Inside the Fourth Session of Lexington's Civic Assembly
"I commit to understanding my convictions while maintaining openness to alternatives."
That was a commitment written down on a post-it by one of the members of Lexington's first ever Civic Assembly at the end of our fourth session, the first focused on deliberation.
CivicLex has run or been part of a lot of events in Lexington over the years -- 510 since 2022 alone. Probably close to 1,000 in total. But I've been routinely surprised at how different this assembly has felt.
A big part of it has been seeing how committed and engaged the assembly members are, especially for such an intensive process. They're so inspiring in their willingness to dive into this, and to show up over and over again. I've also been touched by the grace that the assembly members are showing each other. As another member said on their post-it: "We FINALLY disagreed! And it was fine!"
I'm so proud of the team that's built this assembly. Kit Anderson has done an amazing job pulling this whole thing together with flexibility and care for our participants. Tanya Torp is an incredible facilitator who is holding a big complex space with great humor. Lilly Bramley is making sure that the participant experience is smooth and frictionless. And so many others -- Haley Wartell, Megan Gulla, Stephanie Mobley, Nicole Weir, Kristy Maggard, and more!
We also had a special guest this Saturday in Emily Thielmann, who not only got to visit Kentucky for the first time, she got to participate in her first assembly, spending time in small group conversations with our members as they discussed how to hold brave space.
Saturday's assembly session was an exhausting and energizing experience. But, by the end of it, the assembly had made their first big decision as a group -- how they should vote moving forward -- and began the process of deliberating on the two topics at hand.
From a participant on their accomplishments: "Honestly, voting to vote was a surprisingly BIG accomplishment."
The first of many!