TAKE 10 Training

Let’s continue to meet and expand so we can start the next cohort of TAKE 10-ers.  Let’s train more volunteers to expand the base.  Let’s make this a community of practice.

– Chester Williams, A Better Chance, A Better Community

What it Takes to Win

Imagine there is an organizing model for Voter Registration and Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) that is 100 times more effective than social media, phone calls or mailings.

This is Spirit in Action’s organizing model, “TAKE 10.”

How Does it Work?

The TAKE 10 model has its roots in the Piedmont Peace Project (PPP), a group Linda Stout founded in the 1980s. PPP wanted to get enough people to scale up to a size where they could actually begin to win on the policy and social justice issues that affected them. And it worked!

We teach 10 people to get 10 people to register to vote. We educate them on issues, get them involved as volunteers and make sure they vote before or on Election Day. The following year, we teach them how to teach their 10 people to do the same thing with another group of 10. They teach their 10 people how to teach their 10 people….and so it goes on and on.

Within a short time, like at PPP, the group can expand exponentially. The best part of this type of organizing is how it develops leadership, grows a volunteer base and keeps people engaged year-round. You don’t have to reinvent the organizing wheel every election or start organizing from scratch, as many national GOTV models do.

We also use what is often referred to today as “relational organizing,” but we always just called it really listening to people and getting them involved in what they cared about most.

At Spirit in Action, we have used TAKE 10 in all our work, not just for voting, and connecting with leaders and activists from around the world.

It’s really very simple, what it takes to win. It takes people, bringing in more people, building up their knowledge of the issues that affect their lives, organizing and then taking action, 10 people at a time.

I am so thankful that I was asked by Courtney (Patterson) to join your training sessions.  We now have a solid foundation for generations to come.

– Darlene Lesath, Cornerstone CDC

Our trainings start from an overview and delve into specifics, the monthly workshops followed by peer-to-peer coaching. Over nine to ten months we explore:

The TAKE 10 Model. Mobilize disenfranchised people to participate in the electoral process and build upon that pre-work to run a successful and empowering Voter Registration campaign while building long-term volunteer leaders and infrastructure.

Building our Community: Vision, Goals and Volunteer Leaders. How civic engagement will help build organizational membership, empower leaders and empower your community.

Finding, Training and Engaging Volunteers. How to build power and build numbers.

Community Listening Project and Outreach with Volunteer Leaders. How to do a listening project that finds the issues that galvanize your community, prioritizes them and work with volunteers to educate your constituency.

Issue-based Messaging. Develop inspiring messaging, use popular education methods and learn about language.

Inter-generational Organizing and Youth-Centered Messaging. Involve the next generation in your work.

Making and Managing Your Plans. Develop your campaign and workplan to get-out-the-vote safely.

Election Follow-up. Share successes, disappointments and celebrate your victories.

Holding Elected Officials Accountable. Build your volunteer program for the next year and beyond by keeping engaged and motivated.

You reminded me that I needed to take the time to start building other leaders and empowering them. We get so caught up in accomplishing the mission that you don’t realize you haven’t brought anyone along with you. I have to change how I’m doing business.

– Keith Rivers, SunShineStation