Civitas is a place for civil discussion among a diverse and dynamic group of people who want to make a positive difference in the community.
Why Civitas and why now?
Every community faces critical challenges - contending with vulnerable homeless populations, providing quality public education, addressing growing traffic/congestion, or incorporating ongoing new development.
Rarely, however, are these challenges solved by all-or-nothing approaches, but instead are addressed through creative solutions or a thoughtful blending of approaches.
In a time when we need to invest more time in having thoughtful conservations to develop creative solutions that we can all support, too many run to the safety of what they know and limit their engagement with people who think differently. There is too much at stake if we fall into this trap, so a group of passionate and diverse community leaders came together to create a unique space where civically-minded people can develop more complete perspectives and spin-out meaningful new collaborative efforts.
Civitas: noun, plural civ-i-ta-tes
The body of citizens who constitute a state, especially a city-state, commonwealth, or the like.
Citizenship, especially as imparting shared responsibility, a common purpose, and sense of community.
In the history of Rome, the Latin term civitas - according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic - was the social body of the cives, or citizens, united by law.
It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities on the one hand and the rights of citizenship on the other. The agreement has a life of its own, creating a res publica or "public entity" into which individuals are born or accepted and from which they die or are ejected. The civitas is not just the collective body of all the citizens, it is the contract binding them all together, because of which each is a civis.