Our Vision
Civity envisions a world in which everyone belongs.
We live in a world of haves and have-nots, insiders and outsiders, people who belong and people who are marginalized because mainstream society sees them as other. Our vision is a culture of civity—relationships of respect and empathy with people who are different. Relationships between people are the threads that create the fabric of our society.
This is a change and a challenge, but we have what we need to make it happen.
Our differences are our strengths.
Our Mission
Civity seeks to build relationships across difference to transform communities.
When we create authentic and positive person-to-person connections across difference, we transform our communities into places where everyone knows that they belong.
At Civity, we work with people in communities to spark and sustain this transformation. We support them in creating a relational infrastructure that grows from a civity culture and grounds institutional and structural change.
Who We Are
Malka Ranjana Kopell
Co-Founder / CEO
Civity describes a culture – a way we can all be with each other – that I believe is truly possible. I believe in civity because I see civity alive in so many people that I meet. And I see a wish for civity in many, many others. I know the fear of difference looms large in all of us, but I also know it can be overcome by knowing others who are different. If we all believe civity is possible, then we will all make it happen. (READ MORE)
Palma Joy Strand
Co-Founder / Research Director
Civity is the root. Most of the challenges we face today arise from contention over the “Who is the We?” question: Who matters; who should matter; who matters more and less. Civity responds emphatically and unconditionally: Everyone matters; everyone belongs. This is the root for imagining and co-creating a different way of being with each other, as well as transforming existing institutions and social structures. The We is All of Us. (READ MORE)
Gina Baleria
Communications Consultant
Connecting with each other and building relationships across our differences is integral – to our ability to co-exist with one another; to cultivating healthy communities and society; and ultimately to sustaining our existence. Civity is – at last – providing an explicit name for the process we critically need to share and hear stories, make connections, increase belonging, and learn to work together across divides. This is Civity. (READ MORE)
Lucy Lantis
Trainer / Facilitator
Civity means honoring our shared humanness while discovering the beauty behind our differences. It creates space, time, and intention to connect us in the challenges we collectively face, but with our hearts. Civity builds bridges between communities, organizations, and people’s lives by asking the simple questions we sometimes lose sight of. At its core, Civity prioritizes relationships by inviting voices from all backgrounds into meaningful, heart-centered dialogue. (READ MORE)
Humphrey Obuobi
Project Associate
To me, Civity is about social cohesion: honoring our differences while recognizing that we are all a part of the same community. It acknowledges that diversity – of race, class, interest, experience, and more – is an inherent part of life and something that makes it richer. While overcoming differences can be difficult and sometimes uncomfortable, Civity believes in each and every person’s capacity to build relationships with the others around us. It is our never-ending project to create a world where all communities can thrive in harmony, and to collaboratively build a shared future. (READ MORE)
Christina Mathews
Intern
My name is Christina. I am a Cinematography major at Sonoma State University. I am a care provider and a volunteer for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. I graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College with Associate Degrees in 3D Digital Media and Humanities.
Our History
Civity’s work is rooted in community and shaped by decades of civic practice and academic research.
Malka Kopell is a facilitator and civic engagement expert who has extensive practice designing and guiding collaborative processes in a wide range of communities. Palma Strand is a professor of law whose research and writing documents systemic injustices and how systemic change emerges from how individual people relate to each other.
➤ Both of us have worked for decades in and with communities on a wide range of issues: education, health, housing, the environment, employment, and wealth.
➤ Both of us have seen over and over again how race, country of origin, and economic class or status are at the root of wicked problems communities face.
➤ Both of us have experienced how relationships determine the health and well-being of communities and their capacity to take on challenges.
View All History
Malka and Palma co-founded Civity to name, create, and reinforce the bridging relationships that are essential community assets.
The Whitman Institute (TWI), a national foundation, was an early supporter of Civity. TWI provided essential seed funding to develop relationship-building training strategies based on a strong research foundation. TWI continues to be a thought partner in connecting Civity’s core relationship-building mission to work involving social networks and complex adaptive social systems – and to document how individual interactions create systemic social transformation.
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, along with the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University, provided early support for taking Civity’s specific relationship-building strategies to communities across the country. In seeding civity in communities, Civity’s partnership with the national nonprofit Welcoming America has been a force multiplier – extending and enhancing both our work and theirs.
As civity gained traction, communications consultant Gina Baleria and project associate Reba Hsu joined the Civity team. In addition to workshops and one-on-one coaching, the This Is Civity! podcast along with our blog and newsletter shine a spotlight on people around the country working relationally to dismantle social injustice and to strengthen their communities.
Civity Advisory Council
Greg Baldwin, President, VolunteerMatch
John Esterle, Co-Executive Director, The Whitman Institute
Kip Harkness, Deputy City Manager, City of San Jose
Liz Joyner, Executive Director & Co-Founder, The Village Square
Beth Kanter, Author, The Networked Nonprofit & Measuring the Networked Nonprofit, Blogger, & Website Host, www.bethkanter.org
Richard Lang, Chairman & CEO, Democrasoft, Inc.
Amy Lyman, Co-Founder, Great Place to Work Institute
Marc Ross Manashil, Co-Founder & Principal, 11plus Philanthropy
Martha McCoy, Executive Director, Everyday Democracy, & President, The Paul J. Aicher Foundation
Barbara Pivnicka, Honorary Consul, Slovak Republic, Executive Officer, San Francisco Consular Corps, & President and CEO, San Francisco Global Trade Council
Graham Richard, CEO, Advanced Energy Economy, & former Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN
Colin Rule, Founder and COO, Modria
Janet Shing, Senior Program Officer, Community Foundation for Monterey County
Dave Steer, Director of Advocacy, Mozilla Foundation
Lucy Valentine Wurtz, Development and Marketing Director, Village Enterprise
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We’d like to acknowledge and thank the team at helloAri for their work on this site, and our branding and logo experts Jennifer Haist of Owl Designs and Julie Robertson for their work on the Civity logo.