About

Civity, a national nonprofit organization founded in 2013, works with people to build the relational infrastructure necessary for communities in which everyone has what they need to thrive.

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.

“Certainly there are very real differences between us…But it is not the differences between us that are separating us. It is rather our refusal to recognize those differences…”


– Audre Lorde

Who We Are

Malka Ranjana Kopell

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)

Headshot: Palma Joy Strand

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)

Headshot: Gina Baleria

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 Hancock

Lucy Hancock

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)

Headshot: Humphrey Obuobi

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)

Kaley Gruener

Kaley Gruener

Intern

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.

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

Contact Us

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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.

Website by HelloAri.