Your personal readiness

Becoming a changemaker

Identifying problems in a community and wanting things to be different is something most of us have done. Envisioning positive community change and taking an active role as a change-maker, however, takes another level of interest, commitment, and engagement. Changemakers are those individuals who want to take action when they see something that needs to be done in their community. While there are many ways community members can be involved in change initiatives, it’s important to self-reflect and assess your passion and capacity for the work.

Wearing multiple hats

People who are effective in doing rural outreach and networking tend to be people who are very good at wearing multiple hats. Because there are fewer people, you will often find that individuals who are well-networked in rural places are involved in the community in many different ways. For instance, the woman who runs the food pantry might also be a member of the Lions Club, serve as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, and also is her church’s treasurer. Similarly, CIL staff have described that while they might specialize in housing in an urban setting, in rural places they may have to put on a different hat in response to what is needed (maybe it is transportation).

Questions to consider

Some questions to consider before you decide to do rural outreach are:

• How comfortable are you with reaching out to strangers? To calling on people you have worked with before?
• Do you enjoy traveling to different communities and meeting with different types of people?