Getting Unstuck: Engaging Individuals and Communities in Effective Change – an interview with Orville Morales
In this episode of “Getting Unstuck,” we’ll hear from social activist and change agent Orville Morales. Orville is a community outreach specialist. We’ll find out how he marshals community support for the causes he’s undertaking – support that will have different perspectives on the desired change and on the kind of support need to enact a change. We’ll learn about the critical importance of educating the public and on the research needed to acquire the data to do so. Finally, we’ll learn why it’s necessary to be as specific as possible about the change itself.
“Am I letting the environment dictate where I’m going to go, or am I going to try to adjust my environment around me and then move forward?”
One of Orville’s areas of focus is on helping educate the public on the danger of sugar-sweetened beverages and their healthy alternatives.
Listen for:
• Why Orville became drawn to activism – large scale, complex social change.
• Orville’s focus on the relationship between policy and individual behavior.
• The strategies that Orvilles uses to get people involved in a specific campaign.
• How individual perspectives on change and levels of participation affect change progress.
• Why it’s necessary to walk a balance between waiting for things to be perfect and moving too fast.
• How Orville attempts to get people to change their behavior.
• The importance for agents of change to network.
• Why teaching research methods to young people is critical.
• What Orville believes is the biggest misnomer we have in this country.
“My advice to change agents is be willing to lead yourself out of a job. Make it about the change. Take yourself out of it emotionally; it’s about the influence you can have; it’s not about you.”
After listening to the episode:
What is a personal change you’re considering? What is the consequence of not changing?
What is a change your organization is considering? What is the consequence of not changing?