News & Events Event Reports

North America Regional Hub: Mid-Atlantic Regional Convening on Preventing Hate and Maintaining Social Cohesion in Times of Crisis – A Roundtable for Mayors and Cities

Publication Date:

04/06/2025

Content Type:

Event Reports

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Crisis PreparednessNorth America Regional HubPublic EngagementSocial Cohesion

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This report provides a summary of discussions during the event and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Strong Cities Network Management Unit, Strong Cities members, event sponsors or participants.

Event Details

Description: The Strong Cities Network North America Regional Hub convened mayors and other local elected leaders, city and state officials, and community-based partners from across the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. This day-long, in-person event, which was part of Strong Cities Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative, explored threats and challenges to social cohesion facing communities in the region and the role of elected local leaders, local and state governments and community-based partners in preventing and responding to them.

Where & When: 4 June 2025, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA)

Cities Represented

United States: Allentown (Pennsylvania), East Orange (New Jersey) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)

Partners Represented

Rountable Partners

• Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
• Peace Islands Institute Pennsylvania
• The Welcoming Center

Government Organisations

• Delaware County (Pennsylvania)
• New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Civil Rights Division
• New Jersey Division on Civil Rights
• Office of Pennsylvania State Representative Joe Hohenstein
• Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations
• Philadelphia Police Department

Non-Governmental Organisations

• Haverford College
• Ronald Berrie Foundation

Community-Based Organisations

• Anti-Defamation League
• Pennsylvania Municipal League
• Priority Sustainable Solutions
• Search for Common Ground | Common Ground USA

Key Takeaways

• Cities in the mid-Atlantic region are experiencing noticeable shifts in demographics, with populations growing and diversifying. These trends may be contributing to feelings of disconnectedness. Local governments should commit to strategies that will support newcomers as well as more transient populations who may be experiencing social isolation.
• Rebuilding third places in communities, whether urban or rural, is a critical piece of community cohesion. Due to erosion of public third places such as church basements, block parties or basketball games, individuals are moving online to fill the absence of belonging and inclusion. With such erosion, cities are losing organic opportunities for individuals to gather across differences.
• Local government actors build legitimacy and trust through consistently showing up and listening authentically. It is beneficial for cities, elected officials and municipalities to prioritise regular programming that involves meeting with and listening to residents about what they value and are experiencing.  
• Particularly in rural communities that lack trusted, credible local media sources, local governments are increasingly having to contend with social media platforms that have become the primary (and sometimes only) sources of news but may share misleading information about policies, programmes and events. This phenomenon splinters narratives across a city. To prevent and mitigate the impact of this phenomenon, local governments can take a number of steps, including: 1) opening lines of communication with residents before a crisis strikes, 2) preparing youth to navigate the online space, 3) playing a more active role in digital literacy initiatives and 4) partnering with local communities to use these same social media platforms to provide up-to-date and accurate information.
• Trauma-informed services, mental health support and foundational civic education and resources for elected officials are becoming increasingly important for cities to navigate the growing hate and harassment targeting local officials. City officials are experiencing civic fatigue due to rising online and offline attacks targeting them, their families and their staff. Providing those targeted and/or impacted by these threats the space to share their experiences with each other and identify ways to navigate these threats is more important than ever.

Next Steps

Participants mentioned the need for more in-depth convenings of this nature in the region. Strong Cities will convene its next Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative webinar on 9 July 2025, focusing on the impacts of vehicle rammings on social cohesion, and will continue to highlight and build upon collaborative approaches to hate prevention and social cohesion across the mid-Atlantic. Please sign up to the Strong Cities’ mailing list to receive invitations for upcoming webinars and other events.

Additional Resources

• Countering Hate Speech in Times of Crisis: Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation: Leveraging Local Youth Councils, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• Global Crises, Local Impacts: Key Findings & Recommendations to Date, Strong Cities Network, Strong Cities Network, April 2024
• Managing Migration: City-Led Approaches for Being an Inclusive, Welcoming and Socially-Cohesive City, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• Creating Safe, Cohesive and Resilient Cities through Urban Planning & Design: Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative – with links to event reports from previous webinars, Strong Cities Network

Partners

We are grateful to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Peace Islands Institute Pennsylvania and The Welcoming Center for partnering with us for this event.

Donors

We are grateful to the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation for their support in making this convening possible.

Contact Information

For more information on the Strong Cities North America Regional Hub, please contact [email protected].

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