Connector and Action Group founder Lissa Tsu is committed to helping people make the leap from online to on-the-streets action.

“I think Action Groups are exciting because they can be as big or as small as you want them to be,” she says. “They also get people offline and actually engaged in making the world a better place.”

Originally from Southern California, Lissa attended Boston College before making San Diego her home base. “I actually started volunteering early in life,” she says, “but going to a Jesuit university really cemented my love for immersing myself in under-served communities.”

Lissa and her daughter

Lissa considers herself a “Connector-type” in her personal as well as professional life. “I am always thinking about how people I know can help out other people I know. It makes me feel like a part of a community,” she says.

“I feel my strength is following through on what I said I would do. I rarely commit to things and then not follow through. I am thoughtful about how I want to spend my time and energy so when I commit to something, I commit.”

The Action Group Lissa started is called Downtown San Diego Planter/Bed Beautification. Why this focus? “I started with an AG that would personally make my day,” she explains. “Living in Chicago for eight years I saw how truly beautiful sidewalks can be and what a difference that makes in living and working in a place.”

“San Diego streets need a lot of love and I think that if we revitalized them we could really improve the image of SD. I live and walk downtown with my daughter most days so I would love a few flowers to brighten the path.”

One challenge Lissa’s facing so far is recruiting others to join her and start taking action. “I’m a little stuck here,” she says. “I think the largest challenge is that once you set [an AG] up it seems easy to get sucked back into ‘cyber world.’ And I would love some more ideas about how to let the SD community know I started a Group so they could choose to join me.”

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Other AG founders: how have you recruited members to join your group? Post a comment below or write directly to Lissa through her Idealist profile.