Compact for the Common Good
Grace and Associates
Inspiring Courage, Hope and Action for Just Communities
Overview
The Compact for the Common Good is a public promise by community leaders to continue to work for a future informed by social justice, compassion and stewardship and to manage resources and social structures so that all people in their communities may thrive. This commitment to collaborate for the sake of all will advance the common good and leave a valuable inheritance for succeeding generations.
The Compact for the Common Good is a national movement bringing together leaders from cities, counties, states and regions to examine the challenges facing their communities. In the context of gracious space, they chart a courageous path forward based on a clear commitment to the common good. Gathered leaders are guided through a carefully designed process that builds a common vision of a social structure that works for all, a common understanding of the impediments to achieving that vision, and a common set of principles that will form society for coming generations.
Consequences of these Compact for the Common Good Summits include
- Understanding of the unique challenges facing communities,
- Insight into the underlying systems and structures that do not serve the common good,
- Collective resolve to create social structures that work for all,
- New working partnerships that cross traditional boundaries,
- Hope and a new sense of possibility for healthy, vibrant communities.
Common Good—a Basic Foundation
The achievement of the common good is central to the best of human nature and expresses the inescapable network of mutuality that binds our ultimate well-being to that of others. The common good is established each time a person, institution or community reaches beyond individual self-interest for the sake of the greater whole. This is a foundation of civilized society. This human ability to open our hearts and minds to the needs of others makes it possible for human beings to be good neighbors and tend the web of life. The major concerns facing leaders across the country—employment, healthcare, sustainability—can be framed as opportunities to advance the common good. Within this framework, a new worldview emerges that inspires powerful and creative approaches to the questions of the day. These new approaches provide new responses charged with moral clarity and courage that have the capacity to inspire citizens in the region to join in the work of advancing the common good.
Seven Commitments Provide a Framework for the Compact
In order to pursue the common good, leaders need a more specific framework to support and guide their collaborative work on behalf of the common good. The following seven commitments inform the development of the Compact for the Common Good.
- Create gracious space
- Gather diverse people
- Promote values-based leadership
- Examine existing systems and structures
- Advance transformational and transforming change
- Foster moral courage
- Promote hope
Summary
This is the time for bold commitment to create a new and vibrant, just and verdant society where the well-being of each person is the responsibility of all people. The common good is a powerful worldview, fit for these times. It is capable of inspiring people, institutions and nations to rise to the challenge, but leaders are required who will make the case for this new view of life.
We are the ones who are called to this task. Because of the urgency of this new work, community leaders of today must act. The Compact for the Common Good will inspire and unify leaders to create a new community of activists and allies supporting one another on the quest to create a world that works for all.
