GenUnity

Our mission is to bring together everyday residents across difference, to build community and drive change on local issues. At GenUnity, we envision “a community by everyone for everyone,” because when we are co-creators in building the systems that impact us, we are all better off. Our issue-focused community leadership programs bring residents together to tackle the issues critical to their communities. Each cohort convenes up to 50 residents–from ‘proximate experts’ experiencing the issue to the ‘siloed experts’ working in institutions to address them–for 10 weeks, 3 hours/week. Through facilitated sessions and small-group discussions with local partners, members go through successive modules that build up their understanding of the issue, connecting people’s lived experiences to the systems and power structures that shape them. In the process, they develop leadership skills–from active listening, to systems thinking, to action planning–and the inquiry-based conversations that members engage in help folks uncover “why” issues persist in their community and “how” they can use their power to drive change. Upon completing the program, members join our Lifetime Community of Practice (LCOP), where they continue to build deep peer-to-peer connections and collaborate on the execution of their action plans. Together, the GenUnity community is translating passion and learning into civic action–from introducing new legislation to changing workplace policies–ultimately transforming what we believe is possible with democracy.