As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, we face a natural moment of reflection. Communities across the country — as we see here in Chicago and across Illinois — are living through a period of profound civic strain. People are grappling with division, declining trust in institutions, and the painful effects of racial and social inequities.

In this moment, we must look back to understand our history before we can chart a stronger path forward together. When we think about the Fourth of July and the founding of our nation, we tend to envision a group of men who started it all.

My friend and colleague Michael McAfee, CEO of the national research organization PolicyLink, offers a different and more liberating frame: We are all founders. Our democracy has always been imperfect, and it has always been in the process of renewal — by citizens and residents, at the neighborhood level, in every generation. I have come to believe this not just as a civic principle, but as something I’ve witnessed firsthand.

I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, a city that knows what happens when the infrastructure holding a community together collapses. I have spent my career in Chicago working alongside residents, organizers, cultural workers and civic institutions trying to rebuild what neglect and disinvestment take away. What I have learned is this: Before you can build anything lasting, people have to be able to see each other again. That renewal begins with healing — with residents rebuilding trust in one another.

I have witnessed the power of that renewal in Healing Illinois, a racial and community healing initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services, managed in partnership with my organization, the Field Foundation. Over the past six years, Healing Illinois has invested in nonprofit organizations that bring people together across race, culture and geography to bridge division, strengthen belonging and foster connection.

What makes Healing Illinois noteworthy is not simply the scale of its investment, but the philosophy behind it. Rather than prescribing solutions from the top down, it trusts local organizations to design efforts rooted in the realities of their communities’ challenges — and closest to the people with the wisdom, relationships and creativity to address them.

This year alone, nearly 200 organizations across 30 counties have used Healing Illinois funding to elevate unheard voices, spark conversations across differences and transform culturally significant places into sites of connection and collective memory. While the projects vary, they share a common goal: helping people see each other not as strangers or opponents, but as neighbors with a shared stake in the future.

Examples of community-led healing crisscross our state. In Carbondale, the At the Table Dinner & Dialogue Series convenes community members from different backgrounds for facilitated conversations on topics such as race and history. The Albany Park Theatre Project, which serves one of Chicago’s most diverse communities, has used performing arts and poetry to help students transform their lived experiences into powerful showcases of identity.

A statewide effort, Illinois Humanities’ Community Conversations program, is marking the nation’s milestone anniversary by inviting residents in rural, suburban and urban communities to reflect on how the ideals at the heart of the Declaration of Independence have evolved over time — with discussions emphasizing connection, inclusion and the importance of local storytelling.

The lessons are clear. When residents have power and agency, communities create more sustainable solutions. When grassroots organizations — particularly those led by historically marginalized communities — are trusted to lead, they drive meaningful change through stronger relationships, richer dialogue and a collective commitment to action.

The pathway to perfecting our democracy begins with the individual turning to a neighbor to ask simple questions: How are you doing? What can I do to help?

Healing is not a soft preliminary to the real work — it is the most fundamental civic infrastructure we have. Achieving success in this effort will depend on residents, civic leaders and other community stakeholders who are prepared — and resourced — to do the work.

We cannot afford to wait for a national movement to unite us when we have the power to renew our democracy in our communities. Healing Illinois shows us what that looks like. People are finding one another, bridging divides and becoming one Illinois. In doing so, we create new possibilities because we have the ability to see and understand each other. We lean into the idea that we are continuously refounding and renewing our country.

That is the model. That is the hope. That is the work.

Daniel O. Ash is president of the Field Foundation of Illinois, which invests in justice, art and community leadership in Chicago.

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