We, the delegates of the Global Pathfinder Summit, do hereby make public our determination as follows:

1. To foster civic engagement in our communities;
2. To educate our fellow citizens about the power and promise of civic engagement to solve societal, political and cultural challenges; and
3. To personally commit to take action to foster engagement among all citizens in our home communities, states and nations.

 

As civically responsible individuals, we see ourselves as threads in the larger social fabric. We are willing to explore the many dimensions and points of view that may be held about particular issues, and to make consensus-driven decisions about how, and when, to take action. We believe the needs of the people and their communities should underpin the desires and expectations of those in power and those undertaking civic engagement work.

As a living legacy project of the Global Pathfinder Summit, we offer the following guide to the values, the meaning, the challenges and the promise of civic engagement in the hope that it can guide people everywhere in their work to solve shared problems, and can serve as a beacon for people everywhere who are working to improve democracy, diversity and equity in their communities.

 

Living the Values of Civic Engagement

• Authentic
• Civil, building traditions of citizenship
• Collaborative
• Committed
• Empathetic
• Focused on equity
• Integrity above all
• Intersectional
• Process-driven, results-oriented
• Respectful
• Servant leadership
• Trust and forgiveness

 

Defining Civic Engagement in the 21st Century

• Acting as a consensus builder who speaks for the benefit of the community and greater good, rather than seeking to serve the desires of individuals or special interests.
• Committing our work and our organization to transparency about results, and open dialogue.
• Communicating our “why” to others, inviting them to join us and giving everyone in our community who is willing a role in problem solving.
• Educating our community and building awareness about the process, place and power of civic engagement.
• Empowering communities to sustain and help themselves by recognizing the ability and voice of our fellow citizens to work for the common good.
• Identifying common challenges and working collaboratively to find solutions.
• Recognizing that the individual good is not separate from the community good, that the personal and the greater good are interconnected.
• Serving as an honest broker, an example for our fellow citizens of someone who finds peaceful, broad-based practical solutions to common challenges.

 

Overcoming the Challenges of Civic Engagement

• Building Consensus: Developing solutions where all sides of an issue or proposal know that their objectives were considered and addressed.
• Civility: Challenging the false belief that those who oppose us are not just wrong, but ill-intentioned.
• Clarity of Message: Addressing media indifference or active media suppression by crafting and disseminating key messages that reach desired audiences.
• Education: Fostering understanding of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship among challenged communities, which can counter apathy and a lack of political will.
• Focus: Identifying a defined problem that can be solved and working to find a solution that can be measured and communicated, avoiding ineffectiveness and frustration.
• Infrastructure: Investing in technology and communication tools, and repairing or developing new physical infrastructure to expand reach and effectiveness.
• Sustainability and Scalability: Growing and evolving our work to meet increasing challenges or shifting contexts.
• Transparency: Being aware of who else/what else is working to solve similar problems to avoid siloed projects, divided resources, and splintered and ineffective solutions.

 

Making Commitments to Improve the Quality Of Life and Governance in Our Communities

• We commit to create a learning environment where all citizens can engage in the process and privilege of citizenship.
• We commit to hold our communities, peers and leaders accountable to the principles and values articulated in The Virginia Resolutions.
• We commit to seek out and engage with a diversity of perspectives, views and abilities.
• We commit to share key learnings and case studies with our fellow Global Pathfinder Summit delegates, so that we can create a compendium of best practices for others around the globe to leverage in their Civic Engagement work.
• We commit to take tangible action that has measurable results – results we can report back to the people we are serving to demonstrate growth and change.
• We commit to work as honest brokers in all of our Civic Engagement work, whether through legislative activism, working for policy change, leading workshops, facilitating difficult conversations, driving community engagement, or working for change through the electoral process.
• We commit to work collaboratively and openly with all stakeholders to find real solutions to real challenges.

 
 
These Resolutions being issued by the Delegates gathered at Charlottesville in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the 400th year after the convening of the First Representative Legislative Assembly in North America at Jamestowne, in witness whereof.