The project will incubate and advance civic innovations that tackle the systemic roots of exclusion, inequality, and distrust that have prevented our democracy from flourishing. During a time when our political culture is coarsening and our economy is suffering, the example of Franklin — the consummate bridge-builder and practical problem solver — represents a model of American leadership that must be better understood and implemented across the country.
The Franklin Project seeks to harness the best in people to improve themselves and their community; the Project will work to incubate new ideas and partnerships to support the next generation of American civic leaders and social entrepreneurs to restore the promise of the American Dream.
The Franklin Project seeks to promote Franklin’s legacy and ethos as a roadmap to success in the 21rst century. We will work towards this goal the same way Franklin would: through entrepreneurship and ingenuity, by bringing people together, by mobilizing resources, and by forging new relationships that surface new collaborations. In particular, the Franklin Project seeks to use Franklin’s Junto Club’s community building technology to create peer groups and partnerships for social entrepreneurs and civic innovators solving concrete problems at the local level.
No one in the United States history did more to create and model the best version of the American character than “Citizen Ben.” That too few citizens are aware of his true legacy represents a national failure that needs to be corrected. Franklin was a child of immigrants, a social entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a diplomat, a technologist, and a satirist who arguably had a more positive impact on his city and the United States than anyone else ever has. He exemplifies the Greek character trait of arete — the core moral foundation of Athenian citizens — which translates as excellence for the common good. Called the “first” and the “essential” American, Franklin represents tolerance, respect for difference, humility, and entrepreneurship for the common good.
He represents a strong belief in people’s ability to put themselves, their society, and the world together to do great things and make substantial improvements.
He saw a strong civil society imbued with a continually improving and educated citizenry as the critical bulwark to help America defend freedom and create inclusive prosperity for all.
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The Franklin Project’s strategy is to convene, design, and then build a new kind of organization. In 2021 we will organize a community of historians, educators, social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, business leaders
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America faces interwoven crises in civic trust. The past six months have seen BLM protests that amplified new voices for social justice; voter suppression efforts that disenfranchised many of those very voices
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