What does it take to build a strong community?

Ok, ok. I know. I missed posting yesterday. In my defense, I was doing manual labor in my yard in preparation for my wedding next month and I am old, so I was too pooped to do anything else.

Manual labor continues today, so I am posting a blog I did last week for cnmsocal.org. Please forgive me.

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Earlier today, the California Community Foundation (CCF) hosted a gathering to celebrate their 100th anniversary. Packed into the Huffington Center at St. Sophia Cathedral were some of the top minds in Los Angeles.

Throughout the event—the breakfast, the moving performances, informative presentations, and thoughtful interviews, a theme emerged: Community. Specifically, how people could start thinking beyond their neighborhood and start thinking of their community as LA County.

Now, there are some obvious barriers to that, including distance and transportation. But another barrier is in the understanding of what constitutes a strong community.

Last year, UCLA released their annual State of the Sector report and focused on individual giving. They found that the institutions that receive the most donations are universities and churches. I have argued that the reason for that is because these institutions do not represent a piece of your life, but your whole life.

The experience of most university students is not simply one of learning in a classroom, but also living their lives amongst their fellow students.

The experience of most devout religious people is not a once a week appointment for a ceremony, but a spiritual home where you can share your greatest hopes and fears with a group of people that share your values and will support you on your life’s journey.

Those experiences— where professional and personal lives intertwine—is where trust is built and where allegiances are formed. It’s where lifelong friendships begin.

From that we can gather that there is something to the idea that building a strong community involves spending quality time together, having shared values, and combining work and play.

My home and the majority of my personal life are on the west side. My work and most of my professional life are downtown. My two worlds transition back and forth as I traverse the I-10 freeway every day, and rarely overlap. I am certainly not alone in that. So what does that mean for Los Angeles County? How to you get Westsiders to feel connected to DTLA? How do you get someone from Long Beach to feel connected to Pacoima?

I think the answer lies in discovering the shared goals of Angelenos. According to the Vision Poll conducted by CCF, USC, and the LA Times, 67% said they would get involved in the community if it meant they could make a difference in things like conserving water or recycling more. If we are united in a goal, we might start thinking of ourselves as a more cohesive unit.

There are obviously still some very big hurdles. Traffic and parking are big turnoffs even to those who would like to get more involved, let alone those that aren’t as keen on community engagement, so spending quality time together is a challenge.

Sharing values in a city diverse as ours will always be an issue. And combining work and play is a cultural shift problem as well as a distance one, as we are rapidly becoming an “all work and no play makes Jack eligible to keep his job” society.

But if we as a county could create goals that were agreed on, as well as provide clear and easy-to-access information on how to reach those goals, I think it would be a big step in right direction.

At the beginning of her speech to the crowd, CCF President, Antonia Hernandez, announced that the foundation is pledging to give $1 billion dollars over the next 10 years to address some of the critical issues facing our region.

“Just giving money isn’t enough. It has to be strategic, we need to measure results, we have to talk with and listen to the community, we have to be bold, take risks, and challenge the status quo.” She said, then added, “I am looking for partners.”

I would urge the great minds that were at the Huffington Center today to partner with the foundation and with each other. If the nonprofit and philanthropic sector can’t collaborate and work as a unit, how can we expect the rest of LA to follow suit? Let’s use CCF’s 100th as a chance to renew our passion for the community of LA County, to try harder to reach across lines, and to make an effort to think beyond our own organizations and neighborhoods.

I would urge the government officials that attended to continue their work improving public transportation and reducing congestion, as well as create policies that make it easier to live, move, and work in the area.

And I would urge us all to start a conversation about shared goals for the region.