Where to go for political education and/or organizer training?
March 11, 2018 2:56 PM   Subscribe

I'm helping compile a list of places and trainings for people who are interested in building knowledge and skills to intervene in social and political action. Any ideas?

Really we're open to any ideas, but especially thoughts on retreat centers (like Highlander Center in Tennessee or the Watershed Center in New York) or summits (like The Arena or the Left Forum).

We'd also be open to more pure organizer trainings, like Momentum or Courage & Renewal.

Could also be political education, or history and theory, and ways to ground that in practice. Thank you!
posted by vecchio to Society & Culture (8 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Illinois legislative process specific but a good training: Restore Justice
posted by crush at 3:09 PM on March 11, 2018


A lot of these are electoral politics specific, but here are a few training resources: Netroots Nation, Emilys List, Analyst Institute, Indivisible, Swing Left, Democratic Gain, Management Center, Run for Something, Wellstone Action/NOI, AFL-CIO, OFA, Democracy Partners
posted by fancypants at 3:29 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]


fancypants' list is a good place to start. Wellstone Action runs weekend-long Camp Wellstone, which has a track for issue-based organizing (as opposed to electoral); they also run digital trainings. Unfortunately, I can't get their site to load right now.

Greenpeace and the Ruckus Society train people to do non-violent direct action.

Organizing 2.0 is a conference at the intersection of tech and organizing with an economic justice bent.

A lot of organizations with strong grassroots bases run training programs for their members/volunteers. Sierra Club, most of the unions, and ACLU are large legacy orgs that come to mind. And many of the Momentum-oriented newer organizations do as well, like Indivisible and the Sunlight Movement.
posted by lunasol at 4:06 PM on March 11, 2018


Midwest Academy
posted by brookeb at 4:15 PM on March 11, 2018


The Obama Foundation
posted by Sublimity at 4:44 PM on March 11, 2018


The Gamaliel Foundation
posted by SyraCarol at 5:16 PM on March 11, 2018


+1 Midwest Academy
posted by salvia at 5:48 PM on March 11, 2018


The Activists Handbook
posted by Thella at 11:04 PM on March 11, 2018


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