Sat 6/30
The cacophony of today’s divisive world often makes it hard to find common ground.
However, on a grassroots level in Northeast Ohio, the Cleveland Foundation has convened a community gathering known as Common Ground with the idea of creating a day of community conversation.
This year on June 30 the initiative will bring thousands of Greater Clevelanders together to share a free meal and dialogue at more than 60 host sites with the theme of “My environment was…, My environment is…and My environment will be…”
For the second consecutive year, the Cleveland Foundation is partnering with Neighborhood Connections and ioby to provide facilitation training, action clinics, fundraising workshops and match funds for project ideas that emerge from Common Ground conversations.
CoolCleveland talked to Cleveland Foundation marketing & communications officer Stephanie Hicks Thompson about Common Ground.
CoolCleveland: Tell us about Common Ground?
Stephanie Hicks Thompson: Common Ground is a region-wide day of community conversation where thousands of Greater Clevelanders come together to connect and build community. The Cleveland Foundation convenes hosts, who create unique events inspired by the year’s theme. Each conversation is anchored by food. We ask hosts to provide a meal or snack to their guests, as we believe people connect in a unique, more genuine way when breaking bread together.
CC: Why was Common Ground started three years ago?
SHT: Common Ground was inspired by work being done in many communities, most notably Chicago’s On the Table initiative. The Foundation was impressed by the power of mealtime conversations to build genuine connection between community members and wanted to create something similar, but with a uniquely Cleveland personality.
CC: What kind of initial response did Common Ground receive?
SHT: In our first year we started small. We had 43 sites and about 2,000 attendees in 2017. Common Ground was very different than other communities. Although we followed the same path of convening hosts to create conversations, for Common Ground the foundation created an infrastructure to promote and encourage the community to get out on that day and join a conversation in a new neighborhood or one hosted by an organization they didn’t know or about a topic they wanted to learn more about. The goal was to create opportunities for connection that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. While other communities asked their hosts to create conversations where they already were — like at their place of work at lunchtime or at an after-school program — we wanted to build new connections by connecting networks of community members with shared interests.
CC: How has Common Ground grown or changed over the last few years?
SHT: In 2018 — our second year — we more than doubled our number of host sites with over 100 events spread over five counties. Close to 4,000 Greater Clevelanders participated. We learned a lot with that kind of growth. This year really wanted to focus on making sure our hosts had everything they needed to create high-quality conversations. A part of that was to strengthen the full offering of conversation facilitation support and trainings we began in 2018. Last year, we trained more than 200 hosts and facilitators to have better conversations. This year we’ve been able to reach even more volunteers and facilitators by having more trainings and offering an online webinar training with our fantastic facilitation team from NeighborUp, Purpose Matters and ioby.
CC: How did you land on this year’s theme?
SHT: We were inspired by the way the Cuyahoga50 recognition was coming together and wanted to create an opportunity for a conversation after the celebration. We developed our theme — “My environment was…, My environment is…, My environment will be…” — with the anniversary celebrations in mind. We thought it would be a prime opportunity for hosts to create conversations focused on the environments that shape our lives — whether they are physical, natural, community or cultural environments — and consider how far we have come, what we have accomplished and what more needs to be done.
CC: Who should think about visiting a host site?
SHT: Everyone, really. Each Common Ground conversation is built by a passionate community member who wants to bring people together over a meal to talk and connect around a topic they really care about. It’s so inspiring to see what the community puts together for Common Ground day. I try to stress that these are not Cleveland Foundation events. Each Common Ground event has been created by fellow community members who want to make our community a stronger, healthier, more connected place. Speaking for myself, I think we can all get excited about that.
CC: Finally, what do you hope they take away?
SHT: I hope Common Ground can make people feel more connected to the people and organizations doing incredible work in this community. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our own lives and feel like nothing is changing, but Common Ground gives us the opportunity to get out and talk to people who care about the things we care about, who are working and doing incredible things in this community. I hope they meet and talk to the many hosts that are building these conversations and walk away inspired by them, as I am.
Find a event to attend here.