Engaging respectfully, in-person, and in one’s community are central to bolstering civic health; we’ve seen this approach encouraged in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ report The Habits of Heart and Mind: How to Fortify Civic Culture and witnessed it firsthand through our partnership in the Project for Civic Health.
To support this type of effort, the Foundation provided an Opportunity Grant to Civic Genius, led by Executive Director and 2024 Jackson Fellow Jillian Youngblood. The funding supported three local workshops aimed at bringing together diverse groups of people to work collaboratively and find solutions to shared problems. Jillian organized these events, held earlier this year in Everett, Bellevue, and Seattle, as her culminating project as a Jackson Leadership Fellow.
The goal of the workshops was to learn how to build common ground and make a difference on significant local issues – such as the need for housing. Attendees had an opportunity to consider an issue from multiple perspectives, try novel exercises to build their civic muscle, and practice deliberative democracy. The communities responded enthusiastically to the workshops, with over 150 people attending.
“Many of the opportunities we have for civic engagement feel one-dimensional, without space to weigh evidence and trade-offs,” Jillian commented. “It’s Your America is a fun and accessible way to try out new tools for building common ground and solving problems across differences, acknowledging and embracing the complexity of both the issues and the individuals addressing them. We’re incredibly grateful to the Jackson Foundation for supporting us in bringing this program to Washington.”
We are proud to support and engage in these successful workshops. To learn more about their programs and deliberative democracy, please visit the Civic Genius website and sign up for program updates.