A new civic health organization in North Dakota

This whole week, I was supposed to be in West Fargo, North Dakota for the launch of Civic West, an new civic heath and education organization that is in many ways modeled off of CivicLex. While a bad bout of the flu scuttled my plans to be there in person, it's been so wonderful to watch what Lana Rakow, Kathi Schwan, Kirsten Henagin, and so many others are building from afar.

The thing that excites me about how they are building their organization is that they are rooting it in a broad partnership with their community's existing civic ecosystem. From the outset, they are building in partnership with local government, public schools, the library system, orgs like the AARP and the League of Women Voters, legacy media, local philanthropy, and more.

At CivicLex, it took years to get to a point where most of our city's civic ecosystem saw us as a valid part of that ecosystem. With these strong partnerships, I know they are going to go so far, so quickly.

A big thanks to Lana and team for allowing us to be part of their journey - and for their patience in enduring my sweat-drenched feverish keynote for their launch night.

We need new institutions in communities all across the country that are taking a holistic approach to strengthening our society's civic health. It can't just be news and journalism. It can't just be bridge building. It can't just be civic tech. It can't just be government reform. If we want to deeply impact the system, it has to be all of it working together. And it has to be local.

It's thrilling to see new peers coming online who understand this so deeply.

Check them out at civicwest.info