Our Guiding Principles
 

​Urban Rural Action is a national grassroots movement that brings together Americans across divides to tackle our country’s most urgent challenges. Here are the five key principles we advance in our work:

1. Embracing curiosity: We believe that the strength of our communities depends on the actions we take, and those actions result from our mindset. We therefore embrace a mindset that we always have something to learn, others may see things we’re missing, and collaboration can produce mutual gains. That mindset leads to constructive dialogue and effective problem-solving. We reject a mindset that we’re always right and those who disagree are always wrong, and that another group’s gain is our loss. ​

​2. Centering communities: We believe that lasting change in our country cannot be achieved by top-down solutions or policy interventions alone, and that local challenges require local solutions by local actors. UR Action brings tools and frameworks, and helps community members to design and implement their own interventions.

---

​

3. Taking action. We believe that constructive dialogue must lead towards action that meaningfully addresses social, economic, and environmental challenges. Achieving shared goals builds relationships, which facilitates further problem-solving, leading to a powerful cycle of stronger relationships and more effective problem-solving.

4. Finding strength in difference. We believe that working across ideological, racial, generational, and geographic differences strengthens our country. Our ethos is best captured by this quote from Frederick Douglass: “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

5. Expanding participation in our democracy. We believe that our democracy, albeit imperfect, is a strength of America; a stronger, more inclusive democracy can make our country greater. We believe everyone belongs, and we want all Americans to participate in our democracy through our programs.

6. Having fun. We believe that play and fun help us get creative, build and sustain relationships across differences, and recognize our common humanity​.