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

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 ponder...

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 le...

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” frame...

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...

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 th...

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 co...

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...