About

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Mission Statement

The organization’s mission is to educate individuals, communities, and local leaders in democratic and restorative principles that strengthen trust, civic engagement, and collaboration. Through workshops, trainings, community dialogues, and educational resources, the organization promotes civic responsibility, restorative practices, collective problem-solving, and constructive participation in community improvement efforts. Its work focuses on fostering healing, accountability, shared decision-making, and stronger community relationships through nonpartisan education and collaborative action.

Our Team

Amy B. Bloom

President & Director

David A. Bloom, M.D.

Board Chair

Michael Steinback

Director

Julie McDaniel-Muldoon

Secretary & Director

Kelly Carey

Treasurer & Director

David Deutsch

Board Member

Sierra Pilarski

Assistant to the President

Lucas Perron

Website Developer/Administrator

Hailey Bloom

Therapy Dog

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Our Story

When you find your people, you can create something amazing together.

Amy, Julie, and Kelly met during their time working for Oakland Schools, a regional educational service agency located in Oakland County, Michigan. Starting in 2014, they created the Citizen Dialogue program for the Center for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University to help people discuss controversial issues.

Wanting to deepen their impact, they put their expertise in restorative and democratic practices together to create a multi-faceted approach to building community and addressing shared concerns together during the 2019-20 school year through a partnership with the Center for the Study of Citizenship and called it Institute for Strengthening Communities. See: Building Civic Capacity in Schools and Communities

As COVID closed down school buildings in the spring of 2020, Amy met Michael through an online convening by Patricia Moore Harbour from the Kettering Foundation. Michael is the Executive Director of Detroit Cares Mentoring Movement and has been involved with the Kettering Foundation since the 1990s when he lived in the California bay area. Both saw diversity as a strength in problem-solving. They became fast friends and paved a way for them to work together to educate for democratic public life.

After COVID, Amy returned to a high school classroom to close out her teaching career. Dr. Kristy Spann from Bentley Community Schools hired her with the understanding that she would be able to create a class that focused on educating for democratic public life. Using Peter Levine’s book, “What Should We Do?,” she created a class that culminated in a student-led conference with the help of Julie and Kelly. See Making the Constitution Relevant and Fun

The team received a grant from the Kresge Foundation to run the conference in 2023 and invited Michael to join the effort. They obtained funding for a student-led conference for the next two years, including a scale up grant. Given the data coming from the pre- and post- event surveys as well as student interviews, they recruited David and David to help create a new non-profit organization - The Institute for Strengthening Communities - to bring this work to places throughout Michigan and beyond.