Metro Atlanta Urged to Join Compassionate Cities Initiative

Atlanta and adjacent municipalities are poised to join the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities with a kick-off event at 2:00pm - 5:00pm on Sunday, February 2, 2014 at The Carter Center. Twenty-five cities around the world have already joined the initiative, among them Seattle, Houston, Louisville, Nashville and Winston-Salem, in the United States, with hundreds more, including Atlanta, actively organizing to become Compassionate Cities.  

"What we have learned from the Civil Rights movement and more recently the movement for LGBT equality, is that communities consist of conversations, to bring real change to our communities we must first change the conversation,” said Rev. Robert Thompson, an initiative organizer. “We believe that compassion is a conversation changer."

Shifts in conversations transform how we live together. Compassionate cities focus on violence prevention, raise consciousness about bullying and develop strategies to reduce homelessness and hunger. Compassionate cities consciously seek to build bridges in a polarized society. Compassionate cities are not governed by fear or hate. Compassionate cities celebrate kindness.

A little history and the wish for a better world

In November 2007, author Karen Armstrong became the recipient of the TED prize. TED (the acronym for Technology, Entertainment, Design), a private nonprofit organization best known for its superb conferences on "ideas worth spreading”, gives awards each year to people whom they think have made a difference but who, with their help, could make even more of an impact. Other winners have included former U.S. president Bill Clinton, the scientist E. O. Wilson, and the British chef Jamie Oliver. The recipient is given $100,000 but, more important, is granted a wish for a better world. Armstrong’s wish was the creation of the Charter For Compassion.

The official Compassionate Cities Atlanta launch will gather government and business leaders as well as civic, religious, neighborhood and other grassroots groups and institutions, and will invite them to engage in dialogue to determine how each can become more compassionate in policy-making and action.

Compassionate Atlanta will serve as a catalyst for compassionate action throughout the city of Atlanta by encouraging and facilitating activities, events and other initiatives that allow people from all walks of life to get involved.

If you want to take part in the conversation on Sunday, February 2, 2014, want to bring the conversation to your neighborhood, or just want to learn more about this global movement full of local possibilities, please contact Bob Thompson, rvthompson@mindspring.com or Karina Hatcher, karina.compassionateatl@gmail.com

For more information, please visit: www.compassionateatl.com, www.charterforcompassion.org