Trainings

True actionable and successful steps to strategic planning begins with a vision of hope that is realistic and doable. This workshop provides hope and a collective vision for participants as well as a heart-driven strategic workplan that leaves the organization with clear next steps, timeline, and a matrix of who is doing each task and the resources needed.

Collaborations and networks should be a place where everyone seeks investment and returns. It should be a place where people can express honesty, trust, conflict resolution and love of each other. To build truly healthy collaborations and networks, we first need to create a culture of trust and honesty. Without this, we often build something that is slow, ineffective and dysfunctional. We must put in the upfront time to get full involvement and successfully work together. This training offers participants the tools to build a culture that will make collaboration possible and successful.

As someone who started working as a poor non-college educated organizer, Linda never believed she could become a “leader.” In order to reach and support low-income and working class people, we need to understand how internalized oppression operates, redefine what “shared” leadership means and develop popular education models of building leaders. Participants will learn tools and techniques to reach disenfranchised populations who do not see themselves as leaders.

Most of us have been part of many trainings about anti-racism, anti-classism, etc. In Linda’s experience of leading these trainings, she finds they often create distrust, shame, and can be more divisive than connective. This workshop will bring a positive approach building across differences by building trust, using heart, experiences and storytelling. Participants will learn other ways of working on issues that create positivity and build power.

As organizers, jobs have become more professionalized, you may have taken on more of the work traditionally done by volunteers, sacrificing leadership building for just getting the work done. But an organizer’s job is to recruit and train volunteers for the long-term, and then mobilize them to run campaigns. From block captains to statewide volunteers, we discover how to use online trainings to reach a broader group of people and develop a deeper level of organizing.

If anyone uses their privilege or their actions to dominate others, take up all the space, or create a destructive environment in our organizations, we are doing a huge disservice to our organization and constituents.

All of us have experienced people who disrupt, triangulate, or dominate groups and meetings. In many cases, there are ways to deal with these people in constructive ways. If we are unsuccessful dealing with this, we need to know what to do as an organization. How to deal with these individuals is critical to long term success and creating a trusting environment where all feel included. This training offers tools and shares ideas on how to handle these situations. Follow up counseling can also be provided for groups actively dealing with a situation.

Once they’re in office, how do we hold winning candidates accountable? From tools to tracking, we explore ways to make sure our voices continue to be heard. This workshop is not about signing petitions, letters or talking about bills, but demonstrates a heartfelt approach to lobbying that is customized to the office holder and creates momentum toward the next election.

To develop and run an empowering Get-Out-the-Vote campaign, it is not enough to simply educate non-voters in how to register and cast their vote. In order to give them equal access in the democratic process, they must also feel confident in their knowledge of the issues and the solutions that will be affected by their decisions.

This workshop demonstrates how to create leadership infrastructure that builds power within disenfranchised communities, where grassroots folks hold top positions, both locally and statewide. There is tremendous power to influence change when individuals harness the power of the community’s voice.

We often try reaching out to others in a way that is familiar to us, and then wonder why people who are different than us do not respond. In this workshop, we examine how internalized oppression and class affects our organizing. Unless we become aware of this and understand how to meet various needs, we will not be able to build an inclusive organization or movement. Participants work with tools on how to reach people from different cultures, income levels and ethnicities, and how to build inclusivity at every level.