mission

1. The Human Person at the Center of Society

Every human being is a unique and unrepeatable person created in the image of God with creative capacity and dignity. A person is not an object to be manipulated or socially engineered, but a subject to be respected and the protagonist of his or her own story of development.

2. Strong Families

The family is the fundamental unit of society. Vibrant, healthy families are the essential foundation for human flourishing, strong communities, and material prosperity. The family is the primary means of education, human formation, and the transmission of culture and religion. Strong families with actively involved mothers and fathers spur social mobility and economic success, and, more than any other institution, are often the determining factor in personal and social flourishing.

3. Subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity promotes decentralization and the idea that the smallest group closest to the specific need should address it. Families and churches do not receive their authority from the state but have authority and responsibility that derive from their nature and function. Furthermore, local communities should be allowed to address their own challenges. Higher authorities should involve themselves with great care and only when absolutely necessary.

“Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them.”

– Quadragesimo Anno

4. Institutions of Justice & Economic Opportunity

Good governance and economic opportunity are essential for a flourishing society. Key institutions of justice include impartial access to the courts, private property, freedom of association, free exchange, and rule of law—in other words, due process and clear, known laws and regulations that are applicable to all people irrespective of social or political standing, race, ethnicity, or religion.

Freedom to work, create businesses and to engage in commerce without undue burden is essential, especially for people in poverty. Regulation is important, but when an economy becomes highly regulated, poor people, minorities, immigrants, and smaller businesses often lack the political, economic, and social contacts needed to navigate complex systems dominated by bureaucracy and corporate interests.

5. Vibrant Civil Society

A flourishing human life and society extends beyond politics and economics. Private, voluntary associations—including churches, schools, hospitals, charities, and local non-profit organizations—are essential components of a flourishing community. There are many needs that cannot be met by the state or the market. A vibrant civil society contributes to social cohesion and creates a protective layer against the reduction of all human activity to either commerce or bureaucracy. 

Churches, synagogues, and places of worship are an essential part of civil society. In addition to their sacred purpose, they play a key role in forming communities and creating social bonds. They combat alienation, support families and children, serve the less fortunate, and inform the moral foundation for a healthy society. 

A vibrant local business community is also integral to civil society.  Businesses not only create jobs and provide goods and services, they provide a tax base and funding for the important work of charities, churches, and the arts that build social capital and address community needs not provided by government or business.

6. Health and Environment

In promoting human flourishing, we also pay special attention to bodily health and the lived environment. Human beings are “embodied persons,” composites of body and soul, and we will not thrive mentally or spiritually if the physical aspects of our existence are not cared for. These include physical health, mental health, the “built place” of our neighborhoods, and access to the natural world.

Nutritious food, exercise, sleep, and a healthy environment are all important elements in promoting physical and mental well-being, cognitive ability, and vitality for individuals. Culturally encouraged habits of health will have important ramifications for the health of society as a whole. It is a sobering fact that, across all income levels, a staggering number of Americans suffer from chronic illnesses of the mind and body.

The role of drug (illegal or prescribed) and alcohol addictions have long been linked to material and social poverty. In recent years, social media, digital technology, and pornography have also had negative personal social impact. A growing recognition of the relationship between metabolic and mental health—between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the prevalence of behavioral and mood disorders—underscores the importance of approaching these issues holistically.

7. Agency, Responsibility & Participation

The sociologist Robert Nisbet defined alienation as, “The state of mind that can find a social order remote, incomprehensible, or fraudulent; beyond real hope or desire; inviting apathy, boredom, or even hostility.” The person experiencing alienation “not only does not feel a part of the social order; he has lost interest in being a part of it.”

Alienation is one of the major challenges facing American society today—alienation from our country, from our neighbors, and, as the epidemic of mental health problems suggests, even from ourselves.
The core work of the Center for Social Flourishing is reframing thinking about the economy and society around the human person. Each person needs the opportunity to exercise his freedom and responsibilities to flourish. Each community needs engaged citizens and strong institutions to thrive.

Jane Jacobs defined an “unsuccessful neighborhood” as “a place that is overwhelmed by its defects and problems and is progressively more helpless before them.” Any work to alleviate poverty or address social challenges must be sensitive to the “social fabric” of local communities—those elements that make neighborhoods socially stronger or weaker. Tragically, efforts to help communities that diminish local agency can have terrible unintended effects of entrenching deprivation, dysfunction, and alienation.

At the Center for Social Flourishing, we promote local, participatory, and enterprise solutions to material and social poverty because community strength will only emerge from dense networks of social capital, locally-led institutions, and dynamic economies. By focusing on the dignity and creative capacity of the human person, we seek to reframe thinking about poverty and flourishing and encourage strong communities characterized by engaged individuals and families. These are the conditions for material and social prosperity.