Community Catalysts

Charlie Frye arrived on the Fredericksburg City Council with something unusual: a handwritten plan in a composition book for addressing gun violence in his community.
A shooting near his son's school bus stop had prompted him to run for office in 2013. Once elected, he shared his idea with a receptive city manager, sparking a voluntary gun giveback program that recently became the basis for a new Virginia state law.
But that remarkable journey took more than a decade, a legal challenge, years of persistence, and a consequential relationship with a state legislator.
Charlie's experience raises an important question for every local elected official: How much can you accomplish on your own when the authority to act belongs to the governing body or professional staff?
In this return visit to Community Catalysts, Charlie reveals how personal initiative, persistence, and relationships can turn one council member's idea into something far bigger than he ever imagined.
LINKS
Ask a Question or Leave a Comment: 602-688-2724
Send Matt a Note: Matt@SocialProsperity.us
Apply to Be a Podcast Guest: CatalystGuest.us 
On Substack: Democracy Runs on Dialogue™
Connect on LinkedIn: MattLehrman
Produced by Social Prosperity Partners

Imagine arriving at work tomorrow morning to discover that your organization's computer network is simply gone.
What stops working?
If you lead a city, county, school district, or other public organization, the answer may be far more consequential than you realize. And that raises some uncomfortable questions.
How long could your organization actually function without its technology?

At what point does an IT failure become a public safety emergency?

Why might a small community be an easier target than a major city?

How is artificial intelligence changing what attackers are capable of doing?

And perhaps most importantly: If cybersecurity is managed by the IT department, who actually owns the risk?

Chad Goodhue has spent more than 25 years in public-sector technology. In this conversation, he takes cybersecurity out of the server room and puts it where it belongs: among the leadership responsibilities of anyone entrusted with keeping a community functioning.
You don't need to understand technology to follow this conversation. But if you're responsible for a community, you should know which questions to ask.
LINKS
Ask a Question or Leave a Comment: 602-688-2724
Send Matt a Note: Matt@SocialProsperity.us
Apply to Be a Podcast Guest: CatalystGuest.us 
On Substack: Democracy Runs on Dialogue™
Connect on LinkedIn: MattLehrman
Produced by Social Prosperity Partners

Karen Corbett Sanders has built a career across international business, technology, public education, and elected service, with relationships and listening as a constant thread.
Drawing on experiences from corporate boardrooms in Europe to eight years on the Fairfax County School Board, Karen reflects on why leaders need to slow down, create space to think, and listen beyond the loudest voices. She explores the important transition from campaigning to governing, the courage it takes to say "I need to think about this," and why strong communities depend on relationships built long before a difficult decision demands them.
Today, Karen helps bring elected leaders from across Northern Virginia together to learn from one another, build relationships across jurisdictional boundaries, and tackle regional challenges no community can solve alone.
Her advice for getting started is wonderfully simple: Pick up the phone.
LINKS
Ask a Question or Leave a Comment: 602-688-2724
Send Matt a Note: Matt@SocialProsperity.us
Apply to Be a Podcast Guest: CatalystGuest.us 
On Substack: Democracy Runs on Dialogue™
Connect on LinkedIn: MattLehrman
Produced by Social Prosperity Partners

Jeremy Nunes was a stand-up comedian looking for an extra $75 a month when he decided to run for his small-town board. Two years later, campaigning as "a real joker in office," he was elected mayor of Dawson, Illinois.
 
Then the joke got serious.
 
A broken water main threatened the town's water supply. Flooding put its water plant at risk. Residents resisted change. A pig got loose on Main Street. And the job Jeremy thought might take five hours a week sometimes demanded six or seven hours a day.
 
In this funny and surprisingly thoughtful conversation, Jeremy reflects on what happens when someone who never expected to become a civic leader suddenly has people depending on him. He and Matt talk about crisis leadership, supporting staff, confronting "that's how we've always done it," and learning on the job when there's no manual for what comes next.
 
Most of all, Jeremy offers a simple reason more people should consider serving their communities: "People did it for you."
 
LINKS
Jeremy Nunes: https://www.jeremynunes.com/ 
Ask a Question or Leave a Comment: 602-688-2724
Send Matt a Note: Matt@SocialProsperity.us
Apply to Be a Podcast Guest: CatalystGuest.us 
On Substack: Democracy Runs on Dialogue™
Connect on LinkedIn: MattLehrman
Produced by Social Prosperity Partners

Who owns the problem when no one person or organization is actually in charge?
Philip Falcone represents downtown Riverside, California, a complex ecosystem of residents, businesses, government agencies, cultural institutions, historic infrastructure, and competing community needs. In this conversation, Philip explores what it takes to lead where responsibility is shared: bringing people together who don't report to one another, negotiating with colleagues for limited resources, balancing compassion with economic vitality, and helping people understand problems that local government cannot solve alone. He also shares how losing his family's home in Hurricane Katrina shaped his commitment to public service and his conviction that local government's most fundamental responsibilities are often the ones people barely notice, until something fails.
LINKS
Ask a Question or Leave a Comment: 602-688-2724
Send Matt a Note: Matt@SocialProsperity.us
Apply to Be a Podcast Guest: CatalystGuest.us 
On Substack: Democracy Runs on Dialogue™
Connect on LinkedIn: MattLehrman
Produced by Social Prosperity Partners