2023: The Year of Implementation

By Michael Brown, Chief Architect at Civic Commons

Over the past few months, I’ve had a number of conversations with individuals and organizations reminding me about the importance of what Civic Commons is trying to achieve.

People talk about the need to have stronger connections with each other. To feel that they belong to something or somewhere. To get past the silos and work together toward one goal or approach. To solve the freaking problem once and for all.

When I think about Civic Commons’ theory of change, it's pretty simple but the hardest thing to achieve. Our belief is that in order to achieve the transformational we need to build or rebuild the relational and experience the transactional together.

The challenges we face in the Puget Sound region are complicated and complex. What's clear is that what we're currently doing isn't working. We are missing the civic muscle that's needed to forge through difficult and challenging situations to get to the other side. We aren't taking time to listen to each other and find ways of meeting in the middle. We aren't authentically incorporating the real voices in the community that are incredibly knowledgeable about the issues we're trying to solve.

So for me and the Civic Commons team, we're making 2023 the year of implementation. We're going to utilize everything in our toolkit to bring disparate parties together to build the relational and transactional experience to achieve the transformational.