Empowering #CompassionateCommunities

3/29/2020 update. The current pandemic is a call to all Americans to shift priorities, and to come together, to protect the most vulnerable.

We believe that uniting Christians, around a shared vision of #Sustainable #EquityForALL, is the key to uniting our divided nation. It is our hope that the Salvation Army and the Catholic Church will lead that effort, building on the November meeting between the General Brian Peddle and Pope Francis:

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/11/pope-asks-catholics-salvation-army-to-spread-gods-love-through-service/

Both churches, representing the two largest faith based charities, are members of this ecumenical initiative, which could collectively invite 100 million Christians to participate in co-creating Meetup-enabled #CompassionateCommunities across America:

https://www.christianchurchestogether.org/

The homeless are especially vulnerable right now, and we have shifted our attention to the pressing need to marshal human and financial resources, to address the immediate need of safely sheltering them.

================================================

Our mission has been largely embraced by There Is Hope, a community development 501c3 founded by LaQuisha Heath-Waheed.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laquisha-heath-waheed-53a120164/

There Is Hope invites faith and civic leaders from mission aligned organizations to join the leadership team for Compassionate Will County, a Meetup-enabled experiment in spiritually, economically and politically empowering Beloved Community.

https://www.meetup.com/Compassionate-Will-County/

Co-organizers will be able to set up and announce meetings that will further their organization's mission, and ours. Their organization will also be eligible to receive funding from the Compassionate Realtors who support our mission. See

https://compassionatecitizens.us/connection-realty

Compassionate Will County will (virtually) engage #CompassionateCitizens in respectful dialogue across diversity, with an orientation to radical inclusion, and to maximizing the well being of the community, with special attention to the "least of these".

Meetups are a visible platform that will help unite "silos of compassion", in order to empower and catalyze the #CompassionateCommunities campaign at Charter for Compassion.

When we have proven what is possible in Will County, using Meetup as a platform to "Empower Beloved Community, a.k.a #CompassionateCommunities", via dialogue across diversity, we will scale the model across Chicagoland, and across the U.S.

[Per 3/29/2020 update above, we encourage leaders across the country to organize grassroots #CompassionateCommunity Meetups, independently of our experiment. We will work with Compassionate Realtors in all 50 states, to generate funding for participating faith and service organizations.]

LONG TERM ...

We believe that a critical mass of dialogues-across-diversity will catalyze a #WiserDemocracy, and expedite the path to Beloved Community (#Sustainable #EquityForALL).

#WiserDemocracy (empowering our collective wisdom and compassion) entails healing our deep partisan divide, such that we can replace our 2 party system (which silences most citizens) with representatives who are held accountable to ALL voices (e.g., Voice of the People's Citizen Cabinets).

We believe that educating and empowering 30 million #CompassionateCitizens is critical mass to replace our anti-democratic, money controlled, two party system with a #WiserDemocracy.

Many of those 30 million are already identified with 3 movement hubs:

Revolutionary Love Project (50+ orgs).

Catalyzing a #CaringCulture

Bridge Alliance (90+ orgs).

Empowering a #WiserDemocracy.

New Economy Coalition (210+orgs).

Co-creating a #CaringEconomy.

We envision uniting those movements, with the help of 30,000+ civic/faith leaders; 10,000+ Meetup-enable #CompassionateCommunities; and with significant funding from #CompassionateRealtors.

Our Mission

Empowering a #WiserDemocracy, to co-create a #CaringCulture and #CaringEconomy

We seek to catalyze the #CompassionateCommunities campaign at Charter for Compassion by using Meetups to engage #CompassionateCitizens in respectful dialogue across diversity, in order to maximize the well being of the worst off. While this entails reducing suffering (e.g., from Hunger, Homelessness, Hopelessness, Hate and/or Health issues), our long term vision entails SYSTEMS change.

We are effectively linking 3 macro-movements, with myriad sub-movements:

1. #CaringCulture -- Culturally and spiritually empowering citizens, by educating them about Asset Based Community Development. ABCD focuses on the unique assets and gifts of citizens, rather than deficits -- all have a role in co-creating #CompassionateCommunities.

2. #WiserDemocracy -- Politically empowering citizens, by educating them about the Deliberative Democracy movement, to hold all levels of government accountable to the collective wisdom and compassion of their constituents.

3. #CaringEconomy -- Economically empowering citizens, by educating them about the Triple Bottom Line, where consumers, workers and investors reflect their integrated values, as regards People, Planet and Profits (#Sustainable #EquityForALL).

To fund the movement to empower #CompassionateCommunities, Connection Realty will pair #CompassionateCitizens who are buying or selling a home with #CompassionateRealtors who compete for value, while generously supporting the movement.

Thank You

Whether you participate in respectful dialogue-across-diversity, volunteer your talents, or promote the movement through word of mouth or on social media, we thank you for doing your part to build a community, a country and a world that works for all.