RESTORING COMMUNITY

In addition to improving the quality of citizen participation in government sponsored programs, HRCCE will address the fundamental and difficult problem of restoring the public life of the community. Progress toward this ambitious goal can be made through dedicated work creating or enhancing existing settings for citizens talking to other citizens about their lives, interests, and values in their communities apart from public agencies’ programmatic interests. HRCCE will work with nongovernmental organizations of many kinds, with civic leagues, nonprofit agencies, and with large and small businesses, providing mediated settings to structure and facilitate deliberative discussion of community life, governance and the community that is the Hampton Roads region.