civic circles
What do you love about living in these cold misty mountains? What makes your life special? What makes it difficult? What could be better? What do you think we can work on together?
Where do you see the Western Catskills headed in ten years? Where do you see yourself in ten years? How can we ensure the Western Catskills stay a forever home to those who have been living here, and want to live here, while increasing the resources that make a community and all the people inside of it thrive?
Are you, or someone you care about currently being affected by a housing or employment issue, or a legal problem you don’t know how to address?
Are you willing to listen with an open heart to those most affected? Do you want to collaborate in developing creative solutions?
Are you ready to celebrate the oldest members of our community, and learn from their experience?
Are you ready to leave politics out of it? Are you ready to put down your phone?
Do you want to set an example of what a small town can do?
Talking Circles aren’t formal–they have a simple structure that ensures everyone gets an opportunity to speak. They are an effective way of organizing a safe environment for taking space to share your story, and making space for others who need it. Circles are cathartic, healing, and inspiring, and very easy to join.
Civic Circles allow us to work in collaboration with our neighbors to think through local problems and devise solutions in an environment that is nonjudgemental, supportive, collaborative, and kind.
You can help build a space where we can both celebrate the beauty and bounty of the Catskills, while also talking about difficult topics that often get swept under the rug, like cost of living, housing shortages, shrinking schools with large budgets, job scarcity, and affordability issues that unfairly and disproportionately impact those who have lived in this area for a long time.
In our Civic Circles, we are celebrating the history and residents that make this town special, while thinking through the problems we face, and how to solve them.