(PHOTO COURTESY: Angry Asian Man) A few weeks ago in San Francisco, “NO MORE CHINESE” graffiti appeared in the Portola district. Days later, courtesy of Photoshop, a blogger countered with “KNOW MORE CHINESE.” From “NO” to “KNOW” – that’s Civity in a nutshell. “NO” – We are all “NO” people. “NO” captures our very human …
Category Archives: Blog
Guest Blog: How Civity Served as a Catalyst for LGBT Civil Rights
By Mariah Burton Nelson Over the past 40 years, I’ve told whole hordes of people that I’m a lesbian. I now prefer to think of this as being out rather than coming out, since coming out implies a closet, and an announcement, and an expectation of surprise on the part of the listener. Being out …
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Civity Crescendo
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 …
Civity Has Launched!
The cutting-edge Civity initiative helps people work better together to solve community problems, and many prominent leaders and thinkers are taking notice. Founders Malka Kopell and Palma Strand believe “building and strengthening relationships to reach across social, political and organizational divides” is the only way “to tackle complex civic challenges.” At a recent event at …
The Civity Conversations Pilot Project
A Civity Conversation is a valuable tool for “connecting through difference.” People who care about their community contact someone in their social network who is different from them in a way that is potentially divisive. A structured one-on-one conversation of only an hour enables the growth of a genuine relationship grounded in understanding. These are …
Civity and Inequities – and Privilege
Snails and caterpillars – what do these have to do with privilege? And what do they have to do with Civity?! The short video “Sometimes You’re a Caterpillar” describes how squeezing under a fence to get to a garden party might be really easy if you’re a caterpillar but not so easy for your friend …
This Is Civity
Welcome to the first Civity newsletter! You are receiving this because you have been identified as a civic leader and/or organizational change agent who may be seeking to tackle problems in a new way. This occasional newsletter will give you a chance to check in with what’s going on with Civity and to see what …
Why “Civity”?
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 …
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, …