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Thriving Together: Belonging & Civic Muscle
"Citizenship does not end. It is not a task to be completed, and certainly not a drive to defeat other citizens. It is work: continuous, difficult, often frustrating, yet inherently dignified, personally rewarding, and publicly meaningful work—work that embodies inclusive democratic ideals for the frankly practical reason that no one group or generation can do it."

Harry Boyte & Trygve Throntveit, Institute for Public Life and Work, Thriving Together
Thriving Together: Belonging & Civic Muscle
Vital conditions shape the exposures, choices, opportunities, and adversities that we each encounter throughout our lives. This issue of the WIN Digest highlights the next vital condition in our Thriving Together series: Belonging and Civic Muscle.

People need fulfilling relationships and social supports to thrive. They need to feel part of a community, contributing to its vibrancy, and developing the power to co-create a common world. Social support from friends, family, and other networks helps us navigate challenges and reinforces healthy behaviors. People who feel connected tend to live healthier, happier lives.

At the community level, feeling like an important part of a larger community strengthens social ties, increasing trust and cooperation—making it easier to work together. This connection builds a virtuous cycle: When people feel valued and cared for within the community, they are more likely to contribute and participate in creating healthy, equitable places.

America itself is a grant--and still-evolving--experiment based on the idea that all people belong and have the power, or civic muscle, to govern our lives together. The great social movements of the past half-century profoundly changed America’s civic landscape in ways that carry deep implications for who feels they belong and how we work together to shape a common world. 

The ideas of belonging and civic muscle bring together a long history of related concepts, such as civic agency, civic capacity, deliberative democracy, public participation, public work, constructive nonviolence, and collaborative problem solving. All of these traditions strive to make democracy come alive, not only on election day but every day, as a way of life where we work across our differences in pursuit of the things we value.

The novel coronavirus and other crises in 2020 revealed, once again, many staggering contradictions of interdependence and injustice across our country. It will take an even more decisive movement to fulfill America’s promise of dignity and justice. Rather than focusing on any single issue, this movement must further expand the boundaries of who belongs and strengthen our civic muscle to build the resilience we all need to survive and thrive together through whatever crises may come our way.

Learn more about Belonging and Civic Muscle in this week’s issue.


Connect and share ideas at Thriving.US.
"No Man is an Island"

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

John Donne, "No Man is an Island"
Photo by Billy Pasco on Unsplash
THRIVING TOGETHER: CHANGING COURSE
Changing Course summaries feature working definitions, recent facts, key issues, and a short list of pivotal moves that stand out as high priorities for quick action.
Changing Course
Deep Dive
IN THE NEWS
Great conversations begin with good questions
by Living Room Conversations

No matter how different our gatherings look this year, with a little planning and creativity, we can still make them memorable and meaningful.

Need some inspiration, tips, or resources to bring more connection into your next gathering? Living Room Conversations has you covered.
Infrastructure That Does More: Investing in Public Spaces for a Resilient America

It’s time to invest in infrastructure that supports our economy, our people and our democracy: the parks, trails, libraries, community centers and public spaces that make up the nation’s long-neglected civic infrastructure.
Photo by Albert Yee
Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash
What Happens When Grandparents Help Raise Children

Grandparents have been universally important in families across time and their role continues to evolve. Learn more about intergenerational connections from Greater Good Magazine.
Social Trust and the Path Ahead…Together
This year has been flooded with growing political polarization, distrust and declining confidence in our national leadership, questions about safety and security – from ballot submissions to environmental changes. Social trust is in shambles but there’s no prosperity in the road ahead without it. Where do we begin? Listen to perspectives from David Brooks and Frederick Riley.
The Long Road Ahead: Healing the Heart of American Democracy 

Parker and Steven Olikara CEO & Founder of Millennial Action Project hold a reflective and future-focused conversation about the long road ahead of healing the heart of American democracy.
From Protest to Power: Why movements matter and how they work
Can social movements make lasting change without just fading away? A series of thought provoking presentations from young organizers and activists show us how. Hosted by the Ford Foundation and Solidaire, the talk includes talks from Leah Hunt-Hendrix, Taj James, Jackie Mahendra, Thenjiwe McHarris, Carlos Saavadra, and Tamara Shapiro.
Moving Forward Together 

View this pre-election event from Living Room Conversations. The discussion features Marianne Williamson, Grover Norquist, Pedro Silva, John Wood, Amanda Kathryn Roman and Justine Lee.
WE WIN TOGETHER RACIAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY


Members of the WE WIN Together Racial Justice Community answer “Why now?” and what being in this community means for them. Watch here.
SPRING REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
The WE WIN Racial Justice Community provides space for individuals, communities, organizations, and coalitions to learn from one another as part of our racial justice journey.

We have two learning groups, Groundbreakers and Pacesetters, with the option to join both,

Together, we reflect and gather insight for addressing racism in workplaces and throughout life.

Register today for our Spring Semester (February - June) for you or your organization to join this community in transforming from within and together.
BRIGHT SPOTS
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast

Chevon and Hiba lift up the wins driven by Black women and BIPOC communities that were seen and felt across the nation and were instrumental to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris’ win. From Georgia flipping blue because of massive voter registration efforts to Arizona organizers’ unrelenting work, our hosts discuss how it all collectively came to fruition.
Who Belongs? A podcast from the Othering & Belonging Institute

Launched in Fall 2018 as the Institute's official podcast, Who Belongs? demonstrates our commitment to public dialogue. The question of who belongs in our societies, whether local, national, or global, is one of the central drivers that underpin how people are othered, or how the conditions of belonging are created. Our podcast addresses this foundational question to open pathways to explore a range of policies, movements, scholarship, and narratives that get us closer to the goal we seek, which is to advance a society where all belong.
Photo by Pedro Vilela
This City Makes Sure No One Goes Hungry—Even During COVID

By long ago prioritizing residents’ right to healthy food, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, has been able to keep food flowing during the pandemic.

Belo Horizonte pioneered a food security system that has effectively eliminated hunger in the city. The entire program requires less than 2% of the city’s annual budget.
In ‘Gather,’ Indigenous Food Sovereignty Is on the Menu

A new film follows food activists seeking to restore salmon, buffalo, and the nourishing legacy of Native cultures.

Nephi Craig and the Fred DuBray are some of the Indigenous food advocates and producers highlighted in Gather, a film by Sanjay Rawal about current efforts for Native food sovereignty.
Photo by Renan Ozturk/Gather Film
Photo by Alex Mecl on Unsplash
Creating a shared vision of rural resilience through community-led civic structures

Drawing from on-the-ground research in three rural communities at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, we highlight key lessons learned for other rural communities and point to the policy and capacity-building supports needed to sustain, improve, and scale these locally led efforts amid the COVID-19 recession and beyond.
TOOLS TO BUILD WELL BEING
Redlining & Health Equity: How Health Systems Can Help Dismantle Structural Racism
by Elissa Lee

Redlining and its associated inequities might seem far afield from the practice of health care, but in fact they are key determinants of health for many communities and should therefore be a key concern of upstream health care.

This webinar takes a deeper dive into redlining, which continues to affect the health and well-being of individuals and communities today, and what can be done at an individual, institutional, and policy level to address these issues.
Innovative solutions to address the mental health crisis: Shifting away from police as first responders

Several recent incidents underscore the risks when we expect police to resolve incidents involving people experiencing crises associated with behavioral health or developmental disorders. Some jurisdictions, however, are taking a very different route. They are addressing both the lack of community-focused mental health resources and the dangers inherent in police encounters by creating specialized Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) or similar approaches for dealing with people experiencing mental health or substance abuse crises.
Berkeley scholars dissect Trumpism in new volume

A pair of UC Berkeley research institutes co-released a collection of essays from influential scholars that examine the political conditions that led to the rise of Donald Trump and some of the consequences of his presidency on US society and the world.
Photo by Ben Duchac on Unsplash
Blueprint for Belonging

The Othering & Belonging’s Blueprint for Belonging project is a collaborative initiative of over 20 organizations united in achieving transformative change in California through the development of a strategic narrative that underpins all our collective work across movements, issues, and policies. Such a narrative has to be centered on an outcome of inclusion and belonging for all marginalized groups. It must focus on eliminating racialized inequality, creating empathetic identities that bridge differences, and promoting an inclusive and responsive government.
Winter Places: Creating Outdoor Spaces in Colder Months
Recorded Webinar

Main Street America, featuring Project for Public Spaces' Elena Madison

(Use Passcode: MainStreet2020!)
Photo by Project for Public Spaces
JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
Project for Public Spaces


12/10 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

Join Project for Public Spaces for a discussion about why branding matters for public spaces, how to invite your community into a branding process before and after launch, and what it takes to bring a great public space brand to life—even on a budget.
Othering & Belonging Institute


12/10 at 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM ET

Join the Othering & Belonging Institute on December 10 for the third in our Toward Belonging digital dialogue series for a discussion about the possibilities and potential of an economics based on belonging.

In this webinar, panelists will explore the potential of the role of economics in creating belonging in and across national and local communities and groups.
Center for Care Innovations


12/15 at 3:00 PM ET

Join CCI on this 1-hour informational call, where we will share an overview of the Amplify Healing Connections program. Attendees will learn more about the program offerings, participation expectations, and application process. Interested program applicants are encouraged to attend, ask questions, and meet the CCI program team!
Policy and Tools Corner

  1. Othering & Belonging Institute- Policy and Practice
  2. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity- 6 Policies to Support Community Solutions
  3. CityHealth - Policies for Cities to Thrive
  4. PolicyLink - Tools for Equity Building
WIN Cooperatives