catalyze communities to reclaim it.
The CIRCLE will continue to gather in-person and online to develop the best approaches for strengthening community-led change, bringing hope, and inspiring imagination.
Let us know if you’re interested in this.
Faith & THe Harwood Approach
“This was the most prophetic message I’ve heard in a long time…that we should step forward and dare to save our country. I take Rich’s call very, very seriously—an epic call to matter in the world and make meaning.”
-Dr. Larry Hoffman, Hebrew Union College, Founder of Tisch Fellowship Program
Across this nation, there’s a deep yearning for community. But as politicians, the news media, and groups at the extremes fan the flames of polarization, mistrust, and fear, people find themselves in the grips of a perilous fight or flight response. They’re separating and segregating themselves into smaller groups or retreating from civic life entirely. People tell us they trust only themselves, God, and those they know personally.
Last week, Rich gathered at Temple Micah in D.C. with rabbi and cantoral students from Hebrew Union College. He had a bold question for them:
Do you, as faith leaders, have any responsibility to step forward and engage your congregants and your larger community to help us fight the division and reclaim our public square?
“It’s going to be easy,” Rich told them, “to think that what I’m saying [about the state of our country and our communities] isn’t relevant to you or doesn’t fit with being a rabbi or a cantor. That it’s not your responsibility. You may say, ‘Who gave me power to do that?’”
It’s true: the work to step forward can be complicated. But the choice, he insisted, is not.
Faith leaders are not just leaders in their synagogues and temples and churches. They’re leaders of the larger community. Rich told them that their communities and the nation need them.
“We need to speak to the people about notions of devotion,” Rich said, “not just in our faith, but in living our faith in American society at a time when we’re in fight or flight.” He asked them: at a time of division and segregation, “what does it mean to welcome the stranger? What does it mean to actually examine how we live and who we are as a society? What does it mean to exercise or even believe in redemption in a society where people can hate each other?...Is there room for redemption?”
The students followed Rich’s talk with meaningful and probing questions as they sought to grasp who they are and how they want to show up as people and as leaders.
Rich closed the evening with one last lingering question: “If you’re not engaging with these issues, are you filling your calling to serve?”
Join Us! Virtual Healing & Hope Tour Stop
The next stop on Rich Harwood's Healing & Hope Tour is an appearance on Florida Civic Advance's Third Thursday Webinar Series on Thursday, January 19 at 12 pm ET.
Conventional wisdom–and virtually every politician and media outlet in the country–will tell you that Americans are more polarized than ever before. Rich Harwood suggests conventional wisdom is wrong. On this webinar, Rich will join Bob Jones of Florida Civic Advance 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 free to attend, but does require advance registration. Use the link below to sign up to attend!
The Latest from Rich
A Call to Public Love - published in The Christian Citizen
Martin Luther King, Jr., was insistent: to serve our communities, we must have a “soul generated by love.” Public love is a kind of civic devotion—a devotion to our nation, our community, our fellow citizens that’s so deep that we stick with it even when we no longer like or support what it’s becoming. Now more than ever, we need to answer Dr. King’s call to love.
Twitter is hurting our democracy.
Let’s get real. Twitter has failed as a global public square. Now we’re facing a dangerous vacuum in our public life. We must push back. Now.
As House Voting Stalls, We Need to Reclaim Our Civic Square
The House Speaker vote debacle is one example of our public square being overrun by the noisiest, most divisive voices at the extreme. Here’s what we need to do to disrupt what’s happening and reclaim our public life.