The Harwood Institute: Improving civic culture and rekindling hope

The principles taught by Rich Harwood and The Harwood Institute are deeply embedded in the practices of The Patterson Foundation, thanks to a relationship that spans more than a decade. I knew this before I started consulting for TPF and felt I had a good grasp of the fundamentals after a few months of work.

But it wasn’t until The Harwood Institute Safe Haven in January that I realized how transformative these practices can be, both for individuals and communities.

The Safe Haven is a gathering of funders who have worked with or are intrigued by The Harwood Institute, from foundation directors and board members to program leads and development experts. Some of the upwards of 45 attendees had returned after attending in 2025, but many were newcomers.

We were all familiar with the essence of The Harwood approach: turn outward, get in motion, start small to go big, be intentional, and make sure that people in the community are at the center of our decisions.

Through two days of conversations facilitated by Rich Harwood, I realized that there was something I had been missing in my understanding of the process. At their heart, The Harwood Institute principles are all about regenerating hope.

We spoke a lot about Reading, Pennsylvania, where The Harwood Institute partnered with funders and local organizations to develop a “community-led, community-driven education agenda.”

The action phase started in 2022, and the results were astonishing. In just two years, the initiative had grown to include workforce development, preventing youth violence and a variety of other small but important areas.

The effect of the initiative can be measured in increased access to ESOL classes or in the number of kids enrolled in early childhood education, but its true impact is the systemic change in the civic character of the community.

Organizations started by focusing on manageable projects informed by deep conversations in the community. Most of these projects required little in the way of new resources.

As those small successes started to stack up, other organizations – and many individuals – in the community began to see that true change was not only possible, it was manageable at scales they could understand and take part in. That unleashed a chain reaction of ripples that brought more positive changes to the community.

The Harwood Institute helped Reading create a roadmap for change that was focused on education, but was really about equipping “communities, organizations, and individuals with the tools to bridge divides, create a culture of shared responsibility, and make community a common enterprise.”

“The biggest predictor of successful action is the civic culture,” Rich Harwood told us on the first day of the Safe Haven.

The principles taught by The Harwood Institute strive to remind people and organizations that they have a say in the destiny of their community. That they, personally, can enact positive change.

It rekindles hope.

I saw that hope slowly grow in the people at the Harwood Safe Haven, including myself.

TPF has partnered with The Harwood Institute on an initiative similar to Reading called DeSoto County Ahead. I realized I had seen similar hope just a week before the Safe Haven, on the faces of many of the 500-plus people who attended the DeSoto County Ahead Community Update Event.