Iowa CCI is excited to offer Civic Love again! Civic Love is a social experiment crafted by the National Public Housing Museum. We tried it last February and folks really enjoyed it.
As organizers, the work we do to reach a lot more people across the state takes "compassionate conversations" - meaning sharing and listening. People - and building relationships for social change - are at the heart of everything we do.
For that reason, Civic Love seems like a great fit for our work. We trimmed the number of questions from 36 to 25 so it's a little more time friendly. We hope you'll join us and give it a try!
Tues Feb 20 from 6:00-7:30pm
Free on Zoom
Description from the National Public Housing Museum:
What is civic love? In her manifesto for 21st century activism, Detroit-based organizer Grace Lee Boggs implored, “We urgently need to bring to our communities the limitless capacity to love, serve, and create for and with each other.” It is from this directive that the National Public Housing Museum created its conception of Civic Love.
Civic Love is one’s love for society, expressed thru a commitment to the common good. It is a belief in the idea that we’re all better off, when we are all better off. We manifest Civic Love thru all kinds of actions—volunteering, marching, speaking against systemic injustice, making reparations—and always with the love itself as the emotional heart of the work.
Everywhere we learn that love is important, and yet we are bombarded by its failure…This bleak picture in no way alters the nature of our longing. We still hope that love will prevail. We still believe in love’s promise. - bell hooks
How it works
Toolkit and questions we'll be using
- You and a partner will each ask each other a series of 25 questions.
- Take turns introducing yourself, including your name and pronouns and where you're from. Continue to take turns, asking your partner each of the 25 questions. You ask a question and your partner answers; your partner then asks you the SAME question and you answer. Repeat for all the questions.
- Don’t jump around. Answer the questions sequentially, 1 to 25. Make every attempt to listen with curiosity, minimizing distractions and interruptions.
- Resist the urge to give feedback on your partner’s response or to ask additional questions about their answers. Allow them the space to simply share and be heard.
IA