Power as Care - Reimagining Us - Season 2 - Episode 4

People want to contribute to their communities. So why do so many feel disconnected from the places where decisions get made? This episode opens in a room Scott knows all too well: thoughtful, committed leaders who understand the data, agree that something needs to change—and then explain why they can't act. But the world outside that room has changed. Rising disconnection and division are reshaping the communities we live in, raising new questions about the responsibilities of the institutions that organize everyday life: schools and libraries, faith communities and nonprofits, foundations, municipal staff, and local leaders. In this episode of Reimagining Us, Nichole and Scott ask whether this moment calls on these institutions to take on a more intentional role in nurturing the health of civic life itself. Institutions inherit routines, norms, and ways of engaging the public that can persist long after they stop serving their purpose. Changing course carries real risks, especially in divided times, when neutrality can feel like the safest path. Nichole and Scott take those concerns seriously, while examining what happens when caution becomes inaction. They turn to one of the most influential defenses of institutional neutrality, the University of Chicago's 1967 Kalven Report, and discover a crucial exception: when an institution's core mission is at stake, neutrality has its limits. For institutions that serve communities, this insight raises a profound question. If their mission depends on the community's capacity for connection, trust, and collective action, what responsibility do they bear when those foundations begin to erode? Perhaps strengthening civic life isn't a departure from their mission at all. Perhaps it is now mission-critical. Featuring Kristen Scott Kennedy, Executive Vice President of the Council on Foundations, and Daniel Stid, author of The Art of Association and Board Chair of More in Common, the episode moves beyond bridging and belonging to a deeper question of agency: Do people have meaningful opportunities to speak, contribute, deliberate, and shape the communities they call home? Drawing on research and experience from communities across the country, Nichole and Scott suggest that the challenge is less about convincing people to care and more about reimagining the spaces and processes through which they're invited to participate. Stid recounts the story of a beautiful neighborhood park fenced off for eighteen months, and the contentious public meeting that revealed just how easily civic participation can become something people dread rather than seek out. Whether it's a public meeting, community dinner, library, or grantmaking process, institutions shape how people experience civic life, and whether they feel empowered to return, contribute, and make a difference. Ultimately, the episode offers a different way to understand institutional power: power as care. Beyond delivering services, institutions can steward the spaces, relationships, and processes that allow people to connect across differences, exercise their voice, and solve problems together. The takeaway? When people want to participate but lack meaningful opportunities to do so, disconnection isn't simply a personal problem. It's a design problem...and one our institutions have the power and responsibility to help solve. Key Discussion Points Why Institutions Hold Back: Familiar routines, perceived risk, and institutional inertia can make inaction feel safer than change. When Neutrality Serves a Purpose: Neutrality can protect trust, pluralism, and institutional mission, but it should be chosen deliberately, not by default. Connection Needs Agency: Bridging relationships matter, but belonging is incomplete if people still lack meaningful voice in decisions that affect them. Participation Is Designed: The norms and processes surrounding civic engagement help determine whether people return, or walk away. The Opportunity Gap: Many Americans say they want to connect and contribute but lack clear opportunities to do so. Power as Care: Institutions can use their freedom and resources to create durable civic infrastructure that strengthens community over time. Practical Takeaways Look at the container, not just the participant. If people are disengaging, examine whether the experience of participation is welcoming, meaningful, and consequential. Create real pathways to agency. Give people opportunities not only to attend or speak, but to influence what happens next. Treat neutrality as a choice. Ask what your institution exists to protect, and what action or inaction means for that mission. Design for return. Build civic experiences people want to come back to, not ones that require extraordinary willpower to endure. Invest for the long term. Connection, trust, and civic capacity grow through sustained institutions, relationships, and spaces, not one-off programs. Use power as care.