Our Assesment

Our Assessment: What is currently happening that supports a caring culture?
What are the barriers to developing a caring culture?

These were some of the assessment questions we asked ourselves during the first gatherings back in the summer months. Below are the responses collected from those first assemblies segmented into different levels; the personal level, grassroots level, large scale level and collective level.

What is going on that supports a caring culture?
Personal
• Creative, critical and progressive people raising their voices
• Questioning the existing assumption about our current social system
• People fighting for comprehensive needs
• People becoming open to hearing the stories of others
• People showing kindness and compassion
• People realizing they can do with less
• Growing acceptance of others
• People connect with and belong to multiple communities
Grassroots
• Increased collaborations
• Succession of leadership throughout the generations
• Neighborhood mobilization. Neighborhoods are a comfortable size and make members feel they can make a difference.
• Outreach efforts of the faith based community and non profits
• There is a general interest in trying to strengthen community
• Co-housing
Large Scale
• Current presidential administration
• Technology being utilized to connect
• Current economic crisis is forcing the community to re-evaluate
• Failure of old solutions
• Sustainability movement shows larger sense of connectedness
• Anti-racism and cultural competency initiatives and discussions


What is going on that presents a barrier to developing a caring culture?
Personal
• Greed and attachment to materials
• Individualism
• Feelings of fear or lack of safety
• Existing assumptions about systems and limitations
• Dwelling on the barriers
• Lack of awareness
• Individuals feeling they can’t make an impact
• Loneliness and feelings of isolation
• Operating on scarcity model
• When people replace personal interaction with technology
• Lack of time *
• Viewing human services / social services as a business or profession
• Being comfortable with the status quot
Collective:
• Free market system
• Tax structure
• Poverty and the social structure that supports and generates poverty
• Concentration of power
• Institutionalized racism
• Disconnect between the money and the people with innovative ideas to build a caring culture
• Compartmentalization of issues and needs. Working in silos