The Change Agency 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 fourteen 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.

Fall 2008 Change Agent Network Events:

Network Gathering - September 17

Network Reading Groups - Starting week of October 20

Network Workshop – The Practice of Hope

Date:              Saturday, November 15, 2008

Time:              9:00am to 12:00pm

Location:        TBA, Portland 

Presenters:    Jeanne and Dick Roy

Description:   On the heels of the 2008 election, this workshop will explore hope and its interface with optimism and pessimism - two potential distractions for those who seek to create a sustainable future. Living in a time of uncertainty and change, is authentic hope for the earth possible? Topics covered in this interactive workshop include the meaning of hope, optimism and pessimism, an overview of the practice of hope, the practice of hope as an intentional act, guiding principles for the practice, specific daily practices, and alignment.

Agent Highlight:

Sonja Bjorn-Hansen was empowered by the Agent of Change class to push for a bunch of changes in the direction of greater sustainability in her Cascadia co-housing community.  At a brainstorming session of a monthly homeowners meeting, she took notes, wrote a series of 32 proposals, and sent them as a survey form to the 26 households.  Because so many of the proposals received positive votes, Sonja has identified champions to move them along. 

Transportation.  Already, the community raised enough money to purchase a bike trailer, which can be used for errands.  The bike expert in the community offered to help others buy or repair a bike.  He and Sonja developed a map of local bike routes, and several previously non-bikers are using it.  Most rewarding for Sonja is that her daughter has begun to embrace biking.  She bikes to school every day (it is faster than the bus) and has more or less accepted the fact that the family is planning to go car-free.

Energy.   More efficient lighting has been installed in the common house.  A neighbor got a speaker from the Oregon Office of Energy to talk about how the community could use solar energy.  The talk was very well-received and drew in members of other co-housing communities in the Portland area.  The next talk will be about energy conservation retrofits.    

Food and gardening.  Sonja's efforts have lead to a doubling of vegetable gardens in the community.  She has replaced ornamentals with edible greens in her own front yard in addition to three raised beds in the side and backyards, which serve as a visual reminder that it is possible to grow a surprising amount of nutritious food in a small space.  She will experiment with growing greens through the winter through the use of a cold frame.  Sonja and two others led a meeting about bulk food buying.  When people learned how much money they could save, they began experimenting with buying organic food in bulk.  Other community experts have offered to teach neighbors how to compost effectively and raise chickens.   

Water.  A neighbor has researched various rain barrel designs and proposed a preferred model.  She has offered to coordinate a group purchase. 

To keep momentum going for these projects and more, Sonja writes a blurb for the community newsletter.  She loves figuring out how to live more sustainably, to share what she is learning, and to write.  She said the Agent of Change class has helped her work in a more directed, passionate, and fun-embracing way.

 Agent of Change Class Description