When Malka and I first started writing about “civity,” our computers and phones auto-corrected it to “cavity.” (Good for a chuckle, but completely random!) And when we now talk about “civity” in conversation, people frequently think we’re talking about “civility.” (A distant family member, but related only to the same degree as you and your …
Category Archives: Blog
Civility in California Higher Education
As we said in an earlier post, civity is related to civility. Civity’s bridging relationships of respect, empathy, and trust, which enable collaboration and creativity to tackle common challenges, can more easily emerge when civility is present. In this post, guest bloggers Michele Siqueiros and David Wolf illuminate impediments to civility and how civility connects …
Civity and Dialogue – Thinking Out Loud
By Gina Bartlett, Senior Mediator, Consensus Building Institute A number of years ago, a colleague called to say that a client of mine wanted to start a conversation with stakeholders. The intent of the conversation was to build trust and improve relationships. That was it. I was surprised, needless to say. No outcomes, no negotiation, …
Our Founding – and Foundational – Frame
Malka and I met over a project. About 10 years ago, two colleagues and I received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to write and produce a Civic Engagement Guide. This project captured and built on our experiences as active citizens in Arlington, Virginia. Malka was our program officer. Over the course of numerous conversations, …
Welcome to Our Civity Blog!
We are launching this blog to provide a space for discussion about creating communities where people work together and collaborate to solve problems … in other words, communities with civity. In other parts of this website, we describe how The Civity Initiative builds civity by conducting projects. Our project work is a key part of …