Abstract: The words "urban" and "inner city" typically conjure up images of densely populated neighborhoods, crime, mean streets, isolation, and human struggle. Popular media plays on these representations. Missing from this familiar story are the everyday stories of goodness that occur in cities. This presentation draws on interviews with people who live in urban areas, including highly under-resourced urban areas, to explore how the human capacity for love, forgiveness and compassion emerges in everyday life in urban America. I use these stories to explore how we are all transformed by everyday encounters with love and human goodness.

Bio: Jacqueline S. Mattis, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of African American and Afri-Caribbean youth and adults, and on the factors that are associated with positive psychological development of urban residing African Americans and Afri-Caribbeans. In particular, she explores the factors that contribute to altruism, compassion, empathy, forgiveness and optimism among urban-residing African American people.