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Much of the country’s attention is trained on the toxic stew of division and conflict flowing from the nation’s capital. And a lot of nonprofit energy and money is going to campaigns that aim to protect democracy against an array of threats that groups see within Washington, D.C.
But in our most recent Commons in Conversation interview, we spoke with a funder and a nonprofit leader who believe that work beyond the Beltway is critical to saving democracy. They’re part of the Trust for Civic Life, a $30 million, cross-ideological philanthropy collaborative that aims to repair the social fabric of rural communities by connecting neighbors with neighbors and helping people find common ground in the shared goal of making their community a better place to live.
Creation of the trust was spearheaded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund president Stephen Heintz. He joined our conversation with Katie Loudin of the West Virginia Community Development Hub, one of the trust’s grantees.
Watch the discussion on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s YouTube channel. Below are some highlights.
Katie Loudin, director of strategic development, West Virginia Community Development Hub
“People want something different. In 2016, the Democratic primary [in West Virginia] went overwhelmingly for Bernie [Sanders]. And then President Trump won 70 percent of the vote in West Virginia last year. People want change. They don’t know how to get it from the national level. National politicians just keep extracting from this region and failing us. So we don’t know how to fix it up there.
“People come together because they want good schools. They want good places to raise their family, they want good parks, they want live entertainment, They want beautiful communities, they want healthy Main Streets. They want good jobs. And they want to work together to do that.
“It doesn’t matter if you take action in an informal or formal group, but it’s the taking action together with your neighbors that is the difference maker. And that is how we practice democracy in rural places. We just really don’t call it that. For us, it’s just community building and working together, and it’s just what we’ve always done in Appalachia.”
Stephen Heintz, president, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
“Democracy is more than a system of self-government. It is more than a legislative process. It is more than voting. Democracy is a way of life, and it is nurtured in our communities, in our everyday experiences with each other as citizens in our democracy.
Our work “is not about bringing people together for dialogue across lines of difference. ... It’s inviting people to have the opportunity to work together to actually solve problems or just improve their communities. And it is every little step, every little improvement, which can add another step and another improvement. And it’s the aggregate of these things, these activities, and the different people that they bring into the process over time. That creates a wider web of vibrant civic spirit and civic activity.
“Federal funds that were beginning to flow in ways that are really supportive of the kinds of community-level activities that Katie has been describing are now being cut off. And just at a time when we are actually working hard to try to gradually restore trust in the federal government, this action is actually further destroying trust.”
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