We have much to celebrate! The Policy Circle community started 2019 with 204 circles, 20 of those circles joining as part of our Winter Cohorts group. Cohorts are a new program to build community among new circle leaders who are at the same stage in launching their circle. Cohorts will meet virtually to share ideas and best practices. And we are making time for the cohorts to gather together, face to face, at the Annual Summit in Chicago this November. Together, we are powerful!
Let’s use our power to CIRCLE UP! 10 circles have already hosted or posted their first meeting of 2019. If your circle hasn’t put its meeting dates on the calendar, then commit to doing it today, tonight or tomorrow. It only takes a minute to email your circle and find a date in January or February to launch your year of conversations for 2019. Once that first meeting is held, the momentum begins to build.
One important goal we have set for our community of circle leaders and members in 2019, is to make a point to engage with policy shapers. What or who is a policy shaper? Policy Circle Founder, Sylvie Legere, laid out the challenge in her final post of 2018. Learn more here.
The First Step of the Challenge
Take a few minutes and make a short list of who the policy shapers are in your community and state. Find their contact information and write it down or add it to your contacts. Shapers are not just elected officials but voices for change. They can be local radio station personalities, reporters, representatives, town councilmen and women, mayors or alderman. Share your list with your circle and have members add their own suggestions. It’s a great resource to have at your fingertips at circle meetings as you decide what steps you might want to take after a circle discussion. Having a list of shapers will make us more likely to engage with influential people in our communities on a regular basis and build the presence of The Policy Circle in 2019.