Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection

To engage in social change at this moment in time requires consistent attention, deep reflection, and committed collective action. Social Change Now is a powerful roadmap for individuals and organizations who are ready to deepen their commitment to social justice from racial justice advocate Deepa Iyer.

We are living in a period of overlapping social, economic, and environmental crises, accompanied by failures in public systems and institutions. It's not surprising, then, that when we attempt to engage in social change efforts, many of us feel like we are on a seesaw, swinging from outrage to overwhelm. For those who are just beginning their social change journeys to those who are weary and disillusioned, how can we effectively anchor our commitments to equity, solidarity, and justice?

This is the entry point for Social Change Now, Deepa Iyer's heartfelt offering to individuals and groups seeking to initiate or deepen their actions in service to social change values. Relying on two decades of work supporting social movements, Iyer introduces the social change ecosystem framework, which includes a map of ten roles, from builder to storyteller to disrupter to experimenter, as well as practices to identify values and strengthen our social change ecosystems. Since its original publication, people and organizations around the world have used the framework to respond to the pandemic, express solidarity during the uprisings against anti-Black racism, and support multiracial coalitions struggling for reproductive rights, immigrant and refugee protections, and climate justice around the world.

Social Change Now goes well beyond presenting ideas and frameworks. It's also a practical guide that contains detailed descriptions and real-world examples, reflection prompts with room to write responses, and accessible tips that can immediately be put into action. Social Change Now is a resource that will accompany individuals and organizations not only in times of crisis, but throughout their lifelong social change journeys to build connected communities and equitable systems in our world.

Deepa Iyer is a weaver, frontline responder, storyteller, and guide. Deepa currently helms the Solidarity Is program at the Building Movement Project, where she creates narratives, provides trainings, and facilitates networks around social change and solidarity practice. Her political and community homes include Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab spaces. Deepa served as executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) for a decade and has also held positions at Race Forward, the US Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, and the Asian American Justice Center. Her first book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future received a 2016 American Book Award. Deepa's debut children's picture book, We Are The Builders!, will be released in the fall of 2024. Deepa received an honorary doctoral degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and has taught classes on race and the law, twenty-first-century social movements, and civil rights struggles of Asian Americans at Columbia University, Hunter College, and the University of Maryland. An immigrant who moved to Kentucky from Kerala, India, when she was twelve, Deepa graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and Vanderbilt University.