Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World - The Skills, Talents, and Mindsets of Changemakers

Urbandictionary.com defines the term “solutionary” this way: Someone who finds revolutionary answers to life problems. A problem solver, an inventive activist. A type of revolutionary who makes change by providing a better way to do things.  In this second portion of my changemaker conversation with Penny Franklin, she shares how she started to push for new solutions to old problems when her children started facing the same kinds of barriers to school success that faced her in […]

This is part one of a fascinating two-part conversation with author and advocate for nonviolent action, Rivera Sun, using our “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World” framework to guide her reflections. I encourage you to find her books and follow her weekly publication of Nonviolence News here:  www.riverasun.com.   Please read, watch, listen and share so that others can learn how to use the more than 300 nonviolent alternatives to resolve issues without resorting to harmful actions.   

Rivera Sun is a trainer in nonviolent action and author of novels that utilize nonviolent movements for change within their plot lines.  She also edits a weekly newsletter called Nonviolence News that features 30 to 50 stories of nonviolence currently happening around the world.  HOMEGROWN RIVERA When asked how she got started in her work focused on nonviolent activism, Rivera says she used to respond that it started with the “Occupy Movement”, but she now recognizes that the focus really evolved for her as she started to recognize that there are two kinds of nonviolent action.“There's the kind of activism that says ‘No’ to problems and says ‘Stop the damage and the destruction.’  And then there's the kind of activism or nonviolence that says ‘Yes’ to solutions, that says ‘We're going to build something that's needed in the world. We're going to teach ourselves how to do life differently.’” She recognizes that she’s been involved in this second kind of nonviolent action, the kind that builds something necessary and different, almost all of her life.  Rivera grew up on an organic farm in Northern Maine.  Her parents had two sets of twins and a sister in between for a total of five.  As the oldest of the first set of twins, Rivera was thirteen when her parents moved the family to the farm on the northern tip of Maine. “My parents were kind of crazy and kind of visionary…I literally grew up pulling weeds and picking potatoes. My farm was part of a cooperative of 10 small farms that started a distribution company where we would drive a truck around the state of Maine. We would pick up products from all these farms and we would deliver them to Maine restaurants and grocery stores and buying clubs. That company, Crown of Maine Organic Cooperative, is still in operation today. My twin sister actually is one of the founding partners and continues to help run it.”Rivera’s definition of nonviolent action for change includes her family’s farming initiative that saw a need and worked to meet that need by nontraditional means.  Her twin sister continues in this work serving over 300 businesses throughout the state of Maine.  Crown of Maine Organic Cooperative (https://www.crownofmainecoop.com/) has enabled the local food movement to connect farmers with people who like to eat healthy local food.  Her parents created a market for their farm produce that didn’t previously exist.  On their own, they were unable to compete with major markets, but by joining forces with other local farmers, they created an alternative system for providing high quality produce to those who sought it while supporting a family of five children. Rivera now recognizes her parents’ enterprise in alternative farming as her intro to “doing nonviolence.”RIVERA'S SOLUTIONS

This is the final episode of four from my conversation with Changemaker Penny Franklin.  You’ll want to be sure you caught the first three parts where she talks about her work with people across differences to create homegrown solutions to racial injustices in her community.  In this last piece, you will hear Penny talk about the “ripple effects” of this work that are starting to radiate outward to communities beyond Montgomery County, Virginia. She also […]

This is Part 3 of a four-part series centering on Penny Franklin’s Changemaker Journey.  In this portion of our conversation, Penny focuses on the “Patchwork” quadrant of our Changemaker Framework that emphasizes the beauty and importance, as well as the challenges, of working across cultures and human diversity to address the issues we must face together. https://vimeo.com/397470880 As she ponders the patchwork in the Changemaker Journey, Penny begins by reflecting on recollections from her childhood. […]

This is Part I of a four-part series from my Changemaker Interview with community leader and activist Penny Franklin.  Though she doesn’t really like to be called a “leader”, she has clearly led her community in some very important initiatives to address racial injustice.  This first part of the series centers on quadrant 1 of the “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World” framework.  You will learn about Penny’s early life and motivations for change.  Please […]

I’ve had the honor of working with Brad Bizzell for over twenty years.  We were principal colleagues together in Montgomery County, Virginia and later worked together in the Educational Leadership Program at Radford University preparing school leaders. I was grateful for this opportunity to sit down and learn about his Changemaker Journey using the “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World” framework as our guide.   I continue to learn so much from him about how to […]

Blacksburg, Virginia’s Chief of Police, Anthony Wilson, joined me to share his changemaker journey using our four-part framework “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World”.  You can view the inspiring 25-minute conversation below and read on to learn how this community leader, who was first on the scene as a SWAT team officer during the horrific 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, has worked to create triumph out of tragedy.  We won’t dwell on that incident here, but […]

It was clear to me really from the time I was three in the arms of a brown woman … if I have an image of mother Mary, the mother of God, I always talk about Sarah Cunningham …She embodied that great maternal God love.  Leaf Seligman refers to herself as a “translator of metaphors”. The descriptor speaks to her unique gifts as restorative practitioner, teacher, preacher, and author finding words that bring understanding to […]

This is the second installment in our Changemaker Series centered on conversations with individuals who exemplify the four quadrants of the Blue Roads Changemaker Journey.  By asking questions related to the guiding theme for our work, “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World,” we highlight the unique attributes and practices of change-making in the lives of leaders who are making significant contributions to the world we share.  Read on for a summary of our interview with […]

Today, we are kicking off a series of blogs and videos focused on conversations with amazing people from various walks of life who embody the characteristics and practices of changemaking in their lives.  These interviews are structured with the Blue Roads “Changemaker Journey” in mind.  Each conversation centers roughly around four question categories that echo our slogan “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World”:   Homegrown: Who are you and how have your home and your […]