Civic health is a community’s level of civic engagement, participation, and collaboration. We strengthen our civic life – and our democratic way of life – when we all get involved in making decisions, holding leaders accountable, and working together to tackle shared challenges. In other words: We all do better when we all do better.

Activating for stronger civic health begins with being heard, understood, and valued. This is a central tenet of Civic Nebraska’s Civic Health Program: We form connections, host space, and identify assets – and by doing so, we tap into new power within our communities.

In the past year, we’ve fortified Nebraska’s civic fabric with:

›› Civil discourse and media literacy. Our Civic Health Program spearheaded Crossing Divides, a statewide effort of a national project to examine root concerns on distrust of institutions and sources of information. The one-on-one interviews with Nebraskans saw new strategies emerge, as well as support for initiatives to heal conflict and make meaningful, positive change. Meanwhile, our team regularly worked with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Nebraska to host civil discourse courses for members, and held screenings of the short film PURPLE to bridge Nebraskans’ ideological gaps.

›› Lifting up neighborhoods. Collective Impact Lincoln – a partnership with Nebraska Appleseed that strengthens the capital city’s core neighborhoods – took its advocacy work to the next level, launching a housing affordability campaign to rein in source-of-income discrimination. This ongoing campaign, known as Turned Away, aims to protect working families and renters while bringing the Star City a step closer to true housing equity.

›› Rural initiatives. From Scottsbluff to Falls City, from South Sioux City to McCook, Civic Nebraska evaluated, trained, and promoted relationship-building within our state’s communities to enhance social capital and trust, and brought diverse groups together to address local, regional, and statewide challenges.

Civic health creates strong communities. That’s why we bring Nebraskans together to foster a culture of engagement, participation, and collective responsibility.