What’s important now, with Mindful Cities and more—we’re listening

In times of significant transition, like the Foundation is in now, our first step is to listen carefully—to our friends, advisors, critics, and the field in general. Which is what we’ve been doing. We’re hearing from folks about their perspective on what’s needed, and what we can do to support them.

The energy and excitement we’re hearing about the Mindful Cities Initiative is already guiding our thinking about next steps. Our pilot phase has involved a variety of support for very different projects in Flint MI, Jackson WY, and Boston MA, along with ongoing conversations in other cities. We’ve collaborated with service providers and funders to help bring the most appropriate training programs to cross-sector mindfulness and mindful leadership training for civic leaders. We’re poised to do more in this area.

Our listening campaign includes a review of all of the Foundation’s activities, including a fresh look at the various inquiries that come our way. What we’ve heard has reminded us of a central aspect of our unique role in this field: we place whatever’s needed to serve the mission ahead of any one product or service. This enables us to look across silos and into new areas, see trends that can accelerate the development in the field, and share them across sectors.

These conversations echo the ways the Foundation has always supported and brought benefit to the field:  

— providing counsel and consulting based on our broad knowledge of the field;

— making connections between folks that accelerate their progress and the benefit to society; and 

— offering guidance for early stage initiatives not aligned with a support network.

We’ll continue with our listening journey through the first quarter of 2022, and use what we’re learning to inform our specific priorities, campaigns, and engagements in the new year.