The completion of the Civity Conversations Pilot Project and the Civity Launch late last spring provided a springboard for taking Civity to the next level.
With our center of gravity still in Silicon Valley-San Francisco, Civity is now ready to train established and emerging leaders in partner organizations in the business, government, and non-profit sectors to do Civity Conversations. Civity Conversations offer individuals a concrete “do-able” action that individuals can take to create authentic “we belong in the same community” relationships.
Executive Director Malka Kopell will oversee the Civity Conversations training, which is hands-on, cohort-based, network-minded, and of value in both civic and professional spheres.
- Hands on – Leaders will learn about, practice, and then engage in actual Civity Conversations.
- Cohort-based – Small groups will be supported by an internal “Civity Coach” as well as by Civity staff.
- Network-minded – Leaders will enhance their existing networks and connect with others who are Civity-trained.
- Of value in civic and professional spheres – The ability to create connections that are positive and authentic is of immense value in all parts of people’s lives.
Civity continues in a “learning journey” mode. We will continue to hone the training; identifying next-order individual and initial network effects will guide us as Civity expands. Research Director Palma Strand, who is a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, will be overseeing this part of the work.
We are currently in the midst of identifying partner organizations for Civity training. We are also reaching out to the private and philanthropic sectors to invite their support for Civity’s startup phase.
Looking ahead, we have started hearing from point people in regions around the country who are on the “Civity wavelength” and who are interested in bringing Civity Conversations to their communities. We are eagerly exploring how to scale Civity up even further… stay tuned!