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 Familiathe Feeling Of Connection We Have With Our Relatives Or With Those We Choose To Call Familyin 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. publishers Weekly vargas, A Longtime Corporate And Community Consultant, Approaches Social Activism With High Ideals, A Positive Viewpoint And, Most Helpfully, A Practical And Gratifying Plan Of Action, Based In His Personal Experience And Cultural Heritage. The Familia Approach Treats Activism Not As A Solo Enterprise But As A Way Of Living So As To Teach Love And Activate The Positive Power Of Our Families And Communities. Vargas Unpacks The Mexican Idea Of Familia And Finds Enfolded Within Its Notion Of The Extended Family-everyone You Care For And Who Cares For You-the American Passion For Social Activism. Each Chapter Expands On This Idea, Including Reflection Questions And Bullet-point Practices, With Much Insight Into Vargas's Own Family And Latino Culture In General (both Modern And Ancient). Though Not Religious, Vargas Is Spiritual, And Does Consider Prayer And Indigenous Religious Practices (like Unity Circles) Important And Powerful. Equally Important, However, Is Real Human Understanding, For Which He Introduces The Surprisingly Complex Concept Of Conocimento-conversation Meant To Deepen Participants' Knowledge Of Each Other. Vargas's Text, Full Of New Agisms Like Transformation, Energy And Synergy, Will Strike Some Readers As Redundant, But Those Ready To Share In Vargas's Passion Will Find Much To Learn. copyright © Reed Business Information, A Division Of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. We live in a world that needs radical transformation if our children and grandchildren are to live healthy, peace-filled lives. But where to start? In this inspiring new book, activist Roberto Vargas says the answer lies surprisingly close: at home, with our closest relationships. In our daily lives we experience countless opportunities to empower, inspire, and support positive change in those around us. In Family Activism Vargas explains how fostering what he calls familia—close, loving connections with our relatives and with those we choose to call family—can help us develop the skills and attitudes we need to tackle broader problems in our community, our nation, and the world. Vargas explains the ideas underlying the familia approach and the techniques that support it using examples from his own life, some of them very emotionally charged. He does more than just describe practices like the family council, unity circles, and family ceremonies—he shares how they transformed him as a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and as a committed community activist. Each chapter ends with a series of questions that will help readers understand these practices more deeply and apply them inside and outside of the family. We live in a world that needs radical transformation if our children and grandchildren are to live healthy, peace-filled lives. But where to start? Activist Roberto Vargas says the answer lies surprisingly close: at home, with our family and friends. We can apply the practice of family activism to foster what he calls familia—warm, loving connections with our relatives and with those we choose to call family—and develop the skills and attitudes we need to tackle broader problems in our community, our nation, and the world. In Family Activism, Vargas draws from his own life to show how to apply tools such as copowering communication, family councils, and unity circles to create family and community cultures that empower all of us to become more committed and skillful agents of positive change. We live in a world that needs radical transformation if our children and grandchildren are to live healthy, peace-filled lives. But where to start? Activist Roberto Vargas says the answer lies surprisingly at home, with our family and friends. We can apply the practice of family activism to foster what he calls familia warm, loving connections with our relatives and with those we choose to call familyand develop the skills and attitudes we need to tackle broader problems in our community, our nation, and the world. In Family Activism , Vargas draws from his own life to show how to apply tools such as copowering communication, family councils, and unity circles to create family and community cultures that empower all of us to become more committed and skillful agents of positive change. We live in a world that needs radical transformation if our children and grandchildren are to live healthy, peace-filled lives. But where to start? Activist Roberto Vargas says the answer lies surprisingly close: at home, with our family and friends. We can apply the practice of family activism to foster what he calls familia Make family your cause Principles to guide family activism The familia approach Family activism and transformation Getting your act together! Create family connection Co-powering to battle el no Love the children : communicate Communicate, learn & teach Be a facilitator Unity circles : every gathering can inspire Powerful family & community gatherings Family action becomes community action. In Family Activism, consultant and family activist Roberto Vargas shows how, by facilitating love and mutual support within our families and friendships, all of us can take can take the first steps toward advancing positive change in our communities, culture, and society Shows how, by facilitating love and mutual support within our families and friendships, we can take can take the first steps toward advancing positive change in our communities, culture and society