Becoming A Citizen Activist

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Page !1 of !3 Khoosheh Salas ARTL-4000 (Public Policy and Advocacy in the Arts) Professor Hughes 05/02/2017 Assignment #3 Becoming a Citizen Activist “Becoming A Citizen Activist”, a book written by Nick Licata who was the most progressive member of the council at a time when Seattle was experimenting with a very hostile eats-coast version of urbanism and exemplified by Mark Sidran’s civility laws and Joe Mallahan’s corporate paternalism. This book is a toolkit which gives a step by step instructions to help the citizens, volunteers and other community members to introduce themselves to concrete actions which people can take in order to develop skills sets required in order to become successful advocates on a personal, organizational, local, Throughout this book, Nick Licata by bringing examples and various stories tries to show us his strategy that “ordinary citizens” can change the world. Reading through the chapters of this book, its not hard to realize the common theme of the book Page !2 of !3 through which Nick Licanta is trying to encourage the citizens that “the change begins with you”. In my previous assignment, I defined advocacy as “the way of influencing people and their decisions”. After reading Nick Licata’s book, I learned that in order for citizens to promote social changes, they have to begin with themselves and also they have to be aware of their surroundings and opportunities in order to improve the quality of their lives and to dedicate to the well being of the community. People are not typically aware of their power and how effective and powerful their actions and words could be. In all the stories that Licata talks about in his book, he highlights the fact that ordinary citizens who up to this point have made a difference, started by having a mentality of “change” for a good cause. Another common theme of the book is that Nick Licata tries to encourage the citizen activists Because as Licata describes, it is essential to hear from potential opponents and in order to get and learn a better sense of issues and problems and also to gain the opponent’s support along the way. Recent wave of changes within the governmental system, including new budget cuts and in general all the new changes brought to the country with the new presidential administration could be a strong reason for most of the citizens to fight the city hall and the officials in the Capital Hill . Now, comes the toolkit for citizen activists wanting to improve the world around them. I recommend Nick Licata’s Becoming A Citizen Activist to anyone who is willing to change their surroundings for a good cause. Nick Licata in this powerful book, explains that Page !3 of !3 being organized, congregate the power and master the tactics for change. Licata in his book talks about the fact that the weak has the ability to challenge the powerful people and the rules. This book is a step by step toolkit for citizens who are willing to use tactics and maps offered by Licata in order to develop effective interaction with politicians and start influencing

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