Date October 30, 2025

Unpacking “civic health” and strategies for rebuilding community trust

By Carl Dimitri

Former Congressman David Cicilline ’83 joined Brown University leaders to discuss civic engagement and population health, detailing the challenges of mistrust and disinformation, while highlighting the strengths of local journalism, health equity zones and national service.

On October 29, as part of the second installment of the Resilience in Public Health Series, Francesca Boudoin, academic dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, and John Friedman, dean of the Watson School of International and Public Affairs, hosted a conversation on “Civic Health” with David Cicilline ’83, current president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation and a senior fellow in international and public affairs at the Watson School.

A Brown alumnus, Cicilline previously served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as the congressman representing Rhode Island’s First Congressional District, two terms as mayor of the City of Providence and four terms in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Also on the panel were Jai-Me Potter Rutledge, assistant dean of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and Sarah Bouchard, director of Community Engagement at the School of Public Health.

Together, the speakers unpacked the concept of civic health—or how engagement in civic life influences population health outcomes—and explored how wellness is both a personal matter and a shared social responsibility.

They also addressed the importance of integrating civic well-being into the public health framework, particularly in today’s polarized political climate, and discussed practical strategies for inspiring civic engagement, building community trust and shaping resilient, inclusive health systems.

The panel described the array of problems undermining civic health: shrinking economic opportunities and mobility, the corrosive effects of social media and digital technology, rampant disinformation and ever-growing mistrust in institutions.

As president of the RI Foundation, Cicilline is leading its Five Year Action Plan, which seeks to address these issues—along with housing, healthcare, climate change and public education—in collaboration with community foundations across the country.

The RI Foundation chose to use the term “civic health” over “democracy,” Cicilline explained, because polling showed that the latter was now viewed by half of America as a partisan term. “Let that sink in,” he said.

“We decided that if we were going to do this everywhere in the country and lead this national effort, we had to use language that would welcome people into the conversation.”

“ The RI Foundation chose to use the term ‘civic health’ over ‘democracy,’ Cicilline explained, because polling showed that the latter was now viewed by half of America as a partisan term. ”

The panel advocated an “asset-based approach” to solving at least some of these issues, which focuses on a community’s strengths rather than its shortcomings. Points of social connection, in this view, can be found in athletic clubs and religious organizations, which have the potential to bring together people of differing views.

Cicilline discussed the need to support national service efforts so that young people in particular have an opportunity to work a year in another part of the country. He singled out the American Exchange Project, where a high school student from Rhode Island spends a week in, say, Des Moines, Iowa, and vice versa, thus building understanding and trust between communities.

Cicilline also pointed to efforts to rebuild local journalism, which has recently found funding from a group of donors led by The Knight and The MacArthur Foundations. Together they have committed $500M to initiate, grow and support local news outlets that have been decimated during the internet era.

Another bright spot in the “Civic Health” conversation was discussion of Health Equity Zones, where residents and local organizations join together to address social, economic and environmental issues. To illustrate, Cicilline pointed to the Central Falls Health Equity Zone in which residents decided how to spend a million dollars and in so doing made decisions about investments in education, such as the renovation of a school cafeteria.

Similarly, the Newport Health Equity Zone activated a transportation advocacy plan that helped to place residents on planning boards, affirmative action commissions and a bike and pedestrian advisory commission. In this way, Cicilline said, the people of Newport used their “HEZ as a way to not only make decisions that will improve their well-being, but also to deeply engage in their community and improve their own civic health.”

Ultimately, “health equity zones are places where there’s this very explicit overlap between public health and civic health,” Cicilline said, “and really a demonstration that you can improve both sides.”

The Resilience in Public Health Series is sponsored by the School of Public Health’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and The Watson School of International and Public Affairs.

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