How to Scale Your Passion And Build a Movement: Dialogues Across Difference
About this Event
Los Angeles, CA 90089
https://dornsife.usc.edu/center-for-political-future/about-our-events/upcoming-events/ #DialogueAcrossDifferenceJoin the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future for a conversation with activists Shannon Watts and Benji Backer, whose organizations have mobilized millions to push for social change. They will share lessons from leadership, organizing at scale, and driving progress on causes from gun safety to protecting the environment.
Though Watts is a Democrat and Backer is a Republican, both have turned their passion for change into something deeper. Part of the Dialogue Across Difference series, this discussion transcends partisanship, underscoring the importance of committing to a cause larger than yourself.
This discussion is part of CPF’s Dialogue Across Difference series and will also be featured on the Let’s Find Common Ground podcast, showcasing how leaders with different perspectives can turn passion into lasting change. Free lunch and signed books will be available while supplies last.
REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON (doors open at 12:00 PM): https://tinyurl.com/cpf-buildingamovement
WATCH THE LIVESTREAM (begns at 12:30 PM): https://tinyurl.com/cpf-building-a-movement
Run of Show:
Panelists include:
Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age is the newest book from Shannon Watts, and it tells her own story, as well as the stories of other women who have channeled their passions and beliefs into impactful movements. She argues that it is never too late to live your values and live purposefully. Fired Up shows you how to feed the fire inside of you to not only change your life, but the lives of others as well.
The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future is the debut book from Benji Backer, and in it, he argues that the two perspectives on climate change provided to us by the mainstream political parties, doomerism and denial, are dead ends. Instead, he argues that there is a way to take care of the planet while also prioritizing American political interests. The book draws on science, a profound understanding of community needs, and Backer’s political experience to provide a compelling approach to securing a sustainable future.
Biographies:
Shannon Watts is a mother of five who, prior to founding Moms Demand Action, was a stay-at-home mom and former communications executive. The day after the Sandy Hook tragedy, Shannon started a Facebook group with the message that all Americans can and should do more to reduce gun violence. The online conversation turned into a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that protect people from gun violence. Moms Demand Action has established a chapter in every state of the country and is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country, with nearly 11 million supporters. In addition to her full-time volunteer work with Moms Demand Action, Watts is an active board member of Emerge America, one of the nation’s leading organizations for recruiting and training women to run for office, and Advance Peace, a prominent community-based organization that works to end cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American urban neighborhoods by investing in the development, health, and wellbeing of those at the center of the crisis.
[from https://momsdemandaction.org/shannon-watts/]
BENJI BACKER
Benji Backer is the Founder and CEO of Nature Is Nonpartisan, a movement redefining the environment as a nonpartisan issue once and for all. He is the founder of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC), the country's largest conservative environmental organization, which he founded during his freshman year of college. A best-selling author of The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future, Benji has been named a NYTimes Changemaker, and awarded the Fortune 40 Under 40, Forbes 30 Under 30, GreenBiz 30 Under 30, and Grist 50.
Benji is a fellow at The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) — and is one of the leading youth environmental voices in the country. Above all, Backer is an avid outdoorsman who spends most of his free time in the mountains out West. He's a proud graduate of the University of Washington and resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.
[from https://natureisnonpartisan.org/benji-bio]
REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON (doors open at 12:00 PM): https://tinyurl.com/cpf-buildingamovement
WATCH THE LIVESTREAM (begns at 12:30 PM): https://tinyurl.com/cpf-building-a-movement
This program is open to all eligible individuals. USC operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the university’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other prohibited factor.
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