Aspirations to Actions Videos

The Harwood Institute, in partnership with The Patterson Foundation, released the report, DeSoto County Coming Together: Unleashing the Community’s Potential. The report is intended to help the community better understand how people across the county see and experience life and how the community can strengthen its civic culture.

(July 2024; total time: 4 minutes)

The Harwood Institute, in partnership with The Patterson Foundation, released the report, DeSoto County Coming Together: Unleashing the Community’s Potential. The report is intended to help the community better understand how people across the county see and experience life and how the community can strengthen its civic culture.

(October 2023; total time: 9 minutes)

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: A Walk to Respect is a powerful illustration of how two men confronted their differences with courage and compassion at a time when our divided nation faced annihilation, forging a friendship that helped to end the Civil War and reunite our nation.

(December 2023; total time: 5 minutes)

Go beyond what it means to use respect as a critical tool to build a vibrant society by exploring the one-act play, Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass, A Walk to Respect” and the impact it had in Washington, D.C. Learn how the friendship between Lincoln and Douglass still connects to our world today.

(April 2023; total time: 9 minutes)

Learnings from the first year of Aspirations to Actions.

(April 2017; total time: 6 minutes 16 seconds)

Ann Hardy of the Sarasota Library System shares how Harwood Institute practices can move the community forward toward identifying and realizing its aspirations.

(May 2017; total time: 1 minute 37 seconds)

Johnette Isham, CEO of Realize Bradenton, shares how they used the Harwood Institute practices to convene millennials, which led to many positive community results including a grant from the Knight Foundation.

(May 2017; total time: 4 minutes 13 seconds)

The Patterson Foundation invited the Harwood Institute to train a wide variety of individuals in the community regarding a practice to advance positive community action by inspiring people and communities to “Turn Outward,” making community — not the conference room — the reference point for change.

(May 2017; total time: 3 minutes 15 seconds)

Philip Brown shares that the Public Innovator’s practice is about how we can Turn Outward and gain public knowledge to propel decisions. Merging expert knowledge with public knowledge can powerfully inform how communities operate and make decisions. These practices engage and inform community choices to realize community aspirations.

(November 2015; total time: 4 minutes 26 seconds)

The Patterson Foundation’s Aspirations to Actions initiative is about using the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation practices — leading to positive actions. Rich Harwood of the Harwood Institute and Debra Jacobs of The Patterson Foundation open the video providing perspectives on the Harwood Institute approach and practices. Numerous individuals describe the importance and benefits of embedding Harwood practices.

(April 2017; total time: 3 minutes 20 seconds)

Ashley Coone describes the application of Harwood Institute practices to advance a community center renovation project in DeSoto County. She shares that “it is no longer about how we can be successful, but how can everyone be successful. Our minimum goal was to create hope. Through this work, people began to believe they are worthy. Leaders now realize that the community needs to be the driving force in change.”

(May 2017; total time: 4 minutes 10 seconds)