our<\/em> work well.<\/p>\n Here’s another way of saying that: the vanguard of the social movement has created something of a civic moment. Social movements are very good at turning people out into the streets to say the current order is indefensible. People who lean towards the civic have a different temperament, and different skills. We share many of the goals of the disrupters and frontline responders but we are a little afraid of the divisiveness and controversy that comes with being on the vanguard of a social movement. We are leaders of schools and founders of nonprofits and directors of foundations. We are good at building programs, organizations and institutions. We know about staff management and strategic plans.<\/p>\n
The slogans in the street – reform\/defund the police, a quality education for all, access to health care for the many not just the few – we civic types can help with the institutions that make those ideas reality, this time towards a new order with racial justice at the center. <\/p>\n
Jen pointed out that she has personally cycled through a variety of the roles in the social change ecosystem over the past fifteen years. Back in 2011, she was much more of a disrupter.<\/p>\n
“Remember?” she said, and I caught the twinkle in her eye over Zoom.<\/p>\n
“How could I forget,” I responded. “You were disrupting the organization that I lead – while you were on staff and drawing a paycheck!”<\/p>\n
That led to a good laugh.<\/p>\n
Jen’s work as a disrupter lasted for some years, and then she cycled into the role of being a healer, helping develop a powerful new field called ‘movement chaplaincy’<\/a>.<\/p>\n And now, at 32 and close to giving birth, she jokingly calls herself an ‘auntie’. In the lexicon of the social change ecosystem model, she’s a guide for many, especially young female activists.<\/p>\n
She’s more a storyteller, a visionary, and a builder than a disrupter or a first responder. <\/p>\n
“I spend more time doing budgets for Faith Matters Network than I do going to protests,” she told a group of IFYC alum.<\/p>\n
And later, she shared with me the wisdom behind that statement: “I recognize that it’s not my time to lead from the front. The young people in Generation Z are leading beautifully<\/em> in this season. I see my evolving role as someone who can share what I know, help them get the material resources they need, and then get out of the way.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n