OUR VALUES
About Us
The Center for Shared Prosperity is born from efforts to reduce structural barriers to equitable prosperity in the Pittsburgh region while working to build healthier relationships between institutions and the communities of which they are a part. Data analytics have always played a large role in working to solve the issue of equity, though to the affected communities any change is slow, if seen at all.
With our Center Community Committee, a board of more than 30 passionate and engaged community members and community organization leaders, we look to challenge the traditional university notion of “expertise” on topics such as education, housing and health.
Collectively, we will work to build long lasting community engaged projects that correct the all too often invisible structural and economic barriers that prohibit equity and true shared prosperity in the Pittsburgh region.
Together, we’re building upon the values of COMPASSION, COLLABORATION AND CURIOSITY.
COMPASSION
Photo of protesters with their hands raised in symbolism of “hands up, don’t shoot”.
Attentional Equity
We strive to learn about, call attention to, and take action in collaboration with the C3 and residents across the greater Pittsburgh region. Our collaborative process prioritizes using practical communication skills to identify and prioritize community issues where our shared networks, skills, and resources combined with trust relationships can result in meaningful impact.
Impact Prioritization
While we recognize the myriad of structural challenges facing our region, a core value of the C3 is to find alternative ways to prioritize and focus our resources and attention on critical issues which we can meaningfully impact over the following years and decades.
Mutual Respect
We will find it easy to disagree with one another along the path and must recognize explicitly that each voice deserves equal respect, from whatever station the voice emanates. The law of equality and just attention is primal in ensuring that we maintain the respect for one another that can enable group counsel to be of authentic value.
COLLABORATION
Protesters with arms linked together to symbolize unity.
Inclusive Representation
We know that diverse representation introduces new ways of working with communities—side-by-side—ensuring diversity of thought, values, and challenges in greater Pittsburgh. Through the deliberate cycling of C3 membership, we can make informed, intentional, and accurate choices regarding input for action.
Process Transparency
We deeply value open and transparent conversation and discussion. Equally as important, we convene around open data and share the logic and rationale behind what the data tells so that informed decision-making is possible.
CURIOSITY
Campus of Carnegie Mellon University with flag in foreground
INVESTIGATIVE SPIRIT
A sense of curiosity and a never-ending need for knowledge guides our work. We don't stop with what we know. We work together to nurture what we can come to know by sharing lived experiences, evaluating reliable data sets, and reading, analyzing, and understanding ways of considering society concerning structures of power and supremacy. Only by being genuinely open to mutual and lifetime learning can we meaningfully learn about issues of inequality.
PERSEVERANCE
Creating sustained, equitable change within communities cannot be short-lived. It is a slow and patient process. The work must be something we can be devoted to perpetually; only with such a long-term goal can we institute change—together.