Change in the Air: Discovering Your Goals & the Power to Achieve Them
There are many reasons that people might organize together under a shared strategy, but those strategies all tend toward one broad goal: seeking specific, objective, and material change. As a leader, one of your most important jobs is identifying what those goals are as well as methods for achieving them. What Do You Want? Easily identifiable, tangible goals create an impetus for joining your organization. Before you can successfully get people invested, you’ll need to answer questions such as: What problems are your constituents looking to fix or improve upon? And what can be done to accomplish that? These questions [...]
Five Black Organizers to Know Today
Come February, children all around the U.S. are learning the names of Black leaders like Fedrick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks in school. It is certainly important to recognize the accomplishments of these individuals and their contribution to American history, but for most Americans, Black History is taught using a time capsule that all too often begins with slavery and ends after the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The version of American history which uplifts and centers Black achievements is robust and recent. Though there are many to choose from, here are just five of [...]
Job Opening: WiLD Academy Zoom Coordinator
Launched in 2016, the Wisconsin Leadership Development (WiLD) Project trains community organizers, both new and seasoned, to engage others around their own core values, structure effective leadership teams, and make strategic choices that lead to measurable, effective action for change. Our signature workshop utilizes five basic organizing leadership practices that draw upon a rich history of community organizing, social movements, and campaigns. This framework is taught at the Harvard Kennedy School by Dr. Marshall Ganz, a celebrated civil rights organizer, and has been adapted in cultures and contexts launching grassroots efforts around the world. While typically offered in person over [...]
Climbing the Mountain: Navigating the Peaks and Valleys of Your Campaign Timeline
Any organization that hopes to achieve meaningful change inevitably must build a shared strategy. This is a layered process that requires time, effort, and thoughtfulness in its approach.Determining a shared strategy begins with answering five questions. First, you must pinpoint who your people are - that is, the people you’re working with and targeting, as well as opposing. Next, you must define your goals, and then determine a theory for how to get the power to achieve those goals, followed by finding specific tactics to follow through with.The fifth and final step of creating a shared strategy is arguably also [...]
Susan Butler-Graham: Organizer Spotlight
This week's organizer spotlight features Susan Butler-Graham, an organizer with Mothers Out Front (and participant in the 2021 virtual WiLD Academy): 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? I've learned to ask for help. Contrary to what I learned growing up, no one is expected to do this work alone. In fact, it's impossible to do alone. Being an organizing leader means bringing the difficulties and decisions to the rest of the team, and solving the problems together. That's both freeing and empowering. It's not easy for me to ask for help, but it's [...]
Samia Karimi: Organizer Spotlight
This week's organizer spotlight features Samia Karimi, an organizer with ARTogether (and participant in the 2021 virtual WiLD Academy): 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? Perhaps the most frightening thing about leadership is diving into pure uncertainty. You have to get comfortable about making decisions without knowing all the facts, without knowing the right people, without knowing where you will end up, or without knowing whether the people you are trying to help may no longer be alive next month. These past few months, I have been diving in head first, along with [...]
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special thanks to our funders
special thanks to our funders
