Here are some suggestions for generating short-term and long-term change:
Short-term changes:
- Increased awareness and understanding of the issue in your target audience
- More people able to clearly articulate the problem and vision for change
- Coalition members feel more motivated and committed to the work
- Successful outreach events where the message resonated with attendees
- Increased social media following and engagement with your posts
- Policymakers express willingness to learn more about potential solutions
Long-term changes:
- Changes in attitudes, beliefs, social norms around the issue over time
- Broader base of supporters from more diverse groups and communities
- Policy or system changes that address root causes of the problem
-
Iowa Student Personnel Association Pre-Conference Workshop
Developing Leaders to Foster Inclusion & Social Change
Presenter: Dr. Heidi Levine, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Cornell College
Monday, October 21, 2013, 10:00 am to Noon, St. Ambrose University
The role of communities leaders and leadership is growing in importance in rural places. The Blandin Foundation’s longstanding leadership program relies on not just building leadership skills but also building the networks and relationships needed as communities face new challenges.
Base Building for Direct Action Organizing GroupsKim McGill
The Youth Justice Coalition / FREE L.A. has uploaded this presentation to assist social justice organizations in strengthening their base building efforts. Please let us know what improvements and additions to make. And we have A LOT to learn, so please share your wisdom on this and other direct action organizing topics at action@youth4justice.org. People power!!!!
Social Group Work in Community setting by Anshu. Jaiswal (RGNIYD)NILAMBAR MANDAL
Presentation on "social Group Work in Community setting" by the student of Department of Social Work, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth development (An Institute of National Importance by the act of Parliament)
Iowa Student Personnel Association Pre-Conference Workshop
Developing Leaders to Foster Inclusion & Social Change
Presenter: Dr. Heidi Levine, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Cornell College
Monday, October 21, 2013, 10:00 am to Noon, St. Ambrose University
The role of communities leaders and leadership is growing in importance in rural places. The Blandin Foundation’s longstanding leadership program relies on not just building leadership skills but also building the networks and relationships needed as communities face new challenges.
Base Building for Direct Action Organizing GroupsKim McGill
The Youth Justice Coalition / FREE L.A. has uploaded this presentation to assist social justice organizations in strengthening their base building efforts. Please let us know what improvements and additions to make. And we have A LOT to learn, so please share your wisdom on this and other direct action organizing topics at action@youth4justice.org. People power!!!!
Social Group Work in Community setting by Anshu. Jaiswal (RGNIYD)NILAMBAR MANDAL
Presentation on "social Group Work in Community setting" by the student of Department of Social Work, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth development (An Institute of National Importance by the act of Parliament)
Bringing Community Organizing Into Online Social Media Campaigns - Askanase, ...Debra Askanase
Principles of community organizing, including traditional campaign mapping, inform and lay the groundwork for successful social media campaigns and strategy. This presentation covers the basic principles of community organizing that are necessary for a successful online campaign, how to map out online campaigns, and offers examples of three nonprofit online campaigns that used these principles.
This presentation was prepared collaboratively by Debra Askanase @askdebra, Ivan Boothe @rootwork, and Amy Sample Ward @amyrsward for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference, and will be presented at a session on April 9, 2010.
An assessment of the involvement of different associations and the social impact they have based on membership. The "big five" types of associations include civic and community-based, political, religious congregations and faith based associations, professional associations, and workers and labor unions.
Community Organizing Introduction By Jaquie AlgeeTom Tresser
Jaquie Algee is the Vice President of SEIU Healthcare. She gave this presentation to Tom Tresser's "Civics 101" class for i c stars on March 11, 2013. tom@civiclab.us. http://www.civiclab.us
Newcastle on inclusion for children with disabilitiesCormac Russell
How do you build a bridge between children and young people who are labelled by their disabilities into the centre of community life? How do you build hospitable communities where such bridge building is common place? These are the questions we address in this presentation through the lens of Asset Based Community Development.
CCW conference: Community organizing and building power (1)Clean Water
Charly Carter
It can be hard to impact policy change at the local, state and federal level, but it’s even harder to do it without working with the right partners. Join this session to explore concepts in building power through partnership and grassroots organizing.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY CHANGEWHY SHOULD YOU .docxtwilacrt6k5
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE?
WHY SHOULD YOU ENGAGE IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
WHAT ARE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
HOW DO YOU BRING ABOUT CHANGE THROUGH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
Throughout the Community Tool Box, our authors talk about different ways to improve our communities, and how to do all of the tasks, small and large, that make an organization work and work well. But broadly speaking -- how does all of this work? What are the overarching strategies that work to improve our communities? Why do some grassroots organizations fail, while others do great things and flourish?
Throughout the Tool Box, we offer many suggestions of what we feel are "right" ways to approach community work, such as
Our Model of Practice: Building Capacity for Community and System Change
. Our belief in the equality of all people, for instance, or in the importance of individuals' efforts to improve their communities -- are not topics of specific sections, but make up the foundation of what we do. These beliefs and ideas are at the base of all of our work at the Community Tool Box.
One such idea is that of community organization -- the idea that people can and should come together to talk about what matters to them, and then work together to successfully change their communities. As this idea is a common thread woven throughout our work, we'd like to use this chapter to make it explicit, and try to explore it more fully.
So, then, on the following few screens (and in the next few sections) we'll do just that. In the remainder of this section, we'll give a general overview of community organization -- what it is and how you do it. We'll also give brief explanations of different ways of looking at community organization. Although all of the strategies we will discuss have quite a bit in common, it may be helpful to separate out and compare different approaches in order for us to look more clearly at our work.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE?
Community organizing is the process by which people come together to identify common problems or goals, mobilize resources, and, in other ways, develop and implement strategies for reaching the objectives they want to accomplish.
As you can see, it's a big idea -- it's really a way of looking at all of the work that we do. Because of that, it encompasses many of the other ideas discussed in the Tool Box. For example, effective community organization will generally include:
Gaining an understanding of the community.
The first key step is learning what the community is like, and what is important to its residents.
Generating and using power
. There are many types of power; depending on the nature of your organization and your long term goals, your organization may have (or need) different types. Different kinds of power include:
Political or legislative power
-- for example, you could work to pass laws to make it more difficult for young people to get hold of alcohol.
More than Simply "Doing Good" A Definition of 'Changemaker'Stephen Maud
Thanks to Ashoka Learning Lab for this encouraging article that discovers how ideally, we all should become 'Changemakers'.
86% of consumers believe companies should take a stand for social issues.
If your company are pursuing social purpose, do get in touch, if you want credit for your social purpose efforts, it's essential that your message stands out...
http://www.cloud9m.co.uk/contact/
Bringing Community Organizing Into Online Social Media Campaigns - Askanase, ...Debra Askanase
Principles of community organizing, including traditional campaign mapping, inform and lay the groundwork for successful social media campaigns and strategy. This presentation covers the basic principles of community organizing that are necessary for a successful online campaign, how to map out online campaigns, and offers examples of three nonprofit online campaigns that used these principles.
This presentation was prepared collaboratively by Debra Askanase @askdebra, Ivan Boothe @rootwork, and Amy Sample Ward @amyrsward for the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference, and will be presented at a session on April 9, 2010.
An assessment of the involvement of different associations and the social impact they have based on membership. The "big five" types of associations include civic and community-based, political, religious congregations and faith based associations, professional associations, and workers and labor unions.
Community Organizing Introduction By Jaquie AlgeeTom Tresser
Jaquie Algee is the Vice President of SEIU Healthcare. She gave this presentation to Tom Tresser's "Civics 101" class for i c stars on March 11, 2013. tom@civiclab.us. http://www.civiclab.us
Newcastle on inclusion for children with disabilitiesCormac Russell
How do you build a bridge between children and young people who are labelled by their disabilities into the centre of community life? How do you build hospitable communities where such bridge building is common place? These are the questions we address in this presentation through the lens of Asset Based Community Development.
CCW conference: Community organizing and building power (1)Clean Water
Charly Carter
It can be hard to impact policy change at the local, state and federal level, but it’s even harder to do it without working with the right partners. Join this session to explore concepts in building power through partnership and grassroots organizing.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY CHANGEWHY SHOULD YOU .docxtwilacrt6k5
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE?
WHY SHOULD YOU ENGAGE IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
WHAT ARE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
HOW DO YOU BRING ABOUT CHANGE THROUGH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION?
Throughout the Community Tool Box, our authors talk about different ways to improve our communities, and how to do all of the tasks, small and large, that make an organization work and work well. But broadly speaking -- how does all of this work? What are the overarching strategies that work to improve our communities? Why do some grassroots organizations fail, while others do great things and flourish?
Throughout the Tool Box, we offer many suggestions of what we feel are "right" ways to approach community work, such as
Our Model of Practice: Building Capacity for Community and System Change
. Our belief in the equality of all people, for instance, or in the importance of individuals' efforts to improve their communities -- are not topics of specific sections, but make up the foundation of what we do. These beliefs and ideas are at the base of all of our work at the Community Tool Box.
One such idea is that of community organization -- the idea that people can and should come together to talk about what matters to them, and then work together to successfully change their communities. As this idea is a common thread woven throughout our work, we'd like to use this chapter to make it explicit, and try to explore it more fully.
So, then, on the following few screens (and in the next few sections) we'll do just that. In the remainder of this section, we'll give a general overview of community organization -- what it is and how you do it. We'll also give brief explanations of different ways of looking at community organization. Although all of the strategies we will discuss have quite a bit in common, it may be helpful to separate out and compare different approaches in order for us to look more clearly at our work.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE?
Community organizing is the process by which people come together to identify common problems or goals, mobilize resources, and, in other ways, develop and implement strategies for reaching the objectives they want to accomplish.
As you can see, it's a big idea -- it's really a way of looking at all of the work that we do. Because of that, it encompasses many of the other ideas discussed in the Tool Box. For example, effective community organization will generally include:
Gaining an understanding of the community.
The first key step is learning what the community is like, and what is important to its residents.
Generating and using power
. There are many types of power; depending on the nature of your organization and your long term goals, your organization may have (or need) different types. Different kinds of power include:
Political or legislative power
-- for example, you could work to pass laws to make it more difficult for young people to get hold of alcohol.
More than Simply "Doing Good" A Definition of 'Changemaker'Stephen Maud
Thanks to Ashoka Learning Lab for this encouraging article that discovers how ideally, we all should become 'Changemakers'.
86% of consumers believe companies should take a stand for social issues.
If your company are pursuing social purpose, do get in touch, if you want credit for your social purpose efforts, it's essential that your message stands out...
http://www.cloud9m.co.uk/contact/
Mini-Lecture for week 5Course Outline--Week 5BECOMING .docxannandleola
Mini-Lecture for week 5
Course Outline--Week 5
BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE AND CARING VOLUNTEER--Continued from week 4
Mini-Lecture: Welcome to Week 5.
It is useful to use a social systems framework for understanding our community. When we do this we view a community as a social system composed of a number of subsystems (for example, neighborhoods or businesses or agencies existing in the same physical space and that are all linked together by some common goals). We can also look at a community as a subsystem of the state in which it is located. In addition, human beings are individual (not social) systems in their own right, but are also subsystems of their communities. We know from our experience that a community can further the growth and development of an individual or family, or it can limit or even destroy that subsystem’s progress. Consequently, it is important to understand that our community has had a rather profound effect on our personal development. So this week we also look at what influences have shaped our lives and helped us develop into the person we are today. A reflective look at ourselves is an assignment of significant importance.
It is understandable that people want to change some things about or in their community and can be referred to as "change agents". That term is a little impersonal for me. It's a pretty stiff and stoic term for what we may feel strongly on an emotional level. I want something more warm and fuzzy—like “the make a difference” person so I would like to "change" the term to "make a difference person".
In reality our volunteer work is an attempt to change something. Either making someone's life, or some piece of their life, or the life experience in our community better--to MAKE A DIFFERENCE. So volunteers (and others) become change agents. We may also endeavor to change entire community views on a particular topic or concern or we may want to change a condition or situation that exists in our community. So we begin the process. In some situations we can do it by direct contact--person to person. In some other situations (like broad community change) we have to have helpers and so we form coalitions with others who wish to see the same changes occur so that we can impact conditions that require multi-level or higher level change.
As “make a difference persons” we continually shift back and forth between attention to individuals, subsystems, and to the larger system (community or state, etc) of which they are a part. This ability to look at multi-levels sequentially and/or simultaneously is a hallmark of community change efforts. This becomes a pretty sophisticated process but one that we should not back away from because we may not know what to do right now to change things. We learn as we move forward and that is a very satisfying experience. Broad based community change takes a lot of effort and many people to eventually join in the movement. Often it moves slowly and s ...
Social Movements for Good - How Companies and Causes Create Viral ChangeDerrick Feldmann
Wondering how to move people from belonging to truly believing in your social movement? This overview provides a brief overview of the Social Movements for Good book.
What are the Mission, Vision and Values statements of a nonprofit organization? How do we create them for our organization? Based on Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations by Allison & Kaye.
THE KINSHIP PROJECT INTENTIONS
Connecting through Kinship: We look to conduct primary research that aims to assess and quantify the influence of kinship and kinship groups on the achievement of sustainable change. Our corporate agenda aims to define the conditions and practices that can accelerate and sustain institutional change intentions. Our social agenda examines the correlation between kinship presence and the demonstrated advancement of social change as defined by indicators in selected areas of focus.
Igniting Social Movement: Kinship research is to be broadly shared to accelerate and sustain any intention for change. We believe that the conditions and practices that contribute to kinship can be leveraged far beyond the walls of any institution or defined group. We believe that kinship is a stimulant for social movement. When we learn to openly create meaningful and authentic relationships, we have the potential to significantly improve living conditions throughout the world pyramid.
Inspiring Global Kinship: We have a picture of success where kinship helps us move from segmented, regional interests to shared, global connections. Through an awareness of kinship as an accelerant to meaningful, sustainable change, we aspire to transform the way people live and work. And, as a result, inspire a million small unforeseen efforts and partnerships for social cures.
Perception, the way we interpret and make sense of the world around us, plays a crucial role in shaping our actions and decisions. It has a profound impact on our journey towards success and progress. In this article, we will explore how perception can influence one’s path to success and how society’s perception of good and bad deeds can shape the outcomes. Through examples and insights, we’ll shed light on the intricate relationship between perception and progress.
** Disclaimer:
All of the pictures and pieces of information on this site are the property of the respective owners. I do not hold any copyright in regards to these pictures and information. These pictures have been collected from different public sources including various websites, considered to be in the public domain. If anyone has any objection to display of any picture, image or information, it may be brought to my notice by sending an email (contact me) & the disputed media will be removed immediately, after verification of the claim.
February 2011 Vol. 32 no. 1 www.learningforward.org JsD 57ChereCheek752
February 2011 | Vol. 32 no. 1 www.learningforward.org | JsD 57
g
eoffrey Canada said in a recent
presentation, “Education is the
only business I know of where
you can change anything you want, as
long as you change nothing” (2010).
After so much debate and so many
policies, why is our education system
still failing so many of our children?
What are we either missing or
pretending not to know?
Reforms only work when people
who implement them are on board,
engaged, and valued. What gets talked
about from the boardroom to the
classroom, how it gets talked about, and
who is invited to join the conversation
determines what will happen or won’t.
Are the driving conversations
dividing or connecting stakeholders?
Are they catalysts for change and
accountability, or are they further
entrenching people in fear and blame?
Is mandating accountability preventing
us from hearing and seeing the
competing truths that exist about our
students, classrooms, and schools?
Amid the spinning wheels of
education reform, an essential
component seems to be missing:
conversations that speak directly to the
heart of the issue, engage people’s
curiosity to uncover the truth, galvanize
people, and create collective
responsibility.
Leadership that attempts to create
accountability with top-down
mandates, rather than by engaging and
connecting people, leads to or
exacerbates a culture of blame and
excuses. Mandating accountability,
while it may sound effective, simply
doesn’t work. Why? Because most often
in practice this approach is fueled by
the same thing victimhood is fueled by
— blame. And as long as that’s the case,
there’s no time, energy, or vision left to
create real solutions.
A NeW VIeW OF AccOuNTABILITY
The long-term benefits of
accountability have enormous
implications for the quality of our lives
and of our education system. There is a
direct correlation between any
organization’s health and the degree of
accountability displayed by its
employees, top to bottom.
Accountability is an attitude, a
personal, private, and nonnegotiable
choice about how to live one’s life. It’s a
desire to take responsibility for results,
and for that reason, it cannot be
mandated. It requires a personal bias
toward solutions, toward action.
Rather than hold people
accountable, hold them
“able.” Rather than equate
the word accountability
with culpability, begin with
yourself and model the kind
of accountability that is
empowering. Accountability
has to come from within.
Model it and show people how
accountability benefits them. When it’s
clear how accountability benefits
someone, accountability becomes an
internal drive.
While we don’t always have a choice
about the situation in which we find
ourselves, we do have a choice about
how we view or judge it. Consider
shifting your perspective from ‘Since
this is a tough situation, I can’t do it,
I’m not willing to muster the courage,
will, skill, energy, focus, needed to do
or say what needs doing,’ to taking the
stance that ...
Who is a Social Entrepreneur and their traits. pptx
Social
1. What is social change?
Social change builds community-based responses that address underlying social problems on an
individual, institutional, community, national and/or international level. Social change can change
attitudes, behaviors, laws, policies and institutions to better reflect values of inclusion, fairness,
diversity and opportunity. Social change involves a collective action of individuals who are closest to
the social problems to develop solutions that address social issues. 1
Example:
Casa de Esperanza is a Latina based organization in Saint Paul that focuses on mobilizing Latinas to
end domestic violence and abuse. The social change it works on in changing systems of domestic
violence and abuse in the Latino community. The systems in place can be: notions of manhood,
gender, language, and family.
What is social justice?
Social justice is the distribution of benefits and how they are allocated in society. It is thought of as a
society that affords individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of society.
Social justice is often equated with the concepts of human rights and equality. Because the word
justice can be vague, ambiguous, and subjective, individuals in a society can have different ideas of
social justice and what “just” means.
Example:
Economic issues, particularly the disparity between the rich and the poor can be seen as a social
justice issue. In 2005, the top 20% of households accounted for a record 50.4% of the national
income, up from 49.8% in 2000 and 43.2% in 1970. In contrast, the bottom fifth’s share fell from
4.4% in 1970 to 3.6% in 2000 to 3.4% in 2005.2 This can be seen as a social justice issue because the
benefits of society are allocated in an unjust way.
What is social service?
Social services are seen as organized efforts and/or services that help to improve and advance social
well being. Social services can be providing meals, shelter, food, clothing, programs for youth and
adults, health care, ability/disability services, language interpretation and translation and others.
Social services agencies can provide a wide variety of services that meet the social well being of a
community, region, or group of people.
Example:
Ramsey County Community Human Services Department provides many of the aforementioned
services to the people in its county. It has several departments that deliver social services such as
mental health. In this area, they provide individual and group therapy, medication management,
consultations and evaluations, diagnostic assessments, and others.
1
Definition of social change is adapted from the Fund for Southern Communities, www.fundforsouth.org
2
Statistic is taken from the following: http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/marapr2007p24.shtml
Leadership Paradigms, Inc. ♦www.leadershipparadigms.com
2. Exercise: Identifying Social Change, Social Justice,
and Social Services
Think of an issue your organization is working on. Identify whether you think it is a social
change, social justice, or social service issue. Why do you think this, and then share your
responses with the members of your group.
Leadership Paradigms, Inc. ♦www.leadershipparadigms.com
3. Necessary Components to Becoming a Social Change Leader
Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to
read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid
anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.
-- Cesar Chavez
What does it mean to lead social change efforts? What does it mean to be a leader in creating social
change?
The ability to lead is vital to creating social change. Leadership is a process of which social change is
be distributed, promoted, and expressed by leaders to multiple communities and diverse
populations. A collective action from a collective group cannot come about if there is no unifying
voice, vision, and/or goal. Leaders help to shape and provide a space for people to unite and reach
towards their goals. They inspire and motivate others through their actions, behaviors, and words.
For social change to occur within institutions, communities, or organizations, individuals would
need to know what type of leaders they want to be in the social change process, and how their
leadership can have an impact within these arenas.
The following are key leadership components needed in social change. Use the exercise worksheet
to help you shape and form your leadership to meet the needs of your social change efforts.
1. Develop Self-Awareness and Self-Knowledge
In the leadership process, you certainly will need to know about who you are leading; however, the
most important person you will need to know about is YOURSELF. Knowing your strengths, your
improvement areas, what it is that you value, your beliefs, your interests, and how you handle
emotions is critical to leading social change. How will others follow you if you are not sure why you
would lead change – whether small or large? People are generally attracted to those that can express
and share the same values, beliefs, and interests as themselves. How can you use what you have,
what you know about yourself to bring others into your change efforts?
The following are key components in this step:
Personal beliefs and values.
Attitudes towards social change.
Emotions: how do you relate to others and to yourself?
Motivations: what would excite you, motivate you?
Exercise
Explore the following questions, and then share your responses with others.
1. Describe your personal beliefs and values. Who and what shaped them?
2. What excites you and/or motivates you about social change?
Leadership Paradigms, Inc. ♦www.leadershipparadigms.com
4. 2. Walk Your Talk
How many times have you heard someone say she/he is committed to “X,Y, and Z” but in the end
she/he did not deliver? Walk Your Talk is about aligning your behaviors, feelings, actions, and
thoughts with your values and beliefs. It is about being consistent with your most deeply held beliefs
and values. It is about speaking your truth with conviction; being authentic to yourself and others.
Authenticity arises from your own life stories; your own “A-ha” moments.
The following are key components in this step:
Authenticity: Who you are matters and what and/or who has shaped you matters.
Consistency: Demonstrating your values and beliefs in your words and actions are
important.
Exercise
Provide an example of when your beliefs and values were expressed when you worked
for social change. In other words, when did you “walk your talk”? Was there a time
when you did “not walk your talk”? What were the outcomes?
3. Learning to Serve Others
What makes you want to commit to the social change work you are undertaking? What energy fuels
your work and change? These questions point to your leadership commitment, that is - your ability
to serve others. Understanding why you want to serve others and articulating that as part of who you
are as a leader can be very powerful in social change. Imagine the impact of your leadership when
you express to others that the reasons for your work in change is to provide a service to others.
Ultimately, social change creates a more just society in which people collaborate and perform service
that is for the common good. Through servant leadership, individuals empower themselves and
others through trust and collaboration.
The following are key ideas to help you think through your service to others:
Commitment: How can you create commitment in collaborative work?
Community Building: How can you create environments where people trust, learn and work
with and for each other?
Nurturing the Spirit: How do you nurture people’s spirits and provide work that is
meaningful?
Relationships: How do you create positive and healthy relationships and systems?
Exercise
When did your leadership in social change work serve others? How did it affect those
involved and those were not involved in the issue?
Leadership Paradigms, Inc. ♦www.leadershipparadigms.com
5. 4. Shared Vision
Leadership is a process that includes leading people towards achieving a goal. Thus, in leadership
creating a shared vision and purpose is important in that it unifies people towards a common
purpose and direction. Shared visions are outer expressions of ourselves and what we would like to
be. Coming to share individual visions is a collective and powerful mechanism in the first step
towards social change. As a leader in social change, think about what shared vision and purpose
exists in your neighborhood, community, and/or organization. What would make people motivated
and inspired to reach the shared vision? How will you articulate it in a way that creates more energy
and momentum?
Exercise
What is your vision for change?
Who is affected by the change, and how will you involve them in making that vision
their own?
How can you get them to be excited about this vision and share with others?
Leadership Paradigms, Inc. ♦www.leadershipparadigms.com
6. Creating a Social Change Plan
Creating social change takes patience, energy, time, and resources. It takes more than just
individuals; it takes a collective action by a collective group of people. Engaging a collective
action and group can be challenging especially if you are a small group, organization, or if
you have limited people, time, and resources. Because of the challenges in social change
work, you will need to be strategic and thoughtful about how you will create the change and
gather people to your social change vision. To do this, it is important that you keep in mind
key steps in creating social change or any change effort. The following outlines the key steps
in change, and will help you to focus your change efforts.
Step 1: Create a vision
Step 2: Create key messages
Step 3: Involve others
Step 4: Pick your targets, activities, and dates
Step 5: Generate short-term and long-term change
Step 6: Create an action work plan and budget
Step 7: Monitor, adjust, and reflect
Step 1: Create a Vision
"The best way to predict your future is to create it "
-Anonymous
For any social change to occur, you must be able to see the end result or a vision that depicts
the change. You must see the change as if it has already happened. This is the only way that
you can articulate the steps you will need to take to make your vision come true.
A vision must be your intentions for a better future than what currently exists now. This
vision must:
Be understood among a collective so others can share in the vision.
Empower and engage people to want to take action.
Be well defined and articulated.
Be vivid, engaging, and expressive.
The first step in engaging a collective action in your vision for change is for you to know
what it is that you would like to change. What underlying issues are you trying to address?
Are you working towards eliminating sexism in the community? Is it about ensuring every
child is healthy, safe, and secure? Is it to reduce crime and violence in your neighborhood? Is
Leadership Paradigms, Inc. ♦www.leadershipparadigms.com
7. it to keep small “mom and pop” stores in your community? You must be able to identify
that one key issue you will address that can make a difference in your community and/or
neighborhood.
Next, in your creation of a vision, describe the vision as if it already happened. Use the
present tense to convey that you own and see your vision, NOW.
Finally, test your vision on yourself. Do you think it will be understood by others? Will it
empower or engage people to take action? Is it well defined and articulated? Is it vivid,
engaging, and expressive? If it doesn’t have these items, why should you expect others to
join your change efforts?
Step 2: Create Key Messages
What messages about a social issue mobilized you to join the change efforts? What made the
messages memorable? Was it the delivery? The language or words that were used? The body
language of the individual(s)? The person who delivered the message?
All of the above items are important in creating change. The ability to articulate clearly your
vision and the change you would like to see is important for “buy-in.” How you describe
your vision to people through key messages will help you bring people into your efforts. You
must help them recognize and see the vision. You can do this by using key messages that
inspire, are action oriented, justifies the need for their help, and asks for their help.
Key messages can also be told using stories, quotes, or metaphors that describe the change
you would like to achieve. If there is a person that everyone in your neighborhood admires,
the qualities of that person or what he/she has done for the neighborhood can be used to
convey your key message. Or, you can use a national or international hero or figure such as
President John F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks, Ghandi or Mother Theresa. When using “heroes”
to help you deliver your key messages, identify the parts of these individuals that you know
will speak to your audience.
Remember that in developing your key message, you need to include the following items:
Your message should be inspiring.
Your message should be action-oriented.
Your message should justify the need for the change.
Your message should ask them for their help.
Step 3: Involve Others
Now that you’ve created a vision and key messages, you’ll need a coalition of people to help
you deliver the message and work with you. There are a few things you need to think about
when creating a coalition:
1. You need to identify people who need to hear this message.
2. You need to identify people who will support you in this message.
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8. 3. You need to identify the people who can help you influence other people about this
message.
How do you identify the individuals in your coalition? You will need to be strategic and
purposeful in coming up with your list. This is important especially if you are a small
organization or neighborhood group or if you have limited resources and people to do the
work. You can identify people by using a power and interest grid. 1 Power is the ability to
influence others. You want to identify in your coalition those who have the power to
influence others and bring them into your efforts. Interest describes the attention that
certain groups, people or individuals may have towards your issue. An example is show
below:
Figure 1 and 2: Power and Interest Grids (www.mindtools.com)
From this power and interest grid, you identify those who have interest in your work and
narrow your strategies to target specific audiences.
Step 4: Pick your Targets, Activities, and Dates
At this stage of your social change efforts, you should identify where you want your efforts
to be targeted and when you will target these efforts. This is about the marketing strategy
you will use to deliver your message. For example, having created a vision to eliminate
sexism in the community, as well as created key messages and identified your coalition of
people, you will likely determine a few key events that will support your change efforts and
what methods you will use to address them. You need to identify the places and/or events
that will most likely want to or need to hear your message. You will need to identify how the
message will be delivered and what method works best. You should keep in mind the
following:
1
Taken from the following source: J. M. Bryson, “What To Do When Stakeholders Matter: A Guide to
Stakeholder Identification and Analysis Techniques”
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9. 1. Who is your audience? For this, you can go back to Step 3 on creating a coalition. Is
your coalition made up of diverse individuals, people with interests that are different
or similar than yours, and so on? If so, this can influence your targets and moments.
2. What marketing methods work best for your audience? E.g. fliers, word of mouth,
radio, advertisements, door knocking, etc.
3. What are the reasons for using the methods you choose? Why would you choose
fliers over door knocking for your audience? Speaking at events rather than
newspaper advertisements?
In this step of social change, you will also need to identify how you can keep your efforts
moving. This speaks to the frequency of your targets and moments. Will you continue to
reach the audience with the same messages on a monthly basis? We you try a different
method in a week? Will you use a different method to deliver the message to the same
audience?
Step 5: Generate Short-term and Long-term Change
Creating social change can be a long, arduous journey. You may feel that what you are doing
is not sufficient or enough to reach the vision you dreamed about. Keep in mind that social
change efforts can take years and even generations to come to fruition. As a change agent, it
is important to take note of the small steps, the smaller milestones in your change efforts. By
doing this, you’re keeping your “eyes on the prize” while paying attention to the details of
the prize. As you take this journey, you should keep in mind the following items that will
help you to remember to win small, win early, and win often:
Articulate the smaller changes that are important in the larger vision.
Identify the milestones (goals) for your change efforts. (Ensure they are measurable).
Determine how you will celebrate the milestones.
Step 6: Create an Action Work Plan and Budget
When you have completed the above steps, the next action is to put the information you
have created into a work plan. It is not enough to have thought about the information and
resources you need in creating social change. You must document the information and
create goals to help you reach your vision. The work plan serves as a document that guides
your work and helps you to document and measure your deliverables. Attached to this work
plan is a budget for the expenses and income that are needed for each item in your social
change plans. Important items in your work plan include the following:
Key staff/volunteer to carry out the activity
Begin and end dates
What will tell you that you achieved your goal?
Smaller “wins” or milestones
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10. Step 7: Monitor, Adjust, and Reflect
One of the key and final steps in social change work is to monitor and adjust your strategies,
key messages, or other components of your work as needed based on the responses you
received. Often times, social change advocates are so busy and involved in the actual day to
day work and activities that they forget to monitor and adjust what works and doesn’t work
and reflect on the process and their progress. You have to remember that when you
mobilize your community, group, neighborhood, or organization to change and you start to
see some change, you may not be able to use the same strategies or key messages. You’ll
need to constantly and consistently change your message to meet your audience’s needs.
Your vision may still stay the same, but the messages may be altered.
You should think about the following items in this step:
How will you know there is change?
How will you evaluate your work?
How will you make sense of your progress?
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11. Creating a Social Change Plan
Worksheet
Step 1: Create a Vision
Write down in one sentence, the social change you or your organization wants to see.
Describe the vision of the social change you will address, as if it already happened. When
creating this vision, make sure it follows the items below:
Be understood among a collective so others can share in the vision.
Empower and engage people to want to take action.
Be well defined and articulated.
Be vivid, engaging, and expressive.
Step 2: Create Key Messages
Create two or three key messages that will support your vision. Your key message should be
inspiring, justify a need for the change, action oriented, or ask others for help. Share your
responses with others and test it out.
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12. Step 3: Involve Others
In the power and interest grid below, identify four individuals that will help you in creating
the social change you would like to see. Place them on the chart where you think they
belong.
High
Keep Satisfied Manage Closely
Power
Monitor Efforts Keep Informed
Low
Low Interest High
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13. Step 4: Pick your Targets, Activities, and Dates
Use the chart below to help you identify your targets, activities and dates.
Audience Activities Dates
List the people or groups you want to List the activities that you will need to List when you think this activity would
reach in this column. conduct to reach this group, e.g. best be completed.
attend an event.
Example: Reach out to child care Example: Attend three network Example: Begin on Oct 1, 2008 and
providers who serve immigrant and group meetings of child care providers end by July 2009.
refugee children. who serve this population.
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14. Step 5: Generate Short Term and Long Term Change
1. Over the next six months, what would be examples of social change progress for the issue
you have identified? Example: All members of our group are able to articulate the vision statement.
1. Over the next year, what would be examples of social change progress for the issue you
have identified? Example: Our group was able to recruit fifteen new members to join our social change
efforts.
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15. Step 6: Create an Action Work Plan and Budget
VISION STATEMENT:
MILESTONE #1:
MILESTONE #2:
MILESTONE#3:
ACTIVITY KEY STAFF BEGIN DATE END DATE WHICH MILESTONE WILL
THIS ACTIVITY
CONTRIBUTE TO?
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16. Step 7: Monitor, Adjust, and Reflect
Take a few moments to describe how you monitor, adjust and reflect about your change
efforts.
1. How will you know when the change has happened?
2. How will you evaluate your work?
3. How will you make sense of your progress?
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