Summit for Common Good
Together Washington is currently facilitating 5 Common Good Summits across Washington State, such as the highly-measurable Summit in Seattle. It will feature key local leaders (Government, Faith, Business, Non-Profit, Activists) who desire to build the common good, find common ground, and work across differences, with other leaders in their respective communities. The Summit will showcase "pairings" of leaders who worked across significant divides to get good things done, and the Summit will facilitate principles on the lost art of finding common ground. The Summit is just the starting point.
Prior to the Summit, Together Washington will develop a local leadership committee made up of 12-14 key leaders of good faith and good will (Gov't, Business, Faith, Non-Profit). With the help of TW as an intermediary organization, this leadership group will help develop the local Summit for their community, and develop the "pairings." These “pairings” sought common ground in the midst of disagreement, suspicion, and fear and chose to intentionally engage in productive, honest dialog that led to positive, common-good building outcomes that benefit everyone.
The Summit’s "pairings" will demonstrate that relationships are the key to making progress and achieving positive solutions. Relationships are the mechanism for positive change; they are nonpartisan; they allow for embracing tensions, crossing boundaries, seeking understanding.
Together Washington works directly with key local leaders in WA cities to identify 4 "critical issue" areas which the city is having a difficult time uniting together to find a way forward, and a post-Summit dinner will be hosted, from Summit attendees, around each issue. Together Washington leadership will help facilitate the beginning of a "working group" whereby key stakeholders will take the lessons learned from the honest, productive dialogue from the Summit and apply that to this new working group. TW will host a 2nd Summit one year later in this local city, and will highlight what progress was made.
Because of the successful Seattle Summit, leaders from multiple cities across the state have reached out to Together Washington in the hopes of us facilitating a Summit in their city. Those conversations have led us to begin establishing Leadership Committees in Yakima, Snohomish County and Spokane. We are in the beginning stages of establishing Committees for Summits in Bellevue, and plans are drawn for the 2nd Summit in Seattle.
