Programs

We believe that a healthy, just, and sustainable society – a regenerative society – is an outward reflection of an inner condition.  That means that a regenerative society truly begins within us.

We all know that our citizen leaders have a crucial role to play in the growing movement for a healthy, just, and sustainable society.  Yet, paradoxically, their role often takes a great toll on their own lives and wellbeing. The Center for Regenerative Society was launched to help leaders on the frontlines of cultural change in our region attend to their own inner condition. (Read more about who we serve here.) We believe that healthy leaders create healthier organizations and relationships, and therefore, healthier communities where they serve.  By helping leaders cultivate the inner regenerativity that allows them to persevere, we are also supporting those organizations, communities, and broader movements of which they are a part.

While our primary focus is on Regenerative Leadership retreats serving the leaders described above, we also offer Regenerative Community workshops and discussions and Regenerative Society conferences and events.  These programs allow us to take the themes and conversations that are at the heart of our retreats to a broader audience, and engage more citizens in this movement.  These three program formats are designed to be mutually reinforcing and may even be scheduled to link with one another. Together, they address both the inner needs and the community needs of regional leadership through a holistic approach.

Learn more about our three types of programs on the pages linked here:

• Regenerative Leadership retreats and partner programs
  These include our own Regenerative Leadership retreats and additional leadership renewal programs offered through our partnerships with two other centers.
• Regenerative Community workshops & discussions
  These deepen community-based conversations in our region about our shared lives and future.
• Regenerative Society conferences & events
  These extend public conversations regionally and nationally, exploring themes of regenerative society, community, and leadership.

In addition to their specific content, many of our programs incorporate these principles:

REGENERATIVITY: To regenerate means to form again, to restore, to recover from decline. Broadly speaking, we believe that a regenerative society is one in which self, other, and environment not only sustain but also restore, renew, and reinforce one another. To that end, we help leaders in community renewal to reconnect with what sustains them physically and spiritually. Integrating regenerative practices in public and private life – as individuals, and as local and extended communities – is imperative if we are to renew ourselves, our institutions, our communities, and our environments.

DIVERSITY: In order to renew ourselves, our institutions, our communities and our environments, we must honor the value and dignity of every human being.  Space for diverse voices and multiple perspectives is crucial for creating the trust, healing and wholeness needed in our world. The wounds of social, racial, and economic inequity are deep, and call for righting and healing with an ethic of reverence and responsibility.

SOLVING FOR PATTERN: We are keenly aware that in order to live in a regenerative society that will endure – that is healthy, just and sustainable – we must go beyond addressing our problems in isolation. The Center for Regenerative Society therefore aims to serve and support those who are primarily working “upstream,” laboring against the current and often meeting resistance.  By using systems thinking to help us solve problems at their source, these leaders are improving the health and wellbeing of everyone living downstream, both today and for generations to come.

Program Development

The Center for Regenerative Society invites and welcomes the participation, collaboration, and support of individuals, foundations, and other organizations that share its purposes and vision. If you would like to consider a potential collaboration with us, please contact us.

We currently offer programs in the Driftless Region and the ring of metropolitan areas around it in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

In addition to continuing our pilot programming for community food systems leaders in our region, other current program plans include:

• Customized Regenerative Leadership Retreats to serve: environmental and public health leaders, renewable energy leaders, philanthropists and foundation staff, land conservation leaders, and clergy and lay leaders.
• A seasonal “Circle of Trust” for nonprofit, health, law and academic leaders
• A seasonal “Powers of Leadership” retreat for sustainable business leaders

By serving retreat groups comprised of leaders from any one of these issue areas, we can help sustain effective leaders through a combination of personal and professional renewal and enhanced peer support and collaboration. We believe this inner work may be the most direct route to a regenerative culture around us.

Our long-range vision includes building a 24-bed rural retreat and educational center that will one day serve as home base for our programs and outreach efforts.

Learn about other centers and programs that inspire us on our Resources page.

See our Calendar to learn about upcoming retreats, programs and events.

Join our Mailing List to receive occasional updates, program announcements and our newsletter by email.

Support Us!  We are grateful for your support of our work. The Center for Regenerative Society, as a Tides project, is a 501(c) 3 and your donations are tax-deductible, whether you make a secure online donation, send a check in the mail or call us with your credit card.

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