NCDD member Public Agenda recently reposted an article on their blog that talks about the ways in which rural America is a great incubator and educator of civil society. The original article shares five lessons that rural communities can teach on how to form and maintain a civil society, and they illustrate this point through the use of a magic carpet analogy. In order to make society fly, we need to work together to weave the carpet – but in smaller rural areas, people often have to take on several civic roles to repair the carpet along the way. You can read the article below and find the original version on PA’s site here.
What Rural America Can Teach Us About Civil Society
When one thinks about “community engagement” or “public participation” the image is often of a neighborhood meeting, or a public hearing. Implicitly, the background setting is a town or city.
I’m glad to highlight analysis by Allen Smart and Betsey Russell about What Rural America Can Teach Us about Civil Society.
Allen is leading a project at Campbell University to identify, align, and energize effective rural philanthropy around the country. Betsey is a philanthropy writer and researcher, currently developing a series of case studies about successful rural funding approaches.
Smart and Russell focus on dispelling stereotypes of rural America.
There is a popular, longstanding perception (among urban folk) that rural America is somehow separate from the rest of us…. Seen either as one large, poorly educated and impoverished backwater (a rural dystopia as in the film Deliverance), or a self-segregated, agrarian utopia…. (À la the sitcom “Green Acres”). Post 2016, another frame has emerged: that of rural America as an angry white mob that votes counter to its own interests.
Their nice metaphor is of a magic flying carpet:
We believe civil society exists when people who live in a defined geographic proximity work cooperatively—even when they strongly disagree with or dislike one another—to sustain mutually beneficial conditions. Think of civil society as a magic flying carpet that, to hold a community aloft, must contain many different fibers.
Five lessons are derived from their experience with rural community engagement and philanthropy. Two highlights:
Civil society is rooted in actions, not words.
…while some urban researchers, thinkers, and pundits may spend time developing and analyzing theories about civil society, people in rural communities are spending time imagining and incubating the “real-world” conversations, partnerships, mutual understandings, and trust necessary to create it.
Civil society can become a bastion of the privileged.
In many cases, civil society in rural communities has been controlled by a few, much to the detriment of the whole…. Those in power are quick to serve on boards, run for office, donate to local organizations, and speak their minds. While this may ensure some consistency in leadership for civil society, the downside is that this small group of people ultimately control the community….Fortunately, rural communities can change this dynamic to foster civil society.
To find out about the other three lessons, here’s their August 2018 post. which is part of a partnership between and the nonprofit group Independent Sector called the Civil Society for the 21st Century series.
This blog was originally posted on Community Engagement Learning Exchangement — a University of North Carolina School of Government blog.
You can find the original version of this article on Public Agenda’s site at www.publicagenda.org/blogs/what-rural-america-can-teach-us-about-civil-society.
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Lots of gratitude is in store for those who helped make #NCDD2018 the dynamic event that it was! An immense THANK YOU to our conference sponsors (and D&D champions) for your generous support – you truly help drive this work and this field forward, and we couldn’t do this without you!
While the conference planning team worked hard to design a great event… it’s thanks to our fantastic attendees who really brought #NCDD2018 to life! It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and also meet lots of new folks who have been doing this work (many of whom were first-timers to NCDD conferences!). It’s exciting to say that with over 450 attendees – #NCDD2018 was our largest event yet!
Dialogues on the Experience of War
The application due date is Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at 11:59pm PT. For details about the program, including a PDF of all application questions – read more below. If you have questions about this application, please contact Ben Phillips at ben@citizenuniversity.us.
Strengthening democracy in our country and communities will depend on strong, diverse leaders – leaders from all backgrounds and ages who have the skills, knowledge and courage to help people engage with each other across difference, understand and embrace racial equity, and create equitable and sustainable community change.
Over 90 participants tuned in to learn more about Konveio and how we plan to use the platform to bring the conference guidebook to life for #NCDD2018. Because NCDD conferences are highly engaging experiences, and we are always seeking new ways to bring in new tools and processes, that’s why we teamed up with Konveio to enrich the experience of conference attendees with this interactive option of the guidebook (in addition to the hardcopy one we will provide in each participants’ tote bag when you arrive).
