Inspiration for Change Maker Curriculum

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Joe Brewer

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Apr 30, 2011, 3:42:50 PM4/30/11
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Hello Everyone,

I've started developing a three-part workshop series on Designing Campaigns for Large-Scale Behavior Change that offers inspiration for what a Change Maker Curriculum will look like.  A summary description of the series is included below.  I will be offering this series throughout the summer as part of Sustainable Seattle's professional training program.  

As I begin to put this series together, I'd like to seed the creative process for creating the larger curriculum we've come together here to build collaboratively.  The way I envision doing this is to:
  • Build out the scaffolding for a Change Maker Curriculum (already initiated in comment threads in this Google Group);
  • Introduce a Collective Impact Agenda where we come to an agreement about how we'll collaborate to create synergies that benefit everyone;
  • Use the development period for my workshop series as a launch pad for a crowdfunding campaign with the deliverable of a Manual for Change Makers that we create together and release under a Creative Commons license;
  • Assess what we learn along the way to determine next steps.
How do you feel about this?  What would you alter to increase our effectiveness together?

Best,

Joe

--
Joe Brewer
Founder & Director
Cognitive Policy Works
http://www.cognitivepolicyworks.com
--
Founder & Director
Seattle Innovators
http://www.seattleinnovators.org
206.914.8927 (mobile)
--


How To Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change

 

Course description

One of the most confounding challenges facing the sustainability movement is how to bring about a massive shift in human behavior.  This master class explores a variety of powerful insights from cognitive science for developing successful social change strategies.  You'll learn how meaning arises in the workings of the human brain, why emotions are absolutely vital for engaging people in a process of persistent change, and what the root causes are that have driven societal institutions to the edge of ecological collapse.

 

Participants will explore the evolutionary origins of morality and discover the psychological foundations of identity that merge values, ideology, and institutions into the powerful stories we collectively live in the modern world.  Techniques will be provided to begin using this knowledge to communicate effectively, increase civic engagement, and design better structures for bringing about large-scale behavioral change.

 

Joe Brewer is a social change strategist who has spent the last decade bringing discoveries from psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and social science to the advocacy world.  He is founder and director of Cognitive Policy Works, a consulting firm that develops useful applications from the cognitive sciences for use by practitioners in the governmental, business, and non-profit sectors.  Joe is also the project coordinator for Seattle Innovators, a dynamic effort to promote collaboration throughout Puget Sound around the effort to make Seattle the first carbon neutral city in North America.

 

Three Part Series

I envision breaking down the course offered last year into three parts, each offered as a half-day session.

 

Part 1: Getting the Big Picture

Purpose :: Introduce the foundations for creating large-scale behavior change

In this session, we will explore historic examples of successful campaigns to bring about large-scale behavior change to extract a framework for designing campaigns for social change.   We will also cover the fundamental insights from cognitive science that are essential for developing successful change strategies.

 

Participants will learn:

·      How the brain constructs meaning

·      The vital role of emotional engagement

·      The root psychological causes of unsustainable behavior

·      The evolutionary origins of morality

·      How all of this applies to campaigns for social change

 

Part 2: Tools for Social Change Campaigns

Purpose :: Introduce the tools and techniques used to design for social change

In this session, we will introduce the “designer’s toolkit” for social change and learn practical ways to analyze cultural trends and effectively engage communities in the change process.

 

Participants will learn:

·      How to establish appropriate design criteria for their change effort

·      The basics of agenda-setting (reframing) for setting a new story

·      How social innovation works in the real world

·      A framework for driving the change process

 

Part 3: Design Lab for Your Campaign

Purpose :: Apply foundational insights and tools to real-world projects

In this session, we will create an “action plan” for your project or campaign using a powerful tool called Causal Layered Analysis.  You will apply the knowledge and insights from earlier sessions to your work with assistance from the instructor and fellow change makers.

 

Participants will learn:

·      The basics of Causal Layered Analysis

·      How to design a campaign for social change

·      Strategic clarity about critical leverage points in their particular context of change

·      A multi-stage plan for advancing their change effort

 

 

Chuck Watts

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Apr 30, 2011, 9:27:42 PM4/30/11
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It's all new to me. Sounds good.

Caring citizen partners are the solution, 

Chuck Watts, Founding Partner
Caring Citizens Chapters
An Empathy Surplus Project

Caring citizens exercise three weekly activities to building trust for effective governance,

Inwardly digest and use our core American values to  reframe our daily governance conversations around our moral mission to protect and empower one another.

Invest in our 1st Amendment freedom to gather and identify caring policy directions.

Invite others to join us, promote our caring policy directions, and elect caring citizens to their mutual party at the county, state and national levels.

Filing deadline for Ohio Central Committees  Candidates for all parties is 12/07/2011. If we want our parties to be more empathic, we must have candidates that will argue for more empathy. 

Freedom Advocates Promote American Values - 

Empathy, Responsibility (personal & social) & Strength
Protection, Fulfillment & Fairness
Trust, Honesty, & Open Communication
Community, Service & Cooperation
Freedom, Opportunity & Prosperity

Freedom Advocates Lead with an American Philosophy

+ Stronger America(ns) - reframes - stronger military
+ Broad Prosperity - reframes - free markets
+ Better Future - reframes - lower taxes
+ Effective Government - reframes - limited government
+ Mutual Responsibility - reframes - family values
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