Heather Gerken

President of the Ford Foundation and a leading constitutional law and democracy scholar. She previously served as the first woman dean of Yale Law School and has focused her public work on democracy, rule of law, voting rights, civic participation, and justice-oriented philanthropy.

A 10-Year Civic Campaign Aims to Turn Local Trust Into Action

At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Heather Gerken, Brian Hooks, Jane Wales and other civic and philanthropic leaders cast Be the People as a decade-long effort to counter civic isolation by reconnecting Americans with local problem-solving. Their argument is that Americans retain more trust, generosity and desire to contribute than national political narratives suggest, but need institutions, cultural messengers and community organizations that make that shared agency visible and usable.

The Aspen InstituteJun 30, 202616 min read