Citizen Activist Track Notes CampWellstone Training 2005?

Track Leaders

Pam Costain

Rudy Lopez  National Field Director of US Hispanic Institute HQ in Chicago

Sheila Cochran

Emily Harding

Pam for 14 Years Executive Director for Human Rights Organization and passionate about human rights and education.

Relationships are the Foundations for trust, for long term social change work.

Organize rather than Mobilize for LONG TERM EFFECT.

We have to be the organizers of the campaigns to build those sustained relationships in communities.

Build relationships with INTENTION.

Elements of a good conversation.

Agreement / Disagreement if there was Listening

Openness / Honesty

Learn something (the take away – we are changed because of it)

Mutual Understanding / Body Language

Humor / Light

Passion / Caring / Conviction in topic

Resolution / Accomplishment  Moving forward   Form a Common Ground

These all make a good organizing conversation as well.

Slow down to engage in intentional communication to build the relationships.

Importance of Story – Personal Narrative

Points at which your life is changed and a new world opens up to you for good or bad.

When you use story, to get to people, Issues go to the head (cerebral) – important but they, don’t get the job done.  Gut is our Interests, our stake in an issue.  Those with the biggest at stake will work the hardest.  (Healthcare, Schools, Civil Rights )  However, your interests can shift from day to day.  Heart (Values – Core beliefs.  Things that are your core beliefs.  The things that define who you are. ) 

Progressives need to be more articulate about our values.  We are losing the values discussion.  Values are what motivate us.  Our moral and ethical core are what drive us.  We need to gain common ground on values.

We need to find areas of common ground to discuss rather than those areas of Guns, God and Gays, (since those areas are so difficult for anyone to discuss, without shutting down or tuning out since there is such a polarization in this area not only between Conservatives and Progressives, but between Progressives as well).

Guns, God and Gays are what the Republicans focus on because those are the issues that divide us.  Not just US between Conservatives and Progressives, but between and among Progressives/Liberals as well.  These are issues that keep us from discussing the REAL ISSUES.

Work on what we CAN DO, NOT on what WE CAN’T DO.

Organizing Conversations

What can WE DO.  What is OUR CAPACITY?  What is our / their follow-through?

What is limiting them (our base of volunteers)?  What is their commitment?  What WILL they do? (follow through)

People can do so much more than what we think they and what they think they can.  We set up too many limitations.  We need to give them more to do to give them an opportunity to rise to the occasion.

Other Track Leader Intros

Sheila Cochran  Secretary Treasurer Milwaukee Labor Council

Emily Harding

Common Ground.  (Finding a common ground to foster discussion and working on causes together.)

Public Service Exercise

!’s Mud Hens

2’s Sea Dogs (ME)

3’s Cyclones

4’s Hedgehogs

Film Public Service Announcement Assignment

Mud Hens did a skit where each participant played the part of a younger person giving a Letterman Top Ten reason why NOT to vote.  Parody, tongue in cheek. Poking fun at the excuses that younger people often use to not vote. 

Problem with that was that:

It was too wordy, and people could easily get lost in not getting the message.

Too often younger people, who are already apathetic, would actually take those messages to heart and the message would backfire.

Not enough graphics to assist in getting the message out.

Not enough repetition in getting out the TRUE message.

Sea Dogs did a skit where a young person (student) was complaining to a friend in a coffee shop, about all the reasons why she didn’t have the time to vote. Others came up, one by one, to give personal, passionate examples of why they voted.  I followed up with:

“You’re old enough to drink and drive.  You’re old enough to be drafted and die in a war, not of your own choosing.  You’re also old enough to vote.  JUST DO IT.”  (All together with graphic that says VOTE in large letters.) “VOTE!”

Critiques were that, the reasons were “downers” and not upbeat enough. 

Not clear what our roles were.

Reasons weren’t directed to the demographic that we were targeting.  (18-35 y/o)

Cylones did a rap / music skit

Not a clear enough message.   

Not everyone understood what the references were to.  (Need more universal themes).

Had some good references to current day events in the rap group.

Hedgehogs

Dan Rather interviewing teenagers on a basketball court. And then later interviewing people in a coffee shop.

Dan Rather was probably a bad choice since he was involved in a scandal that identified him as being part of “the other side.”

People had their backs turned to us.

Coffee Shop bit had a good comment where a comment made revolved around them being a second generation citizen.  Their parents were the first to vote in their family That was why it was so important for them to vote.

Saturday Morning

Pam

Rudy Lopez

Gamiliel Organization

Shaw Lewinski Lowinski? model

Why are you here?  Want to create change for the better.

There are things that we care about.  We need to connect with other people that share similar values to mine. 

Some of the things that we really get wrong is the subject of POWER.

What is your concept of POWER?  Negative or Positive? 

Parents, control, money, teachers, police, priests.  Most look at it from a negative stand point.  Power is mostly used by those IN POWER, so that they can MAINTAIN IT and prevent YOU from TAKING POWER.

Hitler was hugely powerful, but today considered by most to be a monster.

What is your perception of the concept. 

Power – Responsibility – Accountability

POWER IS NOT EVIL.  Powerlessness is EVIL.

Absolute POWER, Absolute CORRUPTION.

Does that then mean that Powerlessness is GOOD?  (that’s what Absolute Power =  Absolute Corruption equates to).

How would you define POWER.

The ability to make change or keep things the same.

Spanish – PODER – The Ability to Act.  Tu Poder (to be able to)

You will act according to your faith and values.

Bad things exist because some people benefit from that condition.

Drugs on the streets exist because

Drug dealers

Police

Justice Dept

Lawyers

Politicians

Companies that build Prisons

Benefit from it!

What are the causes?  Not because of the many living in that community, but because of a few that are benefiting from the problems that are there because of it.

Power has been conditioned into us as being NEGATIVE by those that ARE IN POWER, so that WE WON’T WANT IT.  We believe that we are selfish and bad, and self centered if we grab power.

POWER IS NEUTRAL depending on WHO USES IT, for WHAT PURPOSES.

How to support POWER.

Empowerment, Support, Money, Leverage,

ONLY TWO THINGS YOU NEED TO CREATE POWER.

Two basic elements of POWER.

Organize $  and Organize People (based on Values)

What is missing – Execution of the plan.

Who else was powerful?

Ghandi  (Organize people and get people NOT to WORK to support their oppressors.

MLK  (Civil Rights Movement) CORE, COPE, Southern Baptist Leadership Council  (After meetings – pass the hat.)

Rosa Parks (sat on a bus and wouldn’t give up her seat – she was a trained organizer)

Oprah  Harpo productions.           

Mother Theresa (Sisters of Charity) 1940’s and 1950’s – now largest group in the world.

Hitler

Sojourn Truth

JFK

Jesus

Bushs

Clintons

We remember all of these people, because they did something in History that causes us to remember them.

Does what is Right, Good and Just always win?  No, the ones that have the most POWER   WIN.  Winners write HISTORY.  It matters most about who has the POWER, but in order to GAIN it, we have to have the motivation from what is right, good and just.

The Faces of Power

1 The Power to decide

Elected Politicians

CEOs

Heads of Organizations, School Boards

2 The Power to set the Agenda

The people who push the buttons.  Lobbiests, Interest Groups, Money, Media.

3 The Power to shape Meaning

The power to decide what is normal – setting where the discussion begins.

Minimum wages

Prayer in Public Schools

Gay Marriage

Abortion

“The Conscience of America”

Branding

Coke

Kleenex

Xerox

“Liberal”

Shift the discussion

Make them accountable

Reshape the meaning.

If not us, WHO?  What legacy will we leave behind?

Larry Marks  Co-Executive Director of Wisconsin Citizen Action

Worked on over 100 different issue or electoral campaigns.

Involved in social change issues since 19.  Met Paul Wellstone when Paul was running for State Auditor of Minnesota.

Three fundamental parts of organizing.

Issues, Elections and Power

Smart organizing operates where all three intersect.

Issue campaigns that win an election.  Elections that build power that can be spent on issues to help win elections.

Power and strategy. 

How to use both.

Issues Politics  (Most people believe this but this isn’t really how things are done.)

1 Morally right or wrong

2 Logic, truth, info

3 Greatest good for greatest number $

Examples of how it is that all the above are necessary but not sufficient to decide the issues).

War in Iraq

National Healthcare

Education

Social Security

Environment

What is needed?  Lobbying for POWER.

Power is Necessary and Sufficient to win.

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.

Most progressive groups operate without a strategy.

You need to have a clearly defined goal and a clearly defined means to the end.  Also needs to be clearly communicated to people they expect to LEAD.

Without these, you are leaving the result to chance or the charity of others.

Current Issues in Milwaukee

Protests against Police Brutality (D.A. has been very slow to interview witnesses.  Police have been slow to investigate themselves.  Mike McGee was involved in boycotting a mall.  (Indirect targets vs Direct targets)  Financial interests who might get involved because they are targets of boycott vs Chief of Police Nan Haggerty and D.A. Mike McCann.  (Not clearly defined because they targeted businesses not connected with the issue.)

Police killing a Hmong man who had a standoff with police.  Protestors had a walk from the killing victim’s house and presented a list of 5 things that they wanted addressed by Chief Nan Haggerty.  Be in Context. Use posters that support you.  Be flexible and creative.  Make the event DIGNIFIED. Back the event with a specific form of power.

Failure to clearly define goal and means to the end comes from:

1 Don’t know how

2 Would rather self indulge in feelings rather than organize

3 Don’t expect to win, and would rather flail than plan.

Definitions

POWER = Organized $ and People.

Strategy = A plan for organizing and using YOUR power to achieve a clearly defined goal.

Power from Latin (to be able)

“Power Tends to Corrupt and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”

Lord Compton

The above statement has been misquoted to say that “POWER corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

SMART

Specific

Measureable

Attainable

Relevent

Timely (Time-Line for achievement)

One out of three kids are poisoned by lead.

Futures are destroyed because of it, even though it is preventable. 

Increase awareness.

Shift from “How do you treat poisoned kids” to “Building housing that doesn’t contaminate kids”

Bring kids poisoned and parents of those kids to the decision making table.

Get more money to make housing stock lead safe.

Get ordinance passed to get the lead out of properties.

Sue the lead paint companies.

Have affected people testify publicly to empower them.  Put them in a position to have more power than the landlord who won’t comply with legislation to make housing lead safe.  (allow them to legally withhold rent payments to landlords who didn’t comply).

Timelines are constantly changing depending on conditions, and other influences.

Organizational Considerations

What are the resources that individuals/organization brings to the table? 

How to raise money?  Do you have a full time person (paid staff) working to raise the money to build the organization up to have the resources to have an affect?

Gain power and get a reputation of being a “giant slayer”

Labor Movement “Building to Last”  not just to win elections.

List internal problems we are going to have and figure out how to overcome those restrictions.

Who cares enough to join in and help in the organization?  Map a target to directly focus on those individuals and groups that have the most to gain from your efforts.

In the case of Lead Poisoning, the victims, Healthcare organizations that have to pay for the costs.

What do you gain if you win?  What are the risks involved?

What other decisions do you have to make in order to win this issue?  What are the tradeoffs?  What will you lose in order to win?

Who are your opponents?  How do you gain their buy in?

Target the lead paint companies rather than the landlords, to make it easier for them to join with you to get the financial support they need to comply.

No permanent enemies!  Leave the door open to turn former opponents into supporters.

What are the financial hurdles?

Targets

Primary vs Secondary

Separate county board into who is for you, who is against you and who are the swing voters on the board.

Identify if the Mayor is for or against.  Identify who would shift and why.  Who will vote on the legislation?  Common Council?  Network to identify what is important to consider strategically.

Focus on profitable corporations in state who’s employees benefits are cost shifted from the corporation to the taxpayers (like Walmart).

Corporate executives are often not the best targets (because of financial hurdles)

Who are the string pullers?  Do research to find out who has influence over the decision makers?  Do the politicians depend on the staffers to decide on the issues?  Are they heavily lobbied? 

Doing polling.  Reading body language.  Understanding what is going on behind the scenes, or below the surface.  Do you have whistle blowers that are willing to help your cause.

Are you know as being credible and seen as being in the forefront on the issue.

Opponents will attack your credibility first and try to ridicule you.

Tactics

Media Events

Lawsuits

Strikes

Letter Writing Campaigns

Candle Light Vigils

Make the issue something that can be brought up in future elections to gain the ear of politicians.

Change “We can’t afford it.”  To “How can we make this work?  How can we finance this?”

Change Paint can logo of paint all over the globe, to toxic poisons all over the world.

Make target clear.  Don’t make your opponents the targets.  Define them based on the degree to which they oppose you and how you could affect them to bring them into your camp.

Media is a means to an end.  Don’t be seduced by whether or not you are in the papers.  You have to make sure that that appearance affects the outcome in a positive manner.

Ended up winning the City Ordinance and the City Lawsuit.

Money has now been shifted from treatment to prevention. 

Landlords have seen increase in value of their properties by making the improvements.

Don’t use your kids as lead detectors.  Canaries in the Coal Mines.

Clean Indoor Air Campaign Exercise

Goals focus on

How to build organization long term.

Means to an end, but build organizationally to continue to expand.

Build a sense of accomplishment, momentum

Develop successful tactics

You need milestones to show gains, not just the end result because you won’t always win on the end result.

Clean Indoor Air

Build target group diagram to graphically identify who they are and where they sit in the hierarchy.

Core Constituencies

Inner ring: Workers, asthmatics, patrons, (how are they organized – Cancer Society, Elderly – AARP, State Council of Senior Citizens – ARA, Children – Children’s Defense Fund, PTA, Child Abuse Networks, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families).  Non-smoking bar or restaurant – how are they affected?

Outer Ring: Medical Professionals, environmental groups, people who sell air fresheners/air purifiers.

Union organized vendors, indirect marketers to those restaurants

Insurance Companies who pay for the expenses.

Cleaning Companies

Landlords who own the buildings that the businesses operate in.

Opponents

Smokers, Bar owners – Tavern League, Big Tobacco, Vending Machine Industry, Alcohol interests (linked to tobacco use), Beverage groups, ashtray manufacturers

Civil Rights groups, Rush Limbaugh types, Libertarians, Chamber of Commerce

Council Members  who may be influenced by PACs

Show statistics on how potential supporters could benefit from the legislation.  Give and take - If we get your support, how can we help you?  What does this cost?  What will maintaining the status quo cost?

Who are the leaders of the organizations, how can you meet with them.  What are their organizational considerations?  What resources can they bring to the table?  What has been done before?  What have those groups/organizations encountered before?  How can you adapt to what has been done before that has worked, and avoid what hasn’t worked before.

How will opponents attempt to block or thwart?  Will business go down?  Divide and conquer.  Who will separate out and join with your movement? 

Anticipate their responses and try to ward them off by engaging groups to your way of thinking and strategy rather than having them be approached by the opposition first.

Interview the associations of the opposition to identify their way of thinking.

Identify a clear and really bad enemy so that is easy to target them, and gain public approval. 

Power analysis of who your opponents are and how you can approach them and either gain their support or defeat their position.

Research the Restaurant Association to find arguments.

Need to know their alliances of decision makers and how they work together.  Who are their primary supporters? 

Building coalitions.

Contact county board staff work with them. 

Get legal council to help you.

Clean Air Exercise

Pick a Key Message  (Frame the Message first)

Develop Tactics  (Your approach to getting people mobilized)

Testimonials  anti smoking and show businesses that have gained financially from voluntary imposition of anti-smoking policies (health care, insurance, less time off)

Phone Surveys of constituents

Public awareness

Coalitions, mobilizations by Coalition partners

Postcard campaigns

Activities

Getting people to participate in the thing that you do.

Mobilize members to go to businesses that impose smoking ban.

Smoke Out Day.

Regulations are difficult to impose.  Easier to get people to do this voluntarily if you can show a value to THEM.

It is CRITICAL to do planning ahead of time to develop a strategy and identify constituents, opponents, timelines, goals. 

What will it take to get there?  Take Action!  Take small steps first to develop confidence in participants.

If you care about social justice, it will be a life-long effort.

Saturday Afternoon Session

SEIU Executive regarding Volunteer Action

2003 Other side was testing models for voter contact.

Volunteer contact is the most effective in getting people out to vote.

Types of paid calling. 

Live calling vs Robo calls (no difference)

Personal touch of one on one contacts of Volunteers was MOST effective.

Volunteers are more motivated and more passionate rather than paid staffers.

They are changing their culture within their party to make the process more valuable and more honorable to people within their party.

We need to do the same.

Best experience as volunteers.

Election Protection

Informing past felons that they were able to vote.

Driving people who never voted before to the polls.

MoveOn canvassing door to door.

What things were done for you by campaign that helped you to do your job?

Internet access and organizing for meetups.

40 people sign up.  20 people show up.  8 people actually volunteer.

How do you relate the work the volunteers do to the actual plan.  The volunteers don’t necessarily need to know. 

What is the Hierarchy?  You need some kind of top down management even on the grassroots level.  We need some discipline. 

What are some ways that you can find other leaders and grow them.  The cream rises to the top.  Give them something to do and see what they can accomplish, and build on those that succeed.  Accomplishments at tasks aren’t the same as having someone who is a volunteer coordinator who plans and organizes the tasks. 

Focus on the cause and keep the egos out of it. 

Bad experiences. 

Organized Kerry buses from Chicago, not allowed to work with other groups. Time people needed to be back to get back to the buses not communicated to the volunteers and no attempt made to contact the Milwaukee people that they were with to get them back in time to make the bus trip back to Chicago.

No preparation, no training.

People taking on leadership roles for prestige purposes, and people under them looking for something to do, but not getting any direction.

What are other ways to improve volunteer participation and experience?

Feed them.  Show them how their efforts link to other efforts.  Give them proper training. 

Getting volunteers to support one another so they can learn from the experience. 

Thank you from candidates.

Give people choices between different things they can do, rather than only having one thing for them to do.

Identify people’s skills sets.

Develop people to work on issues long term.

Personal one on one contact.  Share successes. 

Fighting Bob Mustard.  “Cutting the mustard.”

How to thank people.  Retention.  Keep them involved in action items.  Keep track of goals, and reward people by letting them know of their progress.  Party when the job’s done.  Stress free, calm environment.

Create environment of two way street.  Air issues and get them resolved.

Can you fire a volunteer?  Yes, if they are bad at the job or do something inappropriate.  Often better to just shift them to a different job, if they didn't do anything seriously wrong.

Eric  One to one interviews for recruiting

Personal relationships.  Engaging people.

Conversations Exercise / Conversations with a Purpose

Have a structured conversation to make sure that you are moving people in a direction that can accomplish something. 

One on One Conversation

Using common ground to get someone to join your project.  What is that person’s skills?  What is their commitment?  What is it they are willing to do?  Do a “direct ask”.  We want you to be a part of this.  Are you willing to be part of this?

Tara  Phone Solicitation Presentation – Strategist for Democratic Candidates

National Chair of Minority Caucus of Young Democrats

Sr. V.P. of Senior Pitch  - Public Relations Group

Earned Media.  Media that you have earned.  Print or broadcast that you have not paid for. 

How do you get Earned Media?  Show up.  Develop a relationship with media groups that cover events.  Watch the consistency re: what reporters cover what type of event, issue etc… to identify who you need to be networking with.

How many have conducted Press Conferences?  One

Find people whom you can network with to make sure that you have a relationship with them and will show up to report on something when you call a press conference.

Reporters are LAZY.  If you can give them a story that they don’t have to write (especially if they are weeklys and locals), they will run with it more often.  If you have tapes and videos, they might use them, but oftentimes they won’t because they may not want to give you credit for it.

Evolve from a blurb, to an editorial, to a photos, captions, press release.  Give them sources for quotes, or get an opinion.  So and so is an expert in this issue. 

They like emails and photos if you provide them with it.

When you are writing letters, commentary and op eds, make sure that you are speaking to your message. 

Don’t go off message and go into a rant.  Remember that most letters to the editor have limits to the number of words that you are allowed.

It may not be printed at a time that you want it printed.

Sometimes you have to have relationships with editors with the editorial board, in order to get printed.

You may want to get info to other people who can advocate for you to get the message out and encourage it’s printing on the editorial page.

Once the message or issue is “OUT THERE”, you can’t control the outcome.

How do you stand out from the rest of the writers?  Be consistent.  Keep writing and have your people keep writing.  Write to the weekly, the daily, the radio etc… Make sure that it is the ISSUE and the MESSAGE that is getting out, NOT the Person. 

Don’t be shocked if they print opposing views to yours as well, in order to have the perception of being fair and balanced.

Media is not about what is right or wrong, but about what is profitable for that organization.

The least that you can do, is to send an email to the writer on the media in order to get their attention, even if the organization itself isn’t willing to print your piece.

New York organization parodied the deaths due to the Tsunami, and an Asian group started protesting and then started targeting their advertisers to boycott them.  The advertisers started walking away and going to other networks to air their ads instead.

The group also targeted the other networks and telling them what was happening and that the networks had to start covering their protests or they would target them as well.  They ended up getting coverage and the DJ that ran the parodies was fired.

When reading an issue – don’t focus on the issues, focus on the reporter to see how they write – what is their style.  That way you can identify how to spin the story to get the information out effectively.  Especially effective if you can give them names of people and numbers to call to back up your story to make it credible.

The more often you do that the better able you would be able to get access to the media.

Lexis Nexis expensive (about $500 per month), but available for students, alumni, law firms etc…

If you audit a course, you can also get Lexis Nexis without having to pay for it (much cheaper that way.)  If it’s ever been in print anywhere, you can find it in Lexis Nexis.

Lexis Nexis also does research on documentation. They vet the information for accuracy.

Before having a press conference, you need to plan carefully.  Any slippage, during the conference can cause information to not be reported or go in a different direction.  Don’t embellish.  If they catch you once in a lie, they won’t cover you again.

You need to be creative.  Have clear goals.  Have action.  Tell the public what you want.  What is the issue?  When is the referendum?  Register to vote.  Make sure everyone you know shows up to vote, how and why.  Be clear, convincing.

Choose the right location for the press conference.

If outside, check the weather!  If outside, where does the cameraman plug in for sound and power?  People won’t show up if the weather is bad.

Staging and backdrop.  Make sure it is nice and positive, goal oriented.

Make sure that the area is controlled.

Think rationally, creatively on where to have the press conference.  Make sure that the announcer is clear, powerful and effective.  Use graphic symbolism to support and reinforce the issue or the event.

Women in wedding dresses holding tombstones to call attention to a woman who was shot by ex boyfriend in her wedding dress.

Sunday Morning

Tanya  (has powerpoint presentation that she can email to us)

Planned Parenthood Advocacy Agenda

Public Policy is the set of decisions tat we make as a society about how we will care for one another, our communities and the land.

Marcia Avner MN Council of Nonprofits

Advocacy is taking ACTION.

Anyone can advocate.  In fact, everyone who has ever spoken up or voiced an opinion is an advocate.

Advocacy vs. Lobbying

Advocacy is speaking out about promoting an issue

Lobbying is specifically asking an elected official to take a position on an issue.

Constituents can lobby all you want.  If you are representing an organization you may or may NOT be allowed to do so.

Simple but takes patience.

Don’t have to know every last detail about the issue.

You DO need to know that you don’t need to wait for hundreds of people to join you before jumping in.  A few committed people can make a huge difference.

Community Advocates (Milwaukee Organization)

Immunizations and Vaccinations are needed by children who are the most vulnerable, yet a nurse wasn’t able to get the coverage because the insurance company wouldn’t cover it., so a few people got together to lobby their representative to make it a law to give her the coverage she/nurses needed.

Components of Effective Advocacy Campaigns

Educate yourself

Develop a Plan

Goals

Benchmarks

Targets

Formulate a Message

Grassroots Mobilizing

Media

Communicating your message to the Public

Working with Elected Officials

Goal – to get legislation to pass or not pass, get people on board,

Benchmarks – shorter term goals - meetings with interest groups, legislators,

Target – legislator, neighbors, pharmacies, drug companies, media

Educating the

Don’t be intimidated

You don’t have to know every little detail

If you have practical experience, you are the EXPERT

Understand the basic process, but connect with and advocacy organization who supports your position.  They get paid to analyze and track the information for you.

What’s the Plan?

It is critical to have a plan to guide you through

 Should be flexible

Planning process stimulates creative brain juices

Have clearly defined goals

Grassroots

Policy

Kiss

Stay Energized – Celebrate victories along the way

Create Benchmarks

Short

Intermediate

Long Term Goals

State of Wisconsin Blue Book available and has information regarding biographies of elected officials etc…

Humanize people to get to know about them personally to connect with them.

Targets

ID your targets ASAP

Community base (where is your strongest base? Mobilize them FIRST.)

What are the Swing Districts?

Elections

Issue Campaigns

Who can crank the sausage grinder in the legislature.

Champion

Committee Chairs and Members

If you don’t show up, your opposition will!

Leadership

Finance committee

Who should you not bother with?  Or should you…

Formulate Basic Talking Points and a Message

Internal and External Messages

External should be very well thought out and STAY ON MESSAGE.

“Argue in the kitchen, smile in the dining room”

Grassroots Mobilizing

Work from your base

Get them energized

Mobilizing constituents is critical

Remember you’re the ones who gives out the butter

What other groups have a membership bases?

Be creative – there are groups who may want the same result for different reasons

Who has connections to

Targets

Media

Resources  (time vs money)

Engage the affected community from the beginning.  Have them involved in the process.

Packing the Capitol with people with a rally. (3,000 or more)

Media

Letters to the Editors

Editorial Board Meetings

Human Stories

Create Good Visuals

Let them in

5 Steps to have a Successful Meeting with a Legislator

Always leave them something in WRITING.

5 Tips to Make it a Success

Do’s and Dont’s of Advocacy

Do’s

Form Relationships

Be open to talking with staff

Have Fun

Be informative.  Know the issue and the system.

Give personal examples, they are powerful

Be Honest.

Do’s II

Be concise.  Keep visits, phone calls, and visits brief.

Don’ts

Don’t make threats.

Where do we go from here?

Well Behaved Women rarely make history

Sheila Cochran  President of Wisconsin Citizen Action  501c  Non-Partisan

Election Protection

People for the