Americans disappointed by the outcome of the 2016 presidential election can find comfort in local partnerships that help bring America together. The ‘think local’ movement that began with locally-grown produce is spreading to include many areas of metropolitan life.
In Atlanta, for example, Atlanta Magazine supported the innovative not-for-profit Shepherd Center in October with a Whiskey Festival whose proceeds supported the Center’s SHARE Military Initiative for service members with brain injuries. The festival brought citizens from various ages and backgrounds together to enjoy artisanal whiskeys, some of which were crafted in the South.
In Chicago, the Obama Presidential Center will be built in the city’s South Side and will bring economic development and tourist dollars to the transitional area. The Center, located in Jackson Park, will not open until 2021 but will create many construction-related jobs before then, Chicago Tribune reported.
In Los Angeles, the University of Southern California supports the L.A. Civics Initiative, which is “designed to engage stakeholders to create an action plan to increase civic engagement and civic literacy in Los Angeles,” its website notes. A panel last spring brought together ethnically and socio-economically diverse experts from a variety of fields. In related news, Hollywood actor Richard Dreyfuss leads The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative, which aims to “revive, elevate, and enhance the teaching of civics in public schools grades k-12 in the USA,” according to its website.
In Philadelphia, lawyers volunteer to teach public high school students about government and dispute resolution. The program, named the Advancing Civics Education (A.C.E.) Program, is sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association and has gained praise from Philadelphians of all political allegiances. Many Philly teens can now walk past Independence Hall and recognize its significance.
The New York Times columnist David Brooks recently praised local organizations for bringing Americans away, briefly, from their technology devices so that they may interact with and better understand each other. Brooks wrote, “The guy sitting next to you at the volunteer fire company may have political opinions you find abhorrent, but you still have to get stuff done with him, week after week.”
Harvard professor Robert Putnam reached a similar conclusion over a decade ago in his book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In this acclaimed work, Putnam states that:
“Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other changes in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way... or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.”
Robert Putnam’s words have never rung more true.
Despite current tensions, those of us who live in cities can find comfort in the local partnerships, civic initiatives, and diverse events in our neighborhoods. The seal of our nation still states “E-pluribus unum” – out of many, one.