Lexington announced as first Our Common Purpose Community in the Country
Yesterday afternoon, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences announced the Our Common Purpose Communities Project, a national coalition of municipalities committed to strengthening American democracy. Our hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, was announced as the first city in the nation to join this effort and help lead this grassroots charge.
We at CivicLex are excited to help steward this essential work in Lexington alongside the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Blue Grass Community Foundation. In many ways, our status as the very first of these communities is a recognition of the hard work we’ve all done here so far.
As part of our Our Common Purpose commitment, Lexington will implement two recommendations from the 31 recommendations set forth in the Academy’s report. We will design new processes to encourage resident participation in public meetings and hearings. We will also invest in civic education opportunities for residents of all ages. We are hoping that list will grow over the next year or two!
A big thanks to Darshan Goux and everyone at the Academy for all the work they do to advance these critical recommendations and to Mayor Linda Gorton and Lisa Adkins, J.D. for advocating for Lexington in this process.
We’re excited to continue our work to build a Lexington in which ALL residents have the ability to meaningfully shape the decisions that impact their lives.