Activism 101 Training with The AHA
Getting involved in your local community can be done in a variety of ways. Whether it’s volunteering at a food bank, attending a local humanist chapter meeting, or even participating in a rally, building relationships through your commitment to the common good is a great way to live out humanist values. As stated in the American Humanist Association’s Ten Commitments:
“Service and participation mean putting values into action in ways that positively impact our communities and society as a whole.”
Activism on humanist and social justice issues is important for local communities. While it may seem daunting to participate in grassroots advocacy for the very first time, there are fantastic resources that can guide you into advocating on local issues.
Coming up in less than two weeks, the Latinx Humanist Alliance and the AHA, in partnership with the Midwest Academy, are hosting a two-day virtual grassroots “Activism 101” training for newly interested and existing community advocates. This is a two-part training happening on October 1st from 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET and October 2nd from 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET.
The Midwest Academy is a national training institute committed to advancing the struggle for social, economic, and racial justice. The Academy has trained over 25,000 grassroots activists from hundreds of organizations and coalitions. The trainers follow an organizing philosophy that hones methods and skills to enable ordinary people to actively participate in the democratic process. This training will focus on grassroots advocacy at the local level and will be led by an experienced trainer from the Midwest Academy.
The Midwest Academy’s trainings are developed specifically for progressive organizations, like the AHA. These trainings use civic engagement activities to create citizen power at all levels of our democracy. The Academy has been instrumental in building statewide coalitions and training numerous groups, ranging from students to senior citizens and from neighborhood to national organizations.
The goal of the training is to develop a common framework and language for organizing as a distinctive methodology. This will be accomplished by learning how to develop strategic campaigns informed by a concrete power analysis. This virtual and interactive training is open to grassroots organizers of all levels but is especially for those who are at the beginning of their activism journey. This training will not just be a long, drawn-out presentation, instead, it will provide a personalized and interactive experience.
The first day of the training will begin with an overview of organizing, with a focus on the definition and principles of organizing, addressing social problems, and long-term goals. Building on that, the second training day will delve into guidelines for developing an effective strategic campaign. One of the most important components of this training is the focus on how to ensure racial justice is centered in campaign work.
To maximize the interactive element of the event, spots will be limited, therefore, make sure to sign up today. It will cost only $15 for this interactive, two-day training. The second session builds off the first, so it is important to only sign up if you are available for both sessions. It’s never too late to become an advocate or an activist. This is the perfect opportunity to take a step further into participating in local issues. Civic engagement in our community’s successes, as well as shortfalls, is important as our voices especially have an impact at the local level.
If the registration fee is inaccessible for you, we have a handful of tickets set aside for free and reduced slots. If you are interested in a free or reduced registration, email mdelao@americanhumanist.org before you register for the event.