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Agent of Change Network
Agent of Change Network Description:
The
Agent of Change Network provides continued support for past participants of the
Center’s class on "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 twenty-nine Agent of Change classes of 10 to 16
participants each. This growing network of agents is making a difference
in the culture of Portland,
which is a composite of the values, attitudes, and habits of its citizens and
myriad circles of influence. 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.
Upcoming Network Events
Spring 2010 Agent of Change Gathering:
Topic: What Tools Can Help Us Change Environmental Behavior?
Date/Time: March 4, 2010, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Description: This interactive session will
provide an overview of community-based social marketing, the systematic
application of marketing, along with other techniques, to achieve
specific behavioral goals for a social good.
It will cover principles of community-based social marketing and
one comprehensive example of a campaign to “green” offices. In this hands on
session you will have the opportunity to think through a specific behavior
change you would like to see in your circle using community-based social marketing
interventions and tools.
The session will be led by Elaine Jane Cole, an environmental educator. Cole received her Ph.D. from Antioch University in leadership and organizational change with an emphasis on environmental sustainability. For her dissertation, she carried out a community-based social marketing campaign to change behavior among faculty and staff at Pacific University around recycling, paper reduction, and purchase of environmentally preferred products.
Agent Evenings:
Jeanne and Dick will host several small groups to discuss a topic pertinent the work of an Agent of Change. Agents can choose either May 10 or 11, 7:00-8:30pm.
Topic: The Localization Strategy
Description: This evening will explore considerations and practices for those who wish to promote localization as an alternative to economic globalization.
Agent Reading Groups:
The Center will organize reading groups for the Agent of Change Network during the spring of 2010. Guides have been developed to facilitate discussion through Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, Aldo Leopold's The Sand County Almanac, and Thomas Berry's The Great Work. The Center will develop a new guide for 2010 groups (book TBD). Please contact Emily if you would like more information or if you have interest in joining a group to discuss one of the first three guides (503-227-2315 or info@earthleaders.org).
Agent Highlight:
Celeste Lewis. In preparation for starting a green team at Ainsworth Elementary, Celeste queried five focus groups: her daughter's friends, student council, teachers, staff, and parents. From the responses, she formulated a mission statement and five goals. At the same time, she organized a NWEI discussion course for parents at school. From the focus groups and discussion course, she selected three parents to form a green team. The team modified and agreed to the mission statement and goals and then presented them, along with action ideas, to the PTA.
The highest priority on the list of suggestions from the focus groups was to eliminate Styrofoam trays. Washable trays had been purchased the previous year but had only been used one week because the kitchen staff was dissatisfied with the cleansing. The district had sent a new hot water heater, but it had not been installed. Celeste felt that a new dish washer would be more energy efficient than the water heater and used all her skills to get the district utility person out to the school to assess the situation. She got a new dish washer. Recruiting parent dish washers has been a challenge. She arranged a one-day-at-a-time rotating dishwashing schedule, but if the parent doesn't show up, the kitchen staff reverts to disposable trays.
The team has supplied party packs (plates, bowls, cups, and utensils) for each classroom so that disposables won't be used, sponsored the school's first Earth Day celebration that included three walking school buses, held a Halloween costume exchange, and conducted a Styrofoam drive after the holidays.