About Us
Meet the passionate minds behind The Commons, a diverse team united by a shared vision to cultivate collaboration, goodwill, and resilience within our community. Together, we navigate the path towards a harmonious and thriving space where every individual's contribution adds to the vibrant mosaic of The Commons.
Officers
Tracy Clark, President
- Culver City, CA (former Fairfield resident)
- BFA Chapman University (Creative Writing and Film Production)
- MBA University of Southern California (Entertainment and Management Consulting)
Amy St Mikael, Secretary/Facilitator
- Fairfield, Iowa
- BA Elementary Education – BVU / Minor: Psychology and Art
Bill Hickey, Treasurer
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Fairfield, Iowa
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M.S. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Management)
Board of Directors
Tom Hickey
- Iowa City, Iowa (former Fairfield, Iowa resident)
- BA, MA, PhD Georgetown University (Philosophy)
- MFA Columbia University, School of the Arts (Film)
Tom Stanley
- Fairfield, Iowa
Friends of The Commons
Coming soon: We would like to recognize the contribution and participation of several friends of our group
Mission Statement
The Fairfield Commons – Mission / Vision / Values
The purpose of The Commons is to serve by inspiring and organizing concerted action for building community. The Commons operates through voluntary cooperation for mutual benefit as the basis for community-building.
The Commons joins others with overlapping values who have common aspirations and share a common purpose of enhancing community. The aim-in-view is community enrichment by furthering the development of a holistic, sustainable, creative, collaborative, and joyful community based on sharing.
The Commons provides resources and cooperates with others toward optimizing existing resources and obtaining needed resources for the well-being of all individuals and the high-level functioning of the whole community as an integrated self-augmenting system that functions through adaptation to seize emerging opportunities and field emerging challenges.
The Commons invites every one of like mind and heart to come together to visualize a desired future and actualize it through cooperative, collaborative action. There are no limits to visualizing and actualizing other than individual and group creativity, initiative, and the ability to cooperate, along with the desire to do so. Let’s get together and have fun performing service.
The initial project is to host an open forum for free expression using the circle format in which all have an equal voice and an equal opportunity to speak in turn. Many circles are planned, some with an open agenda and others dedicated to specific purposes. All are invited to participate in circles and in organizing circles.
The Commons is also actively developing an Internet presence, including this website and blog. A social media presence is also in the works. Those with social media experience are invited to assist in taking this forward.
Planned projects include providing networking, developing an online database for sharing information, and establishing a community center that will house an already donated research library in addition to being a meeting space and activities center. A video production studio, workshops, and a tool library are also planned. If these projects appeal to you, you are welcome to get involved in development.
Fairfield is also a knowledge center. The Commons will promote informal education for life-long learners, including those still in school. Fairfield needs an entrepreneurial incubator to grow the community economy. Also contemplated is a think tank for big-picture thinking. We look forward to drawing upon Fairfield’s many resources. Those who are retired and wish to share their knowledge and experience.
The Commons, Inc. is an Iowa charitable non-profit ((501(c)(3) status pending) providing open access to common resources for individuals and groups to share ideas and work together to build healthy, happy, resilient communities, in harmony with surrounding communities, ecosystems, and our world.
While we begin our operations at one location in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, we live in a deeply interconnected world and aspire to serve communities globally through digital outreach. Fairfield has numerous friends worldwide and we invite them to join this project too.