Overview

HISTORY

Senator John Vasconcellos, who represented the heart of Silicon Valley for 38 years, retired from the California State Legislature on November 30, 2004.

John's legislative career was distinguished by his unique person-centered approach to public policy. Much of his agenda has already been adopted into law. At the same time, he has endeavored to advance the central struggle of our society and our emerging culture -- that is, to redefine our sense of ourselves and our human nature in ways that enable us all to flourish and reach our fullest potential.

Concerned that John's vision and leadership might dissipate and be lost after his departure from the Legislature, friends and colleagues of John created The Vasconcellos Project. Since its inception, The Vasconcellos Project has evolved significantly. What began as a modest effort to compile John's works into a coherent and sustaining whole has grown into an entirely new politics - The Politics of Trust.

MISSION

The mission of the Vasconcellos Project is to educate and empower all Californians (ultimately all Americans) for effective civic engagement based upon our faithful vision of our selves, our human nature and human potential.

We are working to create a whole new politics for our society. We call it The Politics of Trust, and it is based in a vision that is best articulated by pioneering psychologist Carl Rogers:

"We human beings are innately inclined toward becoming life-affirming and constructive, responsible and trustworthy - provided each of us experiences sufficient encouragement and nurturance within our life."

PROGRAMMING

We are out to show the Politics of Trust can - and indeed does - work. By doing so, we hope to educate, inspire and empower others to advance the Politics of Trust in their own lives. We want those who we come in contact with to tap into their own potential and apply it to the political and social realm - thus creating pathways to bring out the potential in others.

First we do this by providing information. We have compiled on this website numerous examples of people, organizations and past efforts that have sought a more person-centered approach to various fields. This can be seen in John Vasconcellos' four decade career to meld politics and human potential together and through other leaders and organizations that have been at the cutting-edge of their specific fields.

Second, we are creating a series of demonstrations projects. These projects use the real world as a laboratory to show just how the principles of the Politics of Trust work.