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Community and Civic Idealism
"A community is a group of people united by the common objects of their love."
St. Augustine, The City of God
The words are St. Augustine's, but the Institute for the Study of Civic Values believes that even today, "community" emerges only when
we work together to strengthen the values that we share.
Civic Idealists build community--in our neighborhoods, on the job, and among the diverse groups that coexist in America all over the country. Community is the relationship we build with one another in working to achieve America's historic ideals. Our communities, in turn, are where we test the abstract principles of liberty
and justice against our own experience in our neighborhoods, on the job, and in dealing with government.
The Institute has been working to build community in the City of Philadelphia on this basis for
more than twenty years. Our programs have involved thousands of grassroots activists in seminars and workshops that helped them establish goals and strategies for revitalizing blighted areas throughout the City.
What distinguishes our approach in this area is that we help people define not merely their interests and assets, but the broad ideals which they are prepared to work together to achieve.
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