👋 Hi, I'm Nicholas Roberts. I create and perform music and write this daily blog about creativity, culture, and my life.

I live in Los Angeles with my wife and golden retriever.

Email me: hello@nicholasroberts.io

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It's election season in LA.

This week, I've received 25 mailers from politicians running for the California Senate, House, and local districts.

Part of being a member of the community involves proactively finding the information you need to make informed decisions when it's time to vote. And I’m sitting in a coffee shop trying to fill out my ballot.

But it’s hard to know where to look to make sense of who’s running and what they’d like to change.

I used to rely on my local newspapers' endorsements to gut-check my voting.

But my local paper, the LA Times, has laid off staff. And there are questions about their political endorsements— they're owned by a tech billionaire. So are many newspapers these days.

How have I never heard of half of these people? I thought I read the news too much. Perhaps not enough.

This year, candidates spent hundreds of thousands of dollars "getting the word out." This means flyers, mailers, social media advertisements, and campaign events.

But what would it look like if that same money was spent on direct, impactful ways that benefit people today? Not by promises to change once elected.

Be the change they want to see.

1. Start a newsletter that curates the best events in our communities. Theaters, schools, restaurants, libraries, and other local businesses all want to spread the word about their events Combine their events into a simple weekly email newsletter for locals.
2. Host a local job fair and invite local business owners to showcase their companies and open roles now and in the next 12 months. Connect our job seekers with opportunities.
3. Organize a neighborhood movie night where you rent out a movie theater and screen classics and family-friendly movies. Donate the tickets to local schools or community centers.
4. Launch a free fitness and wellness program in our local parks. Hire a fitness instructor for a season to host in-person fitness classes for anyone who wants to join.
5. Start a community garden project that grows vegetables and herbs. Plant fruit trees and avocado trees that can also provide shade. Make the garden free to pick, or donate the food to other local initiatives.
6. Coordinate a teacher supply drive. Local teachers often dip into their own pockets to buy school supplies for their classrooms. Hang up posters in libraries and spread the word on social media to drive donations at a drop-off point. Set up a collection box inside a local coffee shop.
7. Host a food-truck fair to showcase the vibrant food scenes in our community that aren't always shown on Yelp or Google Maps, platforms that brick and mortar businesses can leverage to greatly expand their reach that food trucks can't.
8. Start a community-wide food drive to redistribute unused food and cans to food banks or other resource centers. Food drives are often held around the holidays in churches and by individual contributors. But these can be coordinated community-wide.
9. Ask local musicians to busk in high foot traffic areas, or areas that need more foot traffic. Busking has been shown to boost economic and community activity.