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ideas, inspiration Danielle Goldstone ideas, inspiration Danielle Goldstone

Our great creative project: Pope Francis helps us turn the page to a post-2020 world

In October, Pope Francis published his third encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (Brothers and Sisters All). For those not versed in papal encyclicals, they're significant communications from the Pope on particular aspects of Catholic doctrine, though they may speak to a broader audience than just Catholics. This Pope’s previous encyclical, Laudato si’, is a widely-read, profound, and pioneering statement on the ravages of climate change and our need to act, which has inspired numerous new initiatives and collaborations.

But an encyclical about brotherhood honestly sounded a little mundane to me. I sat back and started skimming, expecting a prophetic but predictable exhortation to love and neighborliness. By the end, I was quite literally at the edge of my seat, reading and re-reading portions. This wasn't prophetic, it was something better: real, relevant and actionable.

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ideas, theology Danielle Goldstone ideas, theology Danielle Goldstone

The world is still beautiful

I ventured out for a walk today to break the isolation and passed by a neighbor’s house with two colorful, seemingly child-created signs in the window. They read: “The world is still beautiful,” and “We can do hard things.” I almost burst into tears.

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ideas, inspiration Danielle Goldstone ideas, inspiration Danielle Goldstone

When an activist innovates... Impact investing gets redesigned to tackle economic inequality

Social innovation requires us to 1) believe there is a constructive way to change seemingly intractable problems, 2) rethink problems and opportunities, sometimes flipping accepted wisdom on its head, and 3) apply concepts or frameworks from different disciplines to spot potential new solutions. Which is why we love this article from Forbes about what Deborah Frieze is doing in impact investing in Boston.

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inspiration, ideas, history Danielle Goldstone inspiration, ideas, history Danielle Goldstone

Cooperatives: A new moment for an old idea?

The Trump era in the US has triggered a lot of angst over the state of our democracy. There is a lot of blame going around. Everyone expresses concern about our civil discourse. New efforts to understand, restore, and strengthen democratic institutions and the social capital that undergirds them emerge daily. At the same time, there is a lot of talk about the economic inequality that may or may not, depending on who you listen to, have led to our current political reality. … Could one solution lie in the centuries old concept of cooperatives—shared ownership/management organizations for workers, producers, or consumers—renewed for the modern era?

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