Now that you’ve mastered the daily habits, it’s time to build your capacity for deeper, more challenging civic engagement. This means formalizing your community connections and honing your skills for public advocacy.
Here’s how to transition to a higher level of civic engagement:
- Start a neighbourhood group chat. This low-effort step is critical for sharing local alerts, event information, and lending resources when a need arises.
- Become a support person for a friend who is actively volunteering or engaged in a campaign. Offer practical help, a listening ear, or just a timely pizza delivery.
- Write a single, well-researched letter to the editor of a local publication about an issue you care about. This moves your voice from private emails to public discourse.
- Find a training seminar or workshop (online or in-person) focused on advocacy, organizing, or campaigning and register for it. This is how you gain the technical skills to lead.
- Do one thing that terrifies you, whether it’s public speaking, calling an MLA, or talking to a candidate on your doorstep. Courage is a civic muscle.
- Read a book on persuasion—not about yelling louder, but about how to effectively change minds. Your civic power grows with your ability to communicate complex ideas.