CivicCon at Hood

By James Martinez//

Americans need to move away from divisive politics and toward more local civic engagement, a speaker told the Hood community on Nov. 11.

The speaker, Rich Harwood, president and founder of Harwood Institute, discussed his book, “The New Civic Path,” and his campaign to restore civility.

“A crisis of belief grips our nation,” Harwood said. “Americans have lost trust in our leaders, institutions, systems even one another. So many of us want to find a more hopeful path forward, but don’t know how. More divisive politics isn’t the answer.”

To Harwood, the solution is fostering community in local government.

The way to do this comes from four key things, he said:

First, people need to decide to look outwards at the community.

Second, they need to start focusing on what really matters.

Third, they need to take action.

Finally, they need to make the change visible.

“Americans are too comfortable with talking about issues and complaints,” Harwood said.

He went on to explain how strictly political issues are causing people to become quick to associate with party ideals rather than what we really need as a community.

He noted that talk alone does not accomplish anything. Many of Hardwood’s beliefs are grounded in history and examples of how activism brought social change.

Harwood said change is happening, but many communities are unaware of it. Making these changes known and visible is essential to fostering community, he said.

Harwood shared examples of the success that his two-year campaign has found in local governments across many states.

Harwood’s presentation was the latest of a series of events in CivicCon that will run throughout the year.

“The point of CivicCon is to get folks from all demographic backgrounds involved in local decision-making about their communities,” said Paige Eager, the vice president of Academic Affairs.

The CivicCon series began in September with a presentation on sustainability and will continue in the spring semester.

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