On Wednesday, Jonathan Wolfe wrote a terrific piece on this blog called Remembering the "We" in Yes We Can about the continued engagement of the Millennials who were so instrumental in Obama's victory continuing to be engaged in helping to develop the priorites and policies of the new administration.
Lisa Stone, the co-founder of Blogher, makes a slightly different call to action , She encourages everyone to come up with our own transition plan. We need to ask ourselves, she writes, "What will YOU do to help resolve the nation's problems?"
Good question! And a particularly poignant one for us to ask in a bleak economy because the jobs in the social sector that may have been available a year or two ago may not be there this year and next. So, what's a social citizen to do?
I had the great pleasure of attending an advisory meeting at Meetup.com yesterday hosted by the founder of Meetup, Scott Heiferman . See, I'm a nerd and a wonk -- and Scott's also a nerd, but he also consistently reminds me that small acts by individuals can have as much, or often a greater, impact on people and communities than shiny widgets and soaring public policies. Sharing babysitting costs can help families in real, fundamental ways more than the lofty ideas crafted in think tanks.
And that got to thinking about creating personal transition plans. Issues and causes move people to action, always have, always will. So, even if today isn't the right time for you to have a career built around that issue, you can still create a Cause on Facebook to show and share your support for it, you can blog about it, join a Meetup about it (a really, really important way to learn more and build deep relationships with others involved in the issue).
And let me add something new to the social citizen mix -- you could consider a job in govenment, as well. Historically, government careers (although it doesn't have to be a lifelong commitment, it can just be one stop on one's career journey) have increased during recessionary times -- and that would be now!
So, think about it, is there a state agency that work in an area that interests you? Maybe you want to think about joining the State Department or the Enviromental Protection Agency -- it could be a fun ride right now ... with health insurance.
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