In Fall and Spring 2026 I began attending Jersey City BOE meetings after an extended time of not doing so (due mostly to busy life, work, etc). I was asked questions about school advocacy efforts I was a part of from 2018 to the early 2020s as a trained organizer with Jersey City Together (JCT). To help give context to organizing as a civic skill and tool, I approached Rutgers Prof and co-JCT leader Jyl Josephson about a book club around Going Public: An Organizer's Guide to Citizen Action.

The book club landing page is here. Our weekly reflections are below; the book club runs through early September.

The posts below are examples of where I've used Civic Parent to persuade. I like to separate this from the learning series so that the fact / case-building

Elected are granted a pulpit by the people. In today's civic space, a pulpit may take the form of a dais at a press conference, a social media handle, or a written interview we read about. Elected have disproportionate access to the public forum and thus can claim an outsized portion of the narrative.  We entrust them to lead with facts and clarity. Pushback is essential if that does not happen.

Civic Parent is a space to workshop nuance when pushback is needed. I encourage readers to ask questions, do their homework, engage in real life, and then feel confident to push back until you have the clarity you need.