The Longest Table: How Civic Space Can Foster Inclusion and Belonging

In the United States, loneliness is threatening our health. The pandemic has only exacerbated the crisis of isolation, leaving many of us feeling more disconnected than ever. Even as we begin to share physical space again, growing divisions and political polarization pull us further apart. This threatens to weaken the social fabric of our nation, the shared vision of a more inclusive, prosperous America. How might we come together, across differences, to mend it?

In the fall of 2022, Reverend Heather Kirk-Davidoff of Albany, New York, began to dream of a way forward. A community organizer at heart, Kirk-Davidoff wanted to host a big, multicultural meal ahead of Thanksgiving — initially, as a chance to welcome the Afghan refugee families entering Albany via New York City. But then she started thinking of all the people from different countries and backgrounds who reside in Center Square, the small historic neighborhood where her church, the Westminster Presbyterian, was located. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could all sit down to a meal together and connect, share stories, and give thanks?

It may sound simple, but that was how the Westminster Commons, a project of New America’s Us@250 Fellow Reverend Heather Kirk-Davidoff, was born. The Westminster Commons is a community-driven effort that offers both the connective tissue of community and physical space to cultivate a sense of belonging in New York’s Capital region.

Civic spaces — churches, public parks, libraries, and gardens — offer a key solution to our isolation problem. Not only do they serve as platforms to exchange ideas and break down social silos, these “third places” (outside of work and home) offer a way to build networks of support for public problem solving. For the Westminster Commons, what initially started as an endeavor to gather neighbors across ages and races became a way to, on a local scale, shore up the foundations of democracy.

“Civic engagement begins with civic belonging,” said Kirk-Davidoff. “It starts in our neighborhoods. That’s where democracy lives.”

David Pynchon, an Albany resident and fellow organizer, took the spark of Kirk-Davidoff’s vision for this third place — which uses the church solely as a meeting ground, not as a driving force — and fanned it into flame. As one of the Commons’s co-founders, Pynchon brought his experience building intentional communities to the initiative. To start, the Commons sought to engage passersby in the Center Square neighborhood with social activities: a winter solstice gathering, a summer shindig with live music, and then a storytelling event (with Arabic, Dari, French, Pashto, Spanish, and Ukrainian translators) around fire pits in the parking lot in late fall. The goal of each event is to build connections, strengthen social networks, and enlist community members to help co-create future convenings.

“People care about what they create,” Kirk-Davidoff says. “That’s why it was important that we talked to our community members about what they were yearning for.”

With support from neighbors and local organizations like RISSE, the Commons plans to hold skills-exchange workshops tailored for urban living. Topics will include parallel parking on Albany’s tight downtown streets, communicating with non-native English speakers, and engaging with the unhoused community. These gatherings will offer Center Square residents a valuable resource: free public space to learn, teach others, and connect.

The success of the Commons is evident in the rising attendance at its events, overcoming challenges posed by word-of-mouth marketing. Co-founder Pynchon attributes this organic growth to the fundamental concept of “giving space back to the community, and letting grow what grows.” The recipe is simple, he says: “Bring people together. Having space to do that is essential.”

As a fellowship project of the Us@250 initiative, the Westminster Commons is part of a bigger grassroots effort to expand and reimagine the American story. Us@250 is mapping a network of individuals and institutions working to champion the spirit of a more inclusive United States, ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday.

As we move toward that milestone in 2026, the Westminster Commons offers a template that could be applied in any neighborhood to combat social isolation, foster a sense of belonging, and weave a stronger fabric of community across lines of difference in the U.S. But it requires an investment in civic infrastructure — and engaged community members — to make it happen.

When asked about her dreams for the future of the Commons, Kirk-Davidoff replied: “I hope it becomes owned by more and more people. The goal is to give it away.”

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