Advocacy Skills Training 2012 Workshops
Bread for The World Congregational Offering of Letters
Election work with junior high and high school students
Even though junior high and high school aged students may be too young to vote, they can still play important roles in the shaping of elections. Learn how to engage teenagers in election work and help set them on path to life-long citizen participation.
Voter Registration, Outreach and Get Out The Vote (GOTV)
Who votes, doesn’t and can vote are the ultimate determiners of elections. Learn how to get persons registered and then help them turn out. There will be a particular focus on working with immigrant communities and even exploring what immigrants ineligible to vote can do to have an impact.
Getting our Message in the Media
The news media has the largest impact upon shaping what people know and think about an issue. If the message is not informed by our Christian perspective, this is a big loss to the larger common good. Learn how to craft and share newsworthy messages AND get them heard in the media.
Social media for Change
Social media continues to increase its impact in informing groups about issues and organizing and mobilizing citizens for action; and it is not just young people. Learn how different social media tools can be an integral part of your communications strategy and increase your effectiveness to influence policy.
Candidates Forums &Town Halls: Hosting and Attending
We are fortunate in the U.S. that we still have opportunities to interact with those vying for our vote in public events. Candidates’ forums and town hall meetings are two of the best places to bring our perspectives to the conversation. Learn how to host these events in your worshiping communities with the do’s and don’ts and also learn how best to get your questions asked (and hopefully answered) in other events.
Amplifying Our Voice: Organizing In-District/In-State Meetings with Your Members of Congress
The definitive event of Ecumenical Advocacy Days is the Monday Lobby Day; however, there are hundreds and thousands of others who could not be at EAD this March. Never fear, part of the goal this year is help amplify our Monday meetings by organizing in-District and in-State meetings with our Representative and Senators when they are back home too. In this time, not only will we learn how to get these meetings organized, we will begin the process of organizing in our districts and states to hold these meetings on one or both of the summer recesses, Memorial Day and July 4th. We encourage at least one person from your community to attend the grouping for your state and help facilitate the organizing for all.
Helping Persons who do Good Charity Add Advocacy to their Good Works
It often seems that there are not enough people doing advocacy. Persons doing so much of the good works of charity are often apprehensive of joining in advocacy, but are at least positively inclined on many of our issues. Learn good methods of helping these good persons add advocacy to their efforts to help others.
Influencing our Members of Congress without lobbying
Lobbying is not the only way to influence our Members of Congress. We can build deeper relations to our elected leaders and influence them through prayer vigils, and providing them opportunities to visit our ministries and service facilities. Learn how these events can be leveraged to influence our Congressional leaders and work for change.