Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's performance at President Biden's inauguration yesterday inspired the world.  Her words also helped inspire the work of Our Common Purpose.  

At a convening in February 2020, members of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship met with Americans from across the country who had participated in one of the project’s listening sessions. The experiences they shared were vital to the work of the Commission, and voices from those conversations are featured throughout the Our Common Purpose report.   

Amanda Gorman opened the February meeting with her powerful poem "Believer's Hymn for the Republic.” She shared with the audience the challenge of writing a poem that celebrated the nation’s founders without erasing their humanity and flaws.  Recognizing that participants in the day’s convening would struggle with similar challenges, she urged them:  

“To not look at American democracy as something that’s broken, but to look at it as something that is unfinished…We all here know that there is work to be done…and that is not necessarily something that is pessimistic, that is something that is actually audacious in the hope that it represents.”   

Amanda's approach to the difficult task of improving American democracy is a lesson for us all. You can find a video of her presentation here. Once again, we are grateful for your support of Our Common Purpose, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with you on the unfinished work of American democracy.