Lexington named as the first Our Common Purpose community in the nation!
In 2020, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a historic institution founded in 1780 by John Adams and John Hancock, released a report called Our Common Purpose, which contained 31 recommendations to strengthen American Democracy. The report resulted from a bipartisan commission, which held listening sessions across the country, including in Lexington.
Since the report's release, dozens of organizations across the country (including CivicLex) have signed on as "Champions" to help advance one of more of these recommendations.
On Friday of last week, the Academy and Mayor Linda Gorton announced Lexington as the first Our Common Purpose community in the nation at their Reinventing Democracy Summit!
CivicLex, The Blue Grass Community Foundation, and LFUCG (along with anyone else that wants to help!) will work together to implement two of the 31 recommendations outlined in the Academy’s Our Common Purpose 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.
Lexington's status as the very first OCP community is a recognition of so much of the hard work everyone in Lexington has done to advance a healthier local civic life. We're hopeful that we can add more of the recommendations to our goals in the coming years.
We’re excited to continue our work at CivicLex to build a Lexington in which ALL residents have the ability to meaningfully shape the decisions that impact their lives.
Also at the Reinventing Democracy Summit - CivicLex's Executive Director spoke about our work here in Lexington. Read more about that here!