This is Civic Capacity

A new effort to help grow the leadership in our hometown

Over the past few weeks, I have heard from many people. I guess that is what happens when you lose an election by 31 votes, or 0.8%.

One of the gentlemen who talked to me is someone I greatly admired. While I said I don’t know if I wanted to go through something like this again, he encouraged me to “Keep on building the civic capacity of your community.”

The term has been sticking in my head for a while. It made me think long and hard about what I think civic capacity is.

What is Civic Capacity?

Civic capacity refers to the collective ability of individuals, communities, and institutions within a society to effectively and actively participate in civic affairs, contribute to public decision-making processes, and collaborate towards the betterment of their community or society as a whole.

It is a concept that encompasses the knowledge, skills, resources, and networks necessary for individuals and groups to engage in meaningful civic actions, such as voting, advocacy, community organizing, volunteering, and problem-solving. It involves fostering a sense of civic responsibility, promoting inclusivity, and cultivating a shared understanding of our community and the common good.

It plays a crucial role in strengthening our community.

Why a Newsletter?

Well, as you know, we are just a few weeks past a very difficult Mayoral Primary election here in Troy that was very divisive; a mere 31 votes separated myself from my opponent.

And while there are still many lessons from that election that I am sure will emerge for me personally, there are other principles that I observed from the election that are much more clear.

First and foremost, people that want to get involved need to understand what is happening in their community. Voting and participaing in campaigns is one way to do that, but the work of the community continues to move and decisions are still needing to be made. How can we make sense of those decisions of what is happening in our community if we don’t have a place to ask honest questions and get honest answers. This newsletter will strive to do that.

Second, leadership is more than city government. On the campaign trail, I saw first hand, many of the groups and institutions in our community that are working to make our hometown a better place each and every day. This is where true leadership in our community lives. Frankly, as political leadership becomes less centered on guiding principles, people will stop looking to polticial leaders as….leaders. Other institutions and people will fill that void. This is a place to celebrate and hear from those individuals.

Finally, we will talk about what principles and values we need to promote and celebrate as a community. We will talk about what we want in leadership at all levels and challenge ourselves to better leaders in the home, in the workplace and in the community.

This newsletter seems like a logical first step, but certainly not the last. As I believe this effort will grow, more people will speak into this and we will find new ways to reach a wider audinnce. Perhaps a podcast or a video series. Maybe in person events. We are using the Substack platform becuase when we our effort grows into those new areas, the technology exists to take advantage of those opportunities. There are really no limits on what we can accomplish, but we have to start somewhere.

What can you do to help?

You can add to the conversation. If you have questions that you want answered, let me know. If you have ideas to grow our civic capacity, let’s talk about them. Communities are rarely built on the shoulders of one individual, it takes a team of people to make our community a better place. A want our hometown to be a place where we can all contribute, a place where we can all benefit and a place where we can all celebrate the good things happening in our community. We can do that by growing our civic capacity.

You can also subscribe to this newsletter and also share it with your friends and family. Looking back, on the campaign, I know that much of the success we had came from the conversations you had about our community with your friends and neighbors. Share this newsletter with them. The ideas we will share here will spark ideas and conversations that will help grow our community.

Welcome to Civic Capacity.