Family Activism Empowering Your Community, Beginning with Family and Friends

We tend to focus on trying to solve big societal problems, the big barriers that separate us, but, as Roberto Vargas argues, the most promising path to change is actually the most accessible and the most universal: the family. In our daily family and friendship circles, we experience countless opportunities to empower, inspire, and support positive change in others. What if we could look at those experiences as the seeds of bigger, broader change? In this new guide for change advocates, Vargas explains how fostering familia - the feeling of connection we have with our relatives or with those we choose to call family in all our relationships is the first step toward tackling broader problems in our community, our nation, and the world. When we start working for change at this most local of local levels, the relationships we build, and the respect and love that we show one another within the boundaries of family, becomes a model for all interactions with all people.

Roberto Vargas is principal consultant for New World Associates. His clients have included colleges, corporations, public institutions, Native American reservations, and over 150 agencies and organizations dedicated to community service