Museums Join other Nonprofits to Renew the "Citizen Sector" - Mar 14, 2009
by The Center for the Future of Museums News Department
How can U.S. museums and other nonprofits address the nation’s social, economic, and environmental problems and improve the quality of community life? By rethinking and reinvigorating the relationship between nonprofits and the government, according to “Forward Together: Empowering America’s Citizen Sector for the Change We Need,” an unprecedented declaration issued by a coalition of nonprofit leaders that includes AAM president Ford Bell.
Citing major needs, from housing to food shortages, and the strains on the nation’s cultural institutions and social service facilities, the nonprofit leaders say that now is the time to strengthen the capacity of a citizen sector that “shelters the homeless, trains the unemployed, educates our youth, builds affordable housing, counsels families, delivers health care, gives voice to the powerless, enriches our lives with arts and culture, and serves America in a myriad other ways by uniquely mobilizing citizen initiative for the common good.”
Beyond a general call to action, the Declaration outlines a set of concrete ways that nonprofits can help with America’s economic recovery. The Declaration also looks to the future with broader steps to renew the citizen sector, such as reforming government-nonprofit partnerships, investing in citizen sector capacity, supporting new models of nonprofit finance, and building new support from businesses, philanthropists, and ordinary citizens.
Read the “Forward Together Declaration” at the website of the Johns Hopkins University Listening Post Project, view the list of signatories, add your institution to the list, and share your ideas on the Forward Together discussion board.
by The Center for the Future of Museums News Department
How can U.S. museums and other nonprofits address the nation’s social, economic, and environmental problems and improve the quality of community life? By rethinking and reinvigorating the relationship between nonprofits and the government, according to “Forward Together: Empowering America’s Citizen Sector for the Change We Need,” an unprecedented declaration issued by a coalition of nonprofit leaders that includes AAM president Ford Bell.
Citing major needs, from housing to food shortages, and the strains on the nation’s cultural institutions and social service facilities, the nonprofit leaders say that now is the time to strengthen the capacity of a citizen sector that “shelters the homeless, trains the unemployed, educates our youth, builds affordable housing, counsels families, delivers health care, gives voice to the powerless, enriches our lives with arts and culture, and serves America in a myriad other ways by uniquely mobilizing citizen initiative for the common good.”
Beyond a general call to action, the Declaration outlines a set of concrete ways that nonprofits can help with America’s economic recovery. The Declaration also looks to the future with broader steps to renew the citizen sector, such as reforming government-nonprofit partnerships, investing in citizen sector capacity, supporting new models of nonprofit finance, and building new support from businesses, philanthropists, and ordinary citizens.
Read the “Forward Together Declaration” at the website of the Johns Hopkins University Listening Post Project, view the list of signatories, add your institution to the list, and share your ideas on the Forward Together discussion board.