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Goals and Strategies

Goals and Strategies – Existing unmet needs and Heartland Democracy’s positioning and value can be summarized in the following unique combination of distinctive goals and strategies. In coming months and years, Heartland Democracy will focus on the following strategies to complement existing groups:

1. Integrate progressive thinking across all issues and principles, showing how Midwestern pragmatic progressive values relate to each other in a cogent, historically proven public philosophythat brings progressives together.Progressive thinking will be more persuasiveto Midwesternerswhen it is presented as a whole.

2. Regionalize thinking, restoring pride in the Midwest’s unique traditions of pragmatic, open, reformist, and community-based governance. Many of us live, work, commute, travel, and observe media across state lines; we have strong familial ties and friendships across the region. Progressives and the region will do better when its states tackle common challenges together.

3. Engage the public directly, marketing principles, lessons of history, facts, and progressive themes through an aggressive public engagement program using public education campaigns and small group discussions. Specifically, the Center is engaging directly with the public throughits email lists and website, grassroots networks and groups, and through many groups hosting small discussion groups of all kinds. Heartland provides commentary that brings the context of history and an overarching philosophy to issues. It is speaking to heartlanders’ emotions, feelings of identification and association, and values through stories, both personal and historical.

4. Coordinate: Reach out to progressive groups and leaders across the region tocoordinate with, complement, and serve their policy development; messaging; and research on principles, history, and trends. Existing groups have asked Heartland Democracy to convene groups from across the region to improve coordination in these areas. The website will point visitors to links to existing progressive groups across the region.