Contact Information
Email: JimShultz@democracyctr.orgDemocracy Center: www.democracyctr.org
Personal Website: www.jimshultzthewriter.com
Twitter: @jimshultz
Advocacy Strategy Intros
Guest Introductions from Jim Schultz's "Advocacy Strategy" Video Series
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Episodes
Sunday Aug 10, 2025
Sunday Aug 10, 2025
Sunday Aug 10, 2025
Sunday Aug 10, 2025
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Jim Shultz
Founder and Executive Director of the Democracy Center
Born and raised in Whittier, California, Jim earned his bachelor’s degree (in political science) from UC Berkeley and his master’s degree (in public administration) from Harvard University. He has been an advocate and campaigner on social justice and environmental issues for more than forty years and has trained thousands of citizen advocates across five continents, from indigenous communities in Bolivia to senior leaders in the UN.
As the founder and executive director of The Democracy Center since 1992, Jim has led policy and advocacy development programs in more than two dozen countries. Since 2007 he has also served as a global advocacy advisor to UNICEF. As an advocate, Jim has helped lead winning citizen action campaigns at the state, national and international level, including the campaign that forced the Bechtel Corporation to drop its $50 million legal action against Bolivia following the Cochabamba Water Revolt.
Before founding the Democracy Center, Jim served as staff to the California Legislature and as an advocate with Common Cause and Consumers Union. In California he was a co-founder of Health Access and the lead founder of the California Budget Project. In academia he currently serves as faculty at both the Salzburg Seminar and UC Berkeley and previously taught at San Francisco State University.
Jim is the author of four books, including the award-winning The Democracy Owners' Manual (Rutgers University Press, 2002) and Dignity and Defiance – Stories from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization (UC Press, 2009). He is a contributing writer at the New York Review and his articles have been published in the New York Times, Nation, Stanford Social Innovation Review and other publications. In 2025 he will publish his fifth book, Lessons from a Small Town (SUNY Press).
For two decades, Jim and his wife Lynn lived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where they also ran an 80-child orphanage as volunteers. They have three children and four grandchildren. Since 2017 Jim has lived in the small city of Lockport, New York (across the street from two of his granddaughters) where he is a weekly columnist for the 200- year-old Lockport Union-Sun & Journal newspaper.
Democracy Center: www.democracyctr.org
Personal Website: www.jimshultzthewriter.com
Twitter: @jimshultz