So, you are a person who cares about the world. A person who wants your community to be a better place. You may have tons of experience and you may be new. Let’s say you had an opportunity to do one thing that would bring about social change. Where would you start?
- Observing your surroundings?
- Delving into the data to get the hard evidence?
- Talking to friends, colleagues, or neighbors?
- Finding a source of funding?
- Setting a goal?
- Starting with the possible solutions?
Start with identifying the result that you desire. This could mean doing some of the things listed above – but with the goal of setting a measurable result first. The great work of Mark Friedman helps guide advocates on this sometimes formidable, yet critical step. I am talking about population level results – what will be better after your work is done? How will you be able to tell that it is better? Advocates can spend so much time on talking in anecdotes or rehashing stories, we need to move quickly into What RESULT we want to see. This is not as easy as it sounds….
“A result is a population condition of well-being for children, adults, families and communities, stated in plain language. Results are conditions that voters and tax-payers can understand. They are about the well-being of people in a community, city, county, state, or nation.”
– Mark Friedman
