Description:

The Agent of Change Network provides continued support for past participants of the Center’s class "How To Be an Agent of Change in Your Circle of Influence."  The network offers workshops, trainings, and gatherings.

The Center has worked with a total of 48 Agent of Change classes of 10 to 18 participants each.  This growing network of agents is transforming the culture of Portland.  As an agent of change works on a specific project within a confined circle of influence, he or she is also pulling the broader community along the path to a sustainable future.
 

Agent Highlight:

The role of agent of change can be episodic, to be activated from time to time, or a way of being in continually working on projects to make the community a better place to live.  At the January 23 welcoming evening for 15 new agents of change, John Shorb told how, after enrolling in Agent class #2 about five years ago, he moved from one circle, Tabor Commons, onto a new circle, his church.  Click here to read about John’s projects.

Because he is an architect and the project was in his neighborhood, he took on design of the Tabor Commons community center, a former meth shop, as his project.  Throughout his involvement, John was not only an advocate for sustainable practices, but he inspired another architect, Josh Lighhipe, to take the Agent class and join him in this effort.  Josh designed "material recovery stations" for trash, recycling, and composting for the first tenant, Café au Play, and helped install bioswales accepting run-off from not only the property but also adjacent streets.

To introduce change in his church, John proposed a rain garden – a technique for capturing rain and letting it gradually infiltrate into the soil.  Church members responded enthusiastically, and John had no trouble recruiting volunteers, including an engineer, a landscape architect, and the chair of the Board of Trustees who had led previous capital improvement projects.  In a series of Saturday work parties, church members disconnected downspouts, built a bioswale with river rock channels, replaced existing concrete with a pervious concrete blocks, and corrected a flooding problem in the basement.  Over 50 families supported the project by buying personalized concrete blocks for the patio – resulting in a surplus of project funds!   

John has learned that one of his most important tools in recruiting and inspiring volunteers is holding a clear vision that others can easily identify  He continues to strive to build community right where he lives.

Agent of Change Class Description