Reflections from the Studio on Community: Meaningful Change Depends on Our Willingness to Move Forward Together

The Harwood Studio on Community was established in 2017 to create the time and space within the Institute necessary to explore new areas and innovate around complex civic challenges, and to be a space where individuals can spend time at the Institute to develop their own ideas and skills. 

The following reflections come from Erika Coon, a graduate student at the Ohio State University who joined the Institute as a Studio Associate for fall 2025.

Growing up in Northern Virginia, I was surrounded by a broad and deeply engaged community of support. My world was shaped by friends, family, classmates, and neighbors who were not only aware of injustice but willing to stand up against it. Whether it was gathering in the nation’s capital to advocate for change or engaging in conversations about the systems shaping our lives, civic engagement felt natural and ever-present. Because of this, I believed that kind of diverse, motivated community was unique to my hometown, something that I might never experience to this caliber once leaving for college. 

That belief began to shift during my time at The Harwood Institute. Working in the Studio, particularly through social media, I witnessed people from all over the country connect with our message and actively seek out ways to get involved. Seeing individuals engage with our content, share their stories, and express a desire to strengthen their own communities was deeply inspiring. It reminded me that the drive for change is not limited to politically saturated spaces, but exists everywhere, often quietly, waiting to be invited forward.

Through community research initiatives, virtual events, book clubs, and other programming, I saw firsthand how Harwood’s work resonated with thousands of people. Individuals from places I had never heard of showed up consistently, not for attention or recognition, but because they genuinely cared about the future of their communities. Witnessing this level of participation gave me renewed hope and challenged my assumptions about where civic engagement lives and who participates in it.

My time at Harwood sparked a new sense of optimism. A realization that people across the nation are yearning for something better, not just those in my hometown, which exists at the center of American political life. Building community is not fast or easy; it requires time, trust, and sustained effort. Most importantly, it requires collective action. No one person can lead this work alone. Meaningful change depends on our willingness to rely on one another, to listen, and to move forward together. Harwood reaffirmed for me that progress is possible when we choose collaboration over isolation and community over individualism.