Nakusp: A Village Models Civic Culture Renewal
- Kalen Academy
- 17 hours ago
- 4 min read
In a time when many communities are strained by division, negativity, and the constant pressure of online discourse, the Village of Nakusp chose a different path. Rather than reacting to these challenges, they stepped forward with intention—asking a simple but powerful question: what kind of community do we want to be?
In May, that question brought together 50 residents, local leaders, business owners, volunteers, and visitors for an evening focused not on infrastructure, budgets, or policy debates—but on civic culture itself.
They invited bestselling author and civic leadership expert Diane Kalen-Sukra to speak to the community gathering and each participant was equipped with a copy of her groundbreaking bestseller Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What To Do About It.
Additional copies of her new companion book Lead with Civility: A Handbook for Uncivil Times was also on hand for civic leaders who wanted to maximize their impact to turn the cultural tide.
Spearheaded by Councillor Tina Knooihuizen and supported by a coalition of local and regional partners, the “Lead with Love: Building on a Culture of Kindness” event created space for something increasingly rare: thoughtful reflection, shared responsibility, and a collective commitment to kindness, civility, and connection. In a climate where public life can often feel reactive and fragmented, this shift toward intentional culture-building proved deeply meaningful.
Drawing on the powerful lessons of her bestselling book Save Your City, Diane Kalen-Sukra invited participants to explore how civic culture shapes the health, resilience, and future of communities. She challenged the community to consider a simple but profound truth: culture is not fate—it is what we cultivate. (video)
Building on that foundation, Diane guided participants through her proven Roadmap to Renewing Civic Culture, a practical framework for transforming communities from the inside out. The roadmap identifies five key movements for strengthening civic culture:
• Choosing civility and becoming upstanders
• Assessing cultural health
• Forming civility circles
• Investing in civic education
• Embedding care for neighbour into everyday decisions and leadership
More than a presentation, the session was call to action. Participants were invited to identify one concrete step they could take in each area within their own sphere of influence. This simple but powerful exercise transformed the evening from inspiration into implementation, equipping attendees with practical ways to strengthen connection, trust, and belonging in the places they live, work, and serve.
Councillor Knooihuizen reflected:
"What resonated most with me was Diane Kalen-Sukra's message that culture is not something that simply happens to us.
It is something we create together through our daily actions, our leadership, and the way we treat one another.
The Roadmap provided the practical tools and a framework that people could immediately connect with and apply in their own lives."
The evening was marked by something equally important: storytelling. Residents shared personal experiences of kindness they had witnessed or received in Nakusp. These stories served as a reminder that the foundation for a strong civic culture already exists within communities—it simply needs to be recognized, strengthened, and sustained through deliberate action.
Councillor Aidan McLaren-Caux later described the gathering as “a really beautiful and well-attended event,” noting that it offered a necessary counterbalance to the pressures local governments increasingly face, including the strain of persistent online criticism.
Events like this, he observed, "help reconnect leaders and residents with the fundamental decency and empathy that define most communities."
What Nakusp has demonstrated is both simple and significant: civic culture is not fixed. It is shaped—every day—by leadership, by citizens, and by the choices people make in how they engage with one another. When a community creates space to reflect, adopts a shared framework, and commits to small, meaningful actions, change becomes not only possible, but practical.
This is what makes Nakusp’s “Lead with Love” evening a model worth replicating.
It did not require a large budget or complex infrastructure. It required leadership willing to start a conversation, partners willing to support it, and a community willing to show up. With support from the Nakusp & District Chamber of Commerce, Columbia Basin Trust, Nakusp and Area Community Forest, and the Nakusp and Area Development Board, the initiative reflected a shared belief that investing in culture is essential to community wellbeing.
Other municipalities facing similar challenges can take note. The lesson is not to copy Nakusp exactly, but to follow its example: bring people together, provide a clear roadmap, and invite every participant to take ownership of the culture they are helping to create.
Councillor Knooihuizen expressed her hope that "this campaign continues beyond a single evening—sparking ongoing conversations and small, consistent actions that strengthen connection, belonging, and trust. The vision is for Nakusp to be known not only for its natural beauty, but as a place defined by kindness, compassion, and love."
That vision is not out of reach for other communities. Nakusp has shown how it begins.
Get your copy of the Roadmap to Renewing Civic Culture in Save Your City. Watch the book trailer (2 min) below.
Diane Kalen-Sukra is a bestselling author, speaker, former city manager and founder of Kalen Academy. She is the author of the bestseller Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community and What to Do About It and Lead with Civility: A Handbook for Uncivil Times. Her work focuses on civic leadership, good governance, cultural renewal and restoring civility and trust in public life. This year, Diane was named a global Top Thinker in Local Government by the United Kingdom's top civic policy institute, the LGiU (Local Government Information Unit).
An advanced companion to Save Your City, the newly released Lead with Civility is a handbook for leaders who refuse to surrender public life to contempt, chaos, and fear. Hear with civic leaders have to say in the 3 min video below.
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