"Pursue your dreams, don't take the conventional route." Words of advice from guest speaker Alan Khazei's book Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America, prefaced the interactive discussion held in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management on Nov. 15. As part of the Eli J. Segal Seminar in Citizen Leadership and Service course taught by Prof. Larry Bailis (Heller), the talk focused on the steps to becoming a successful citizen leader and advocate for social justice.
Khazei is the cofounder of the national service program City Year, "an education focused, nonprofit organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service to keep students in school and on track to graduation," according to its website. He is also the founder and former executive of the nonprofit Be the Change Inc., author of Big Citizenship and was a candidate in the 2009 Massachusetts Senate Democratic special election primary. Khazei is also working with a new campaign, New Politics, which focuses on empowering people who have completed national service to run for political office.
Khazei was also Eli Segal's close friend. "[He] had more impact on me developing as a leader than anybody else that has been in my life... [Segal] always challenged me," Khazei said. Segal founded AmeriCorps during the Clinton administration and is the namesake of the Segal Fellows at Brandeis, a program committed to inspiring new leaders and encouraging citizen service.
In front of nearly 25 eager students and staff, Khazei opened the workshop with a discussion of his book, which he said he wrote partly because he wanted to tell the story "of how ordinary people do extraordinary things." Also, he said, it was "a way to say thank you because I've been privileged to pursue my dreams ... with people like Eli rallied around me."
He continued to tell the group his personal story, which began on Sept. 8, 1979 when he was assigned to be roommates with future partner and City Year cofounder Michael Brown at Harvard College.
"We found we both had this passion to want to change the country," Khazei said of his first-year roommate. "We finally realized that what we could do as young people was to develop [what we called] an 'action tank,'" a notion built around bringing thinkers and their ideas together.
In collaboration with presidential candidate Gary Hart, Segal and presidential candidate Bill Clinton, Khazei and Brown were able to grow City Year into a national program.
However, Khazei said tnat the turning point for him was in June 2003, when President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress cut the funding for AmeriCorps. Khazei said his response "was to organize his coalition. Hang together, that was our attitude. We all had to combine forces if we were going to save this program."
"That's when I realized this is the power of citizens to make change, the power of coalitions. That led me to leave City Year ultimately. Eli passing was a big part of that. It got me to reflect about what I really wanted to do," said Khazei.
Following his departure from City Year, Khazei began Be the Change, Inc., a national nonprofit dedicated to creating issue-based campaigns through organized coalitions. He also decided to run for Senater in Massachusetts.
"It's a real privilege [to run for office] because you get a window into what's really going on," Khazei said. "Part of the reason I ran and part of the reason I wrote the book ... was that I think we need a new way to do politics and a new way of solving problems ... We have to get back to our roots; we have to get back to what the role of citizens is in our democracy."
With one final statement by Khazei about the importance of empowering the people and after a hearty round of applause, the discussion opened to the group.
The first question came from Bailis, who asked about useful lessons Khazei has learned on his path to becoming a citizen leader. Khazei responded with three pieces of advice.
First, he asserted, it is important to work together with others. "What I'd say to you, is, if you want to make a difference, find a partner and build a team. Nobody changes the world alone," Khazei said.
Also, he said, "you have to have a big vision for people to get inspired by, and you have to be really concrete."
Lastly, Khazei alluded to what he calls the "guardian angel." This, he said, is the "spirit of public service [and of] idealism, and there's a spirit of people wanting to make a difference."
"If you knock on enough doors, you're going to get a lot of no's, but you're going to get enough yes's to succeed," he asserted.
Khazei continued to maintain that the way to get work done and to implement change, especially those who have completed national service, is to become an advocate and to create a community. "What I realized is that the larger change comes from coalitions, from people banding together," he said.
He also reiterated the importance of having citizens with national experience becoming involved in politics, and encouraged that everyone become political and become an advocate. Although politics may not always be enjoyable, he said, "Until we get people like you to change it, it won't change."
In response to the program, International Business School Masters of Business students Laura Rooney and Gabriel Ellis-Ferrara both said they found Khazei's discussion to be inspiring and motivational.
"I came in with a sense that political engagement was important, and I think that [Khazei's] take away about needing to do more than just vote is a good call to all of us," said Rooney.
"[Khazei] gave really good insight on how to use an action oriented approach to change a political system that many people seem to be frustrated by," said Ellis-Ferrara.
Echoing the words of reforming Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker, in his closing words, Khazei asserted that "'the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.' The people that are fighting for a better life, a better world, an equal world, a more just world-we are winning."