Curtis Cannon, Former City of Oxnard, California, Community Development Director – A Healthy Community

Curtis Cannon is a former City of Oxnard, California, Community Development Director and a public sector professional with decades of experience in community improvement projects. Though many citizens are aware that professionals like Cannon exist, few understand what these professionals work toward. A primary goal of professionals like Curtis Cannon, and organizations like the City of Oxnard, is to create healthy communities.

A healthy community must be livable and sustainable. This typically requires affordable, updated housing that the average family can live in long-term. A community with livable, sustainable housing is strengthened by financial security, educational stability and a lower risk of homeless populations. A healthy community must also provide safety for citizens, thus improving educational potential and the aforementioned livability.

A healthy community should also have a caring and creative environment with citizen involvement and job accessibility. This creates the foundation for quality life within the community and, as a result, helps keep the community sustainable and livable. Communities without citizen involvement and a caring, creative environment often have a fast resident turnover and, thus, decreased stability.

On an individual level, a safe community should encourage personal development, positive action and community participation for each citizen. This improves learning and engagement, which helps further the community’s potential, thus increasing wealth, stability and growth.

Though it might seem that communities with these traits happen by chance, the truth is that professionals like Curtis Cannon City of Oxnard and organizations like the City of Oxnard are integral for their development. These organizations craft their community projects based on models that support and promote healthy community traits. Whether it’s through redevelopment or public outreach projects, professionals are working behind the scenes every day to create the communities that citizens love.

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Curtis Cannon, Former City of Oxnard, California, Community Development Director – Characteristics of a Change Agent

Curtis Cannon is a former City of Oxnard, California, Community Development Director, and he has served as a change agent for several government and public organizations. As a change agent, Cannon’s role is to be the catalyst for change, and he does this by leading and applying his professional characteristics that he has fostered over the past several years. Curtis Cannon developed many of these skills during his 16 years with the City of Oxnard, California, but others are natural characteristics. Common characteristics required in change agents include:

• Vision – Change agents do not always need to be in management or leadership positions to do their work, but they do need a clear vision of the situation. You must have a clear view of the situation at hand, the possible methods of improvement and all current issues. In addition to a clear vision, you need to be able to communicate your vision to others.
• Strategic – Change agents need to see the steps required to change a situation and then develop a clear strategy to follow through with them. You must also strategically plan when to take these steps for the best outcome for the organization that you’re working with. In applying strategy, you also decide when to call it quits on a failing project.
• Bold – Change agents must be bold enough to ask the tough questions. Your sole job as a change agent isn’t to develop strategy, but also to help an organization grow from within. You must have the courage to ask an organization leader what is best and to help them come to conclusions, even if the questions are uncomfortable or harsh.

Whether you’re Curtis Cannon City of Oxnard, working with the City of Oxnard, or Jane Smith, working with a local elementary school, these traits will help you become a better change agent.