13th December 2021Events
In the second in a series of webinars considering ‘Civic Virtue and the Common Good’, the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues will continue these discussions which seek to capitalise on a renewed, cross-party focus on how to repair and sustain flourishing communities and how this renewed focus might form the basis of a new political consensus.
At the heart of any vision of the common good lies a set of civic virtues such as community mindedness, active citizenship and service to others. This session, Civic Virtue, Service and the Voluntary Spirit, will seek to outline how to create a flourishing civic environment requires the development of a voluntary spirit amongst citizens, within civil society, and throughout communities.
Chaired by Senior Research Fellow, Lord James O’Shaughnessy, this session will welcome Labour Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow, Rushanara Ali, Danny Kruger, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Devizes, and Helen Goulden, Chief Executive Officer of The Young Foundation.
In last twenty-five years multiple policies to encourage and harness this voluntary spirit in service of the common good have been implemented – in education, in communities and local government, in the Home Office, in housing and in other areas of society. These policies have all sought to recognise and develop the civic virtues of voluntary service, community-mindedness and active citizenship. Yet, questions remain about how successful attempts to recognise and reward this voluntary spirit have been, and indeed about ways that the hopeful and positive forms of voluntary spirit that form a core part of life in contemporary Britain can be harnessed and widened.
Through short presentations and then together in conversation, the panel will consider a number of important questions which remain outstanding:
- What is the role of the state in facilitating and enabling a voluntary spirit?
- How can we capitalise on the upsurge in social action and community-mindedness witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic?
- How can specific contextual features of local communities be recognised and supported in any endeavours to build the voluntary spirit?
- What are the obstacles or barriers to civic engagement, including that of young people? How might these challenges be overcome?
To register for the session, visit the Jubilee Centre Eventbrite page here.
