2014 REGIONAL TRAINING
2014 REGIONAL TRAININGS DATES AND LOCATIONS NUMBER OF FELLOWS 1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
June 19th-22nd New York City, NY July 10th-13th San Francisco, CA
July 24th-27th Chicago, IL
August 7th-10th Houston, TX August 5th-7th Vote Summit for YP4 Vote Organizers in Houston, TX
11-12
TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 WELCOME FROM THE ALUMNI BOARD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE FOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 PFAWF YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS DIRECTOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 YOUNG PEOPLE FOR STAFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 YOUNG PEOPLE FOR ALUMNI BOARD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 WELCOME TO OUR CITIES! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 AGENDA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 WORKSHOP OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 OPEN SPACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 NETWORKING TIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 REGIONAL TRAINING WORKSHOP MATERIALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 WORKSHOP MATERIALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 CURRICULUM CREDITS, LICENSE, APPRECIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 STANDARDS OF CONDUCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 STAFF CONTACT INFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 1
WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR Dear 2014 YP4 Fellows, Welcome to the Young People For (YP4) Fellowship Program! As we read your applications, we were inspired to learn about your visions and plans for the future. This Fellowship class brings with it the strength of diversity, experience and prevailing optimism and hope of a generation already making a mark on America’s progressive movement. You are 150 of the most talented, innovative and visionary young leaders representing 127 campuses and 39 states. While many of you express frustration about what’s going on in the country and in your communities, you also demonstrate a deep commitment to creating change and making a difference, whether by mobilizing your campus or community around important issues, starting a unique project, designing a local campaign, or making your voices heard through the arts or media. The Fellowship exists to bring together the power, ideas, and talent of young people, and to help you all turn that idealism and vision into effective action for positive social change. This weekend does just that by allowing young leaders, inventors and dreamers to build a foundation for the change we all hope to see as the 2014-2015 Fellowship year and beyond. As part of the YP4 network, you’ll feel the excitement of making real progress in the short term on issues you care about, while learning skills that will help you to be more effective throughout your lives as progressives who care about the future of this country. And you don’t have to do it alone. Here you will find a family to support, inspire, and challenge you to take your social justice work to the next level. You are now a member of a growing network of nearly 1,500 courageous change agents in the Young People For network. The Fellowship is set up to facilitate Fellows building new relationships with other bright and passionate young change makers: other Fellows, YP4 staff, partners, and alumni. We look forward to meeting you, learning about you, learning from you and ensuring that you have what you need to be a leader today and over the long-term. And while you’re busy learning and strategizing, please don’t forget to have fun! Thank you for your commitment to your communities and to this program. All the best,
Director, Young People For People for the American Way Foundation
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WELCOME, FROM THE YP4 ALUMNI BOARD! Congratulations on being selected as a 2014-2015 Young People For (YP4) Fellow. This family invites you in where you belong among your exceptionally diverse, dedicated, and dynamic Fellows. We are so excited and fortunate to have you join us. As a member of the YP4 family you can continue doing what drives you, working toward fairness and justice in your community, with the added support of the other young change agents with whom you are now connected. From Fellows, to staff, to alumni and beyond, we will help you maximize your impact on your community. Over the course of your Fellowship, you will have numerous opportunities to meet and collaborate with other exceptional leaders from across the country, all of whom share a passion for social change. Many teams and partnerships have formed as a result of the interactions fostered at YP4! And if you are not quite sure yet how you will begin to access all of these opportunities and apply them to your work, that is alright! We are here to be a resource to you and to walk you up to each door that is opening for you. We are all active in our personal and professional lives and, as board members, we encourage you to lean on us, ask questions and know how proud we already are of you for moving forward on behalf of the people and issues that motivate you. As alumni of the YP4 Fellowship, we are confident that you will challenge others, you will be challenged yourself, and ultimately you may forge lifelong relationships with members of the YP4 network. Year one of the Fellowship is just the beginning, and it is like no other experience. We encourage you to use this opportunity as a learning experience to help better not only yourself but also your mission and your work. At times you will be taken out of your comfort zone, only to emerge that much stronger. Know, too, that it is okay to reflect when necessary and grow at your own pace. We are here for you, and encourage you to be open to this process and all that it can give you. Your first challenge was to be selected as a YP4 Fellow: job well done! It is now time for your next challenge. Have an open mind, trust the process, give maximal effort, and have fun. We have a feeling you won’t regret it! All our best, Your YP4 Family Alumni Board Kamaria ‘06, Jala ‘07, Julianna ‘07, Nijeul ‘09, Andrew ’10, Tiesha ‘11, Klein ‘11, Karl ’11, Alray ‘12, Elliot ‘12, Lena ‘12, George ‘13
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ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE FOR Young People For (YP4) is a strategic, long-term leadership development program that identifies, engages, and empowers the newest generation of progressive leaders to create lasting change in their communities. We are dedicated to identifying young people who are campus and community leaders today to engage and support them with the skills and resources they need to create change in the progressive movement tomorrow.
At the core of YP4 is our one-year Fellowship program for active young leaders. The Fellowship begins with Regional Trainings across the country (this year in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston) where Fellows learn from both skilled political organizers and leaders in the national progressive movement, and where they get the opportunity to share experiences and learn from one another.
After the regional trainings, YP4 Fellows are matched with mentors, who encourage the Fellows to think critically about their role in the progressive movement. Through their mentorship relationship, Fellows spend the fall visioning for and crafting their Blueprints for Social Justice, a strategic, sustainable community-based social change project. They also create an Individualized Leadership Development Plan (ILDP), through which Fellows have the opportunity to assess their strengths and challenges as leaders, articulate their personal vision for social justice, and engage in long- and short-term goal setting for their work. This work prepares Fellows to attend the National Summit where they gain valuable skills needed to finalize and implement their Blueprints with the support of Young People For staff and alumni.
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ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE FOR WHY WAS YOUNG PEOPLE FOR CREATED? YP4 was created to address the cyclical abandonment that youth face after every election. In 2004, we recognized that young people did not have the support to continue to develop their work in the progressive movement. Seeing this void, YP4 created a space to give young progressives on campuses and in communities all over the country a place to develop leadership skills and to put them into practice. YP4 gives young people the opportunity to join and lead in a movement that works for the protection and advancement of our nation’s progressive values.
WHAT ISSUES DOES YOUNG PEOPLE FOR FOCUS ON? Young People For doesn’t tell Fellows what to think, what issues to work on, or what candidates to support. Instead, we identify young leaders and empower them with skills to create progressive change on issues impacting their lives and their communities.
BEYOND THE FELLOWSHIP. . . Many Fellows choose to continue their activism beyond the one-year Fellowship program. To help with this, YP4 provides Fellows and alumni with nonpartisan civic engagement opportunities, including a voter engagement program, advocacy trainings, and more. Once a person is a part of the YP4 family, they can always count on support for their work in the movement through the YP4 Alumni Network, which provides ways to connect with progressive leaders and organizations, as well as access to trainings and opportunities to continue their development as a leader, to ensure the relationships and work completed during the Fellowship are sustained and supported over the long-term. The YP4 Alumni Network is a community of young progressives who are committed to cultivating and supporting YP4 programs and Fellows through mentorship, networking, advanced leadership trainings, and much more. Hundreds of Fellows have taken advantage of YP4’s Advanced Leadership programs to gain valuable experience and develop social and professional networks, preparing each of them to have a sustainable, long-term role in the movement.
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FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM OVERVIEW REGIONAL TRAININGS
BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
At the beginning of each Fellowship year, YP4 hosts
With the help of staff and mentors, YP4 Fellows design
trainings in each of the four regions (Northeast, South,
an individual or collaborative plan of action known as
Midwest, and West) for the incoming Fellowship class.
the Blueprint for Social Justice. The Blueprint provides
At the regional trainings, Fellows meet with 35-45 other
the opportunity to create meaningful progressive social
young activists and organizers from their region, the
change that directly impacts your campus or community
YP4 staff, YP4 alumni, and organizational partners from
and helps to build progressive power on the local, state,
the area. The focus of these initial trainings is for Fellows
national, or even international level. The Blueprint
to better understand the work they engaging and how
provides the framework for strategic, sustainable, and
best to place themselves in it. Workshops provide
community-driven change. Working with their mentors,
Fellows with guidance for telling their personal stories;
Fellows lay the foundation for and create a draft of
an introduction to progressive values; an understanding
their Blueprints in the fall. Mentors and staff continue to
of intersectionality; an analysis for power, privilege,
provide technical assistance, support, and resources to
oppression, and allyship; and more. In addition, issue area
Fellows during implementation in the spring and beyond.
experts from across the regions are brought in to train the Fellows on issues ranging from reproductive justice to nonpartisan vote work.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN (ILDP) In addition to Fellows’ work for social justice on their campuses and communities, the YP4 Fellowship also supports Fellows through their development as progressive leaders. Working with their mentors
Some of the projects we have supported include Blueprints designed to: • Organize the student body or a community around an important issue • Support a campus group or community’s development through trainings, workshops, conferences and more • Launch progressive blogs and publications • Conduct research and make policy
throughout the year, Fellows assess their strengths and
recommendations at the university, local,
weaknesses (and develop plans to grow on both), explore
state or national levels
the work that they are currently doing in new ways, articulate a compelling and authentic vision for their work, and set S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-related) goals for their Blueprints for Social Justice and their long-term roles in the progressive movement. Fellows will also develop a continued Individual
• Create new alliances, coalitions, and networks on campus • Support collaboration with a local community organization on a project for positive social change
Leadership Development Plan, which provides a framework for continued growth after their Fellowship year.
NATIONAL SUMMIT Each year in January, YP4 convenes over 200 young progressives, partners, and movement leaders from across the country for the YP4 National Summit. Over the course of four days, Fellows engage in dynamic skills and issue trainings, networking, and strategy sessions. Fellows learn powerful strategies for making social change from national progressive movement leaders, share strategies with each other, and continue to build a network that will support them over the long term. The National Summit is designed to be a working Summit; Fellows have an opportunity here to put the final touches on their Blueprint for Social Justice plans with the full support of the YP4 network.
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PFAWF YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS DIRECTOR ANDREW GILLUM
DIRECTOR OF YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION An alumnus of Florida A&M University (FAMU), former president of the Student Government Association, and FAMU’s first student member of the Board of Trustees, Andrew Gillum became the youngest person ever elected to the four-member Tallahassee City Commission in February 2003. He has held prominent leadership roles such as Mayor Pro Tem, Chairman of the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency, and lead commissioner for the Long Range Community Based Target Issue Committee. In keeping with his mantra to uplift and build the collective community, Gillum has championed several community initiatives including the Nims Middle School Digital Harmony Pilot Program, the Landlord Tenant Mediation Program, the Code Enforcement Amnesty Program, and the creation of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Park. He also served as Field Organizer and statewide Director of the “Arrive With 5” program with People For the American Way Foundation, through which he organized the largest “Arrive With 5” get-outthe-vote campaign in Florida’s history. He also worked as Deputy Political Director with the Florida Democratic Party. He founded and now directs PFAW Foundation’s Young Elected Officials program, which unites elected officials age 35 and under in a network which supports them with leadership and personal development training and public policy support.
YOUNG PEOPLE FOR STAFF JOY LAWSON
YP4 DIRECTOR Joy Lawson began her career as a student organizer at the University of Kansas. There she worked with local organizations as well as city and state school boards to ensure Kansas youth received medically accurate sex education by campaigning local and state school boards. For her work on sex education, Joy was awarded Choice USA’s Generation-toGeneration Chapter Leadership Award. Soon after, she joined the field staff at Choice USA as a National Field Associate and later as the Midwestern States Field Coordinator. Joy joined the People For staff in February 2010 as YP4’s Advanced Leadership and Alumni Program Manager. Since 2010 she has worked to ensure that the relationships and work completed during the YP4 Fellowship are sustained and supported over the long-term. Under her leadership, over 60% of the alumni of Young People For have reengaged with the program. Joy is also a Midwest Academy graduate, a proud Rockwood Art of Leadership: Women in Racial Justice alum, and a 2006 Grassroots Organizing Weekend trainer.
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YOUNG PEOPLE FOR STAFF LAURA WILLIAMSON
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM MANAGER Laura Williamson joined People For the American Way Foundation and the Young People For team in July 2012. In her position, Laura works to develop the newest generations of progressive leaders in the United States through trainings, mentorship, and support of social justice projects. Prior to this role, she worked as the Education Outreach Coordinator at Puentes New Orleans, a nonprofit organization working with the Latino community to demand the inclusion of Latinos in public, political, and socio-economic life. A native North Carolinian, Laura is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in English and International Studies. Laura also spent a year doing graduate coursework in public policy and social planning at La Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina.
ANDREW HUMPHREY
FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATE Andrew Humphrey hails from Little Rock, Arkansas, where he attended the historic Little Rock Central High School. In his position, Andrew leads the recruitment and selection of the Fellowship class and the logistics around YP4’s events and programs. Andrew is a 2010 graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina, where he majored in sociology and minored in Chinese and worked as the Head Resident Advisor for diversity initiatives and as a Senior Admissions Fellow. After graduation, Andrew moved to Beijing, China and worked as an Associate Counselor/SAT Prep coach for Far View Academic Consulting. In 2011, Andrew returned to North Carolina as a Deputy Field Organizer for Organizing for America, through which work he continued his advocacy for inclusive, progressive policies and institutions that honor the diversity and autonomy of our nation’s communities.
VIDUSHANI JAYALAL
FELLOWSHIP ASSOCIATE Vidushani Jayalal is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland (UMD). During her time at UMD, Vidushani engaged students in direct service and reflective dialogue through service-learning projects. After graduating, Vidushani served as the Health Advocacy Fellow at the League of United Latin American Citizens where she focused on supporting and advocating alongside local communities on healthy living and health care issues. Vidushani brings with her skills in curriculum development, grassroots organizing, and mentorship. In her position at YP4, Vidushani supports fellows through the Blueprint and Individual Leadership Development Plan, in addition to working to grow YP4 curriculum and strengthen the mentorship program.
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YOUNG PEOPLE FOR STAFF GABRIELA DE GOLIA
ADVOCACY ASSOCIATE Gabriela De Golia is a San Francisco native and recent graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where she earned a dual degree in government and science and society. At YP4, she leads civic engagement and advocacy initiatives, including the money in politics and fair courts campaigns, nonpartisan voter engagement projects, the YP4 blog, and more. She has been involved in grassroots organizing for many years. While a student, she registered hundreds of peers to vote, fought voter suppression efforts targeted at students, and successfully collaborated with Connecticut legislators to increase the state penalty for voter suppression from a misdemeanor to a felony. She also created and chaired Wesleyan’s first student government committee dedicated to strengthening the Middletown-Wesleyan relationship and worked as a peer advisor to assist diverse groups of students in navigating the college process.
CHAGAN SANATHU
ALUMNI PROGRAM COORDINATOR Chagan Sanathu has a long history of engagement with the YP4 Program, first as a 2010 YP4 Fellow and later as a Fellowship Associate. As the alumni program coordinator, Chagan works with the 12 person Alumni Board to help support the YP4 program. A major part of her new role is to cultivate and grow relationships within the alumni network. She graduated in 2012 from Goshen College with a degree in business and public relations. In 2011, Chagan was selected to participate in the New Leaders Internship program with the Center for Progressive Leadership where she developed critical skills that she still uses in her job today. Chagan interned at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities where she researched the effects of child tax credit and earned income tax credit on low-income communities, with an emphasis on women who survived domestic violence. She is a former board member for National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum-DC Chapter, where she worked on fundraising to support the chapter’s work on immigration reform, reproductive justice, and other issues impacting the API community and is an active member of the chapter.
ANTHONY V. STEVENS
ADVANCED LEADERSHIP COORDINATOR Anthony V. Stevens attended North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University where he studied International Affairs, and graduated from the University of North Carolina--Charlotte where he majored in Africana studies. At YP4, Anthony coordinates Fellows long-term relationship with the organization by engaging them in the advanced leadership development programs. A native Washingtonian with over five years of experience in leadership development and political campaigning, Anthony most recently worked as a scheduler for a nationwide bus tour, 1911 United, aimed at combating youth gun violence. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Regional GOTV Director for a congressional campaign in South Carolina. In 2012, he served as a Field Organizer for Obama For America-NC where he and his volunteer teams increased voter turnout by nearly 10% in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Right after the campaign, he served as a Volunteer Captain for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. He is also an alumnus of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundations’ Emerging Leaders program.
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YOUNG PEOPLE FOR ALUMNI BOARD JULIANNA BRADLEY, 2007 YP4 AND 2007 FRONT LINE LEADERS ACADEMY FELLOW, is devoted to ending educational and racial inequity in the United States. She serves as Director, Regional Leadership Development for Leadership for Educational Equity to provide high quality training and mentoring to teachers and former teachers who seek to gain community organizing, political or campaign skills. Here Julianna works to organize students and align nonprofit services to accurately assess and meet student, school, and community needs, to decentralize power, and to inspire action and leadership in previously marginalized and disenfranchised groups. A deeply rooted activist for intersectional social justice, Julianna seeks to create a more equitable future by ensuring equitable school quality and access to development opportunities for students. Julianna holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and political science from the University of Arizona. She welcomes all opportunities to connect with others who share a vision of a progressive future where fundamental rights of education, living wages, environmental sustainability, and freedom of expression are esteemed and protected at all levels of leadership.
TIESHA CASSEL, 2011 FELLOW, is a 2013 graduate of Oberlin College. At Oberlin, Tiesha was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow, where her work centered on Black church women, archival erasure, and historic remembrance. During her time as a student, Tiesha served on the board for the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People, a student-run resource center on campus. and worked closely with the Prison Justice Project, a student group focused around education and activism focused on the prison industrial complex. She continues her work and support of prison abolition through the Black and Pink Chicago chapter while working as a Library Assistant at the Art Institute of Chicago. Tiesha plans to apply to graduate school this fall.
ANDREW JENKINS, 2010 FELLOW, is a feminist killjoy and queer social justice activist hailing from the west coast. He started his activism as a student organizer, leveraging progressive issues to turn out thousands of young people to vote in the 2010 midterm election. In 2011, Andrew organized the first ever convening of LGBT military personnel – post repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – as the Conference Director for OutServe. Andrew now brings his unwavering passion for youth leadership development and feminist praxis to the talented team at Choice USA, where he works to engage, train and mobilize the upcoming generation of reproductive justice leaders. In addition to mobilizing young people, Andrew is developing and implementing innovative programming to engage & recruit young men to be vocal advocates for reproductive and gender equity. When he’s not organizing on the ground, he’s doing it online as a contributing writer at RH Reality Check and ConwayStrategic.
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YOUNG PEOPLE FOR ALUMNI BOARD LENA KHADER, 2012 FELLOW, is a first generation Taiwanese-Palestinian American born and raised in southside Oklahoma City. Through her Blueprint Lena founded Making Herstory, a created safe space for high school students to learn about and discuss feminism, ethnic studies, and how their rich herstories/personal narratives can be used as a form of empowerment to becoming socially and politically conscious beings of society. In Fall 2014, Lena will be attending the University of Oklahoma for M.Ed. Community Counseling and hopes to become a school counselor working with low-income and/or first-generation students.
JALA KHATEEB, 2007 FELLOW, is an Artivist, Environmentalist and Wholistic Practitioner. Using dance and photography as primary means of inspiring others, Jala creates opportunities to engage people in various artistic and organic mediums by connecting them to exciting and meaningful service projects. Currently, she works with 5th and 8th graders as a Teaching Artist instructing ballroom dance for a social and emotional development program called Dancing Classrooms. In her spare time, she conducts Goddess Masala Dancing to awaken the divine feminine in women by fusing the traditions of her training in the Shaolin Arts, Tai Chi/Qi Gong, Bhangra, Latin and West African movement and rhythms. Her work as a photographer has also led her to document the lives of Muslim women in a project titled “Beyond the Veil” that explores the beauty and humanity of the people of Islam to counter the media’s muffled portrayal of the identity of Muslims. As a Social Entrepreneur, she also does Strategic Planning, Environmental Planning, and Project Ingenuity for several charter schools, and has recently helped launch the Green Inspiration Academy charter school, a green school Initiative in the Cleveland area.
KLEIN LIEU, 2011 FELLOW, is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Cognitive Science. He grew up in Oakland, CA, where social justice activism was a passion as much as it was a necessity. At Berkeley, he organized with the Asian Pacific Islander community, participated in recruitment and retention activism for students of color, and served as a Senator with the Associated Students at UC Berkeley. Some of his innovative projects include: Hip Hop the Vote to engage young voters of color, UC Berkeley Consent to promote positive and healthy sexual activity, and Berkeley Safe Renting which helps residents determine if their homes are safe from Bay Area earthquakes. Post-graduation, he works at Constant Contact promoting small businesses and nonprofits and is a project leader at Code for America’s Open Oakland brigade to incorporate technology and city government. He is driven by his conviction that technology can help solve institutional problems in society.
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YOUNG PEOPLE FOR ALUMNI BOARD GEORGE MARKARIAN, 2013 FELLOW, transferred from Los Angeles Valley College to University of California, Berkeley in the fall of 2013. Here he majors in political science with a focus on comparative politics and minoring in public policy. George was born in East Los Angeles, lived five years in Argentina, and grew up in one of the tougher neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Motivated by his experiences growing up in minority-majority neighborhood in Los Angeles George received his GED and entered college where he became more active on campus and in his community. He began to invest his time in improving the access of disenfranchised communities to quality public education and was elected to serve as the vicepresident of the Los Angeles Valley College student government and a senator in Student Senate for California Community Colleges, the statewide student government. He has worked as field coordinator on two electoral campaigns and is an alumnus for the Roosevelt Institute Summer Academy and Young People For. During his free time, he enjoys relaxing at the beach, listening to music, and staying active.
KAMARIA MOIR, 2006 FELLOW, educates consumers about food insecurity and provides logistical support to farmers markets and food depositories in the Chicagoland area. You can reach her at: kamariamoir@gmail.com
ALRAY NELSON, 2012 FELLOW, is at the forefront in Indian Country leading the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, & queer rights movement. He is the founder of the Navajo Equality Coalition. Through the Navajo Equality Coalition, Alray is working this year to challenge the discriminatory Dine’ Marriage Act before the Navajo Nation Supreme Court. Striking down the Dine’ Marriage Act would expand marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. He is working with Navajo leaders to pass comprehensive human rights and hate crimes prevention law. Before founding NEC, Alray worked to decrease bullying through the We Are One campaign, also his YP4 Blueprint. This campaign created Safe Zone programs in rural high schools on the Navajo Nation. He is a mentor for countless Navajo youth and has helped to inspire a generation of Native American youth that are reclaiming their native language, heritage, and oral tradition.
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YOUNG PEOPLE FOR ALUMNI BOARD NIJEUL X. PORTER, 2009 FELLOW, is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Producing/Arts Management at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angles, California. With an ultimate goal of producing and managing theatre production and arts programming for young people, Nijeul is excited about the opportunity to serve YP4 as an Alumni Board member for a second term. He is a 2012 fellow with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Multicultural Fellowship Program, for young people of color interested in arts leadership, diversity, and inclusion. Named one of fifteen recipients of the 2012 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award, Nijeul uses art as a platform for creating social change. He has worked with programs such as LIFE AIDS, sponsored by the Black Aids Network, which promotes HIV/ AIDS awareness and prevention at Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the nation, the National Youth Pride Services, and the NAACP ACT-SO Program. Nijeul is a 2011 cum laude graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and Arts Administration. You can learn more about him at www.nijeul-porter.com.
ELLIOT SAKACH, 2012 FELLOW, is a proud resident of Austin, TX. Recognizing the great influence the political system has on opportunity, Elliot founded the Texas Leadership Fund, a political non-profit providing low-income, underrepresented young leaders an opportunity to engage in the political process through paid summer fellowships on progressive campaigns. Previously, Elliot worked as a field organizer and at the age of 20 Elliot joined Congressman Mark Takano’s DC staff experiences that inspire his work to this day. In addition to his political work, Elliot has worked at education non-profits Breakthrough and Communities in Schools to help students in his community receive the best education possible. After his two year political hiatus, Elliot is now focusing on his own education by returning to Oberlin College to complete his degree.
KARL KUMODZI, 2011 FELLOW, was born in Lome, Togo and grew up in Las Vegas, NV. He studied History and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University, where he was active in organizing and advocating around issues concerning the Black community and communities of color on campus. He was also active in student government and outreach to the local un-housed community. Karl is now a John Gardner Fellow at the Center for Popular Democracy in Brooklyn, NY where he works at the intersection of public policy and economic and racial justice organizing.
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WELCOME TO OUR CITIES! N E W YO R K CIT Y, N Y
Dear Fellows, First of all, welcome to the YP4 family! It is truly such a great and rapidly growing network of people who you can count on to fully support you in the long haul. You will develop meaningful relationships with activists, political junkies, visionaries, and emerging leaders from all walks of life. Also, welcome to New York City! You are here during a pivotal moment in the city’s history: After having the same mayor for twelve years, the city elected perhaps the most progressive mayor and administration in its history. This is huge. And you’re here during the heart of all the flux and flow. So I urge you to make the most of your short trip in the city and to explore all of New York – not just Manhattan! After all, the hallmark of New York is that every neighborhood has its own personality. And each neighborhood is an enclave of numerous cultures. In fact, the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world is right here in New York. Can you guess which borough? I truly hope your stay in the Empire City turns out to be a jam-packed adventure. And, again, welcome to the family! Ivan Rahman 2011 YP4 Fellow
5-Pointz, Queens, NY – the Graffiti Mecca of the World
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WELCOME TO OUR CITIES! SAN F R AN CI SCO, CA
Hello beautiful young progressives! Welcome to Berkeley, the city renowned for its political activism and progressive legacy! The UC campus and surrounding neighborhoods are full of stories for you to learn. There’s everything from People’s Park, which was reclaimed by activists despite then-Governor Ronald Reagan calling in the National Guard to Savio Steps, named after Mario Savio, a key leader in the Free Speech Movement. For an amazing view of the campus, take a ride up the Campanile, and for a spectacular view of the whole Bay Area at night, try hiking up to the Big C. Hungry! Visit a local favorite like “Top Dog” for some great hot dogs (it also has a great vegan option!) or a rare non-profit pizza restaurant experience, visit “Cheese Board.” While you probably know Berkeley is the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, did you also know we’re home to the Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement? Despite our proud hxstory of progressive activism, Berkeley has the highest inequality out of all of the Bay Area. Up in the Berkeley hills homes cost millions of dollars, while in West Berkeley, low-income communities of color face low wages, pollution, and under-resourced schools. In Berkeley, we love public transportation! You can take buses all over, even into Oakland or San Francisco. Take a BART ride to either city and see all that the Bay Area has to offer, including San Francisco’s dozens of historic landmarks. You can see the world-famous Golden Gate Bridge and then take a trolley ride down to the astonishing Lombard Street. If you’re interested in seeing some of the sites that have played a key role in shaping the diversity and growth of the Bay Area, take a trip to the famous Castro District to experience part of the Bay Area’s queer culture, experience the tourist’s life at Fisherman’s Wharf, or visit the hippie’s dream in Haight-Ashbury. You can explore the various neighborhoods of Chinatown, Japantown, North Beach, and the Mission to see all the distinctly beautiful sides of our city. If you go to Oakland, make sure you go see Oscar Grant Plaza, a hub for protests (including Occupy Oakland) or the Mountain View Cemetery, which offers a beautiful view of the bay and some chilling yet gorgeous architecture. There is so much to see in the Bay Area, a region with a culture so rich and so diverse every other block feels very different. We hope you all enjoy your time here! Caitlinn Quinn
&
YP4 2013 Fellow
George Markarian YP4 2013 Fellow, 2014 Alumni Board member
March 2003 rally against the Way in Iraq on the Savio Steps at UC Berkeley
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WELCOME TO OUR CITIES! CH IC AG O, I L
Hi y’all! Welcome to Chicago where everyone comes home! So you want to learn more about us? Yes, you may have go to Magnificent Mile and see Hancock Tower and flashy, expensive fashion stores, but this city truly comes alive in neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own characteristics, demographics, institutions and history. For example, Hyde Park, where President Obama used to live, is home to University of Chicago and is surrounded by strong African American communities (Chicago South Side in general). Rainbow PUSH and Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. are a few blocks away from the neighborhood. Logan Square on the other hand is home to a huge Hispanic community that sustains neighborhood associations. Others communities are Pilsen, a Polish community in Ukrainian Village, a German community in Lincoln Square, and many more. No wonder Chicago was home to famous community organizer Saul Alinsky. For starters check out https://experiencechicago.uchicago.edu/ and explore www.yelp.com. Being green is big here! Public transportation is a part of our daily lives, and Chicago is named the friendliest city for bikers. I strongly suggest you check out the Academy for Global Citizenship as an example of institutions leading in incorporating environmental justice into public education. Locally-owned businesses are especially encouraged and valued as a part of our politics and cultural heritages. Slam Poetry movement started here (Check out Louder than a Bomb). It is also a place where people come together and say: “Let’s get some chairs and we’ll have a neighborhood theatre!” Hence, the storefront movement has been thriving here like nowhere else. Victory Gardens is also where one of Chicago’s low budget acts earned a Tony Award. We also have very rich literature on the city. Racial segregation is a significant challenge and is continuously enforced by our community-oriented tendency. Violence on the South and Southwest sides continue to impact our youth. I can definitely go on. But Chicagoans are among the most caring communities where lots of efforts to counter these problems are done every day – if you ever take a second to notice. WELCOME! Phy Tran, 2012 YP4 Fellow
Logan Square, then and now – Chicago, IL
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WELCOME TO OUR CITIES! H O U STO N , T X
Dear YP4 Fellows, They say that the longest, most daring, and challenging journeys begin with the courage to take the first step. You’re here—taking that step into the YP4 family. Congratulations on your new journey and welcome! It is here that blossoms the birthplace of new and innovative ideas as we collectively grow and nurture the next generation of progressive leadership. Also, welcome to Houston! And to the state of Texas, where everything is BIG! While here, I hope you are able to see the grassroots work being done to transform a community of people into thought-provoking and civically empowered progressive folks. While at it, be sure to get some southern welcoming through great food, the generosity of great people, and the love that Houston has to offer for all. From the words of Houston’s Mayor, Annise Parker, the only female identified mayor among the top 10 most populous cities in Texas and one of the only openly gay politicians: “You are here to make your fortune; you are here to move ahead in the world. You are about making things happen.” Wishing you good times, and a true Houstonian experience! Nijeul X. Porter 2009 YP4 Fellow, 2014 Alumni Board Member
Downtown Houston, TX
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AGENDA THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Morning/Early Afternoon
8:00am – 8:30am
Fellows, Alumni, Staff Arrive
BREAKFAST
2:00pm – 3:00pm
8:30am – 9:00am
Opening: Welcome, Orientation, Introductions & Group Norms
Welcome & Opening
3:00pm – 4:15pm
Personal Narrative: Telling Your Story
I am from… Activity
YP4 Staff
YP4 Alumni Board Members
9:00am – 10:45am
10:45am – 12:30pm
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Introduction to Progressive Values
Opening Reception
YP4 Staff 12:30pm – 1:30pm
LUNCH 1:30pm – 3:15pm
Analyzing Power Dynamics: Intersectionality YP4 Alumni Board Members 3:15pm – 3:30pm
BREAK 3:30pm – 5:15pm
Analyzing Power Dynamics: Power, Privilege and Oppression YP4 Alumni Board Members 5:15pm – 5:30pm
BREAK 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Analyzing Power Dynamics: Allyship YP4 Alumni Board Members 7:00pm – 7:30pm
Reflections & Evaluations 7:30pm
ALUMNI-LED DINNERS
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AGENDA SATURDAY
SUNDAY
8:00am – 8:30am
8:00am – 8:45am
BREAKFAST
BREAKFAST
8:30am – 9:00am
8:45am – 9:15am
Welcome & Opening
Class Photo
9:00am – 10:15am
9:15am – 10:00am
Identifying Root Causes
What’s Next?
YP4 Alumni Board Members
YP4 Staff
10:15am – 12:00pm
10:00am – 11:00am
Approaches to Social Change
Alumni Panel
YP4 Staff
YP4 Alumni
12:00pm – 1:00pm
11:00am – 1:00pm
LUNCH
Appreciations and Closing Remarks
1:00pm – 3:00pm
Building Power to Win YP4 Staff 3:00pm – 3:30pm
BREAK 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Partner Training 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Open Spaces 6:30pm – 7:15pm
Reflections and Evaluations 7:15pm
DINNER ON YOUR OWN
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WORKSHOPS OVERVIEW TELLING YOUR STORY: “I AM FROM…” & PERSONAL NARRATIVE YP4 ALUMNI & YP4 STAFF
Stories motivate people to act. They convey values and emotions and allow us to connect with others. Storytelling is a powerful tool to build trust and allows you to connect with others in a genuine, authentic way. Your story is the foundation for your leadership. In this interactive session, Fellows will learn more about the power of telling stories as a progressive leader, reflect on and share the experiences that have shaped their leadership, and identify connections and develop a sense of community with each other.
INTRODUCTION TO PROGRESSIVE VALUES YP4 STAFF
Values are at the heart of our movement, our work, and our passions. Having a deep understanding of our values and being able to talk about our values is critical to our success as progressive leaders. In this session we will explore our individual values and our progressive movement’s shared values. We will also learn how to ground our work in a values framework, in order to more effectively connect with and motivate people around the movement for social justice.
INTERSECTIONALITY YP4 ALUMNI BOARD
Historically, youth, women, people of color, immigrants, queer and trans* people, differently-abled people, and low-income people have had difficulty accessing the resources they deserve. Because of issues of marginalization, it is critical that we work now to make certain that these needs are addressed in our work. In this session, we will explore how the various dimensions of our identities intersect to create our unique and shared experiences, and we’ll and practice identifying the intersections that exist between our issues and determine solutions that address issues in an intersectional way.
ANALYZING POWER DYNAMICS: POWER, PRIVILEGE, OPPRESSION AND YOU YP4 ALUMNI BOARD
Many of us do the work we do because we care deeply about the ways in which oppression impacts our communities. Yet all too often in the progressive movement, our inability to hold and move through difficult conversations around identity, privilege and oppression results in hurt and pain that our movement work cannot hold. In this space, we will begin the process of addressing that deficiency and of building a more aware, inclusive, and effective movement by identifying our multiple identities of privilege and oppression and discussing why these conversations are fundamental to working towards social justice; understanding how oppression and privilege play out on individual and institutional levels; understanding that working to undo oppression and negotiating privilege is important to crafting effective alliances; addressing power imbalances in your campus organizations and learning to understand the implications of power structures in our professional and personal lives; and beginning conversations around the journey towards allyship.
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WORKSHOPS OVERVIEW ALLYSHIP
YP4 ALUMNI BOARD After examining the intersections of our identities and analyzing the systems of oppression within which we all function, we can begin to dismantle these systems by challenging the structures, institutions and practices that uphold oppressive undercurrents of our society and identify strategic and thoughtful ways to actively work for greater equity, justice and democracy through and exploration of allyship. In this session we will explore how to responsibly and effectively use own our roles as members of various privileged groups to work to end oppression in our personal lives and across society. Doing so, we will leave with clear and concrete commitments to support, advocate with, and work alongside oppressed communities.
IDENTIFYING ROOT CAUSES YP4 ALUMNI BOARD
The most pressing social issues of our time are far deeper and more complex than just the manifestations of the problems that we can see, and a shared analysis of the causes of these issues is critical to developing a shared plan of action toward solving them. By examining all levels of an issue and determining its root causes, we can avoid providing band-aid solutions and instead work for long-term, structural change. This session will introduce the Root Cause Tree as a tool to help you visually analyze problems and issues. The Root Cause tree breaks down the symptoms of a problem (fruit), the institutional causes that perpetuate a problem (trunk), and the underlying systemic causes (roots) of a problem. One’s analysis of a problem determines the strategy one will use to solve it, and YP4’s Root Cause Tree is a powerful tool that helps Fellows think critically about the problems we see and the solutions we seek in the movement for social justice.
APPROACHES TO SOCIAL CHANGE YP4 STAFF
After examining the intersections of our identities and analyzing the systems of oppression within which we all function, we can begin to dismantle these systems by challenging the structures, institutions and practices that uphold oppressive undercurrents of our society and identify strategic and thoughtful ways to actively work for greater equity, justice and democracy through and exploration of allyship. In this session we will explore how to responsibly and effectively use own our roles as members of various privileged groups to work to end oppression in our personal lives and across society. Doing so, we will leave with clear and concrete commitments to support, advocate with, and work alongside oppressed communities.
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WORKSHOPS OVERVIEW BUILDING POWER TO WIN YP4 STAFF
The past few years have seen some of the toughest political battles of our lifetime: violence prevention and gun control legislation; immigration reform; voter suppression; corporate money in politics; and more. These fights have a huge impact on the future of this country and our lives, and each needs the voices of young people. While every individual is powerful, imagine the impact we can have when we build power as a community. In this session, we will examine the history of disenfranchisement our communities have faced, dissect some of the greatest barriers to civic participation, and go over concrete strategies to help us build power for our communities to fight for positive social change and ensure progressive victories. These include integrating long-term issue organizing, elevating voting as a powerful tool for change, promoting corporate accountability, understanding the courts, and pursuing progressive public policy change.
ALUMNI PANEL YP4 ALUMNI
We’ve invited accomplished YP4 alumni to sit down with the current Fellowship class for a “real talk” conversation about their experiences with YP4 and in their work in the progressive movement. Fellows can take this opportunity to get any questions they have about the program or the movement answered.
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OPEN SPACES Open Spaces are opportunities to lead, moderate or participate in discussions you design around issues or challenges you care about most. Open spaces are designed to achieve sustainable results in the progressive movement and to provide opportunities for reflection and constructive dialogue among your peers. These sessions will be held on Saturday evening. Open Spaces are completely Fellow-initiated, organized and facilitated; this is your space to connect and collaborate with others around these principles:
1. Whoever comes is the right person: All participants are invited to speak, organize, and contribute to a discussion on an issue of concern, passion, or complexity.
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened: All discussions are organic, open and without pre-determined agendas, expectations, or outcomes.
3. Whenever it starts is the right time: All groups are invited to create, convene, and engage in splinter cells of conversations at any given time.
4. Whenever it is over, it’s over: All groups are encouraged to continue conversations to a resolution—be it 20 minutes, the full session, or extended online dialogue.
The best way to generalize the Open Spaces Four Principles is what’s called the Open Spaces Law of Motion: If you are neither learning nor contributing in a session, then get up and join another session in progress where you feel inspired and engaged! In the past, Open Spaces have tackled issues like sexual abuse, immigration reform, hip-hop culture and the progressive movement, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but we encourage you to think creatively about how you can best use this time. We encourage you to engage with your fellow progressives who would love to hear about your passions, strategies, and action plans—and share their own as well. As we support each other towards positive social change, we are no longer just a group a young progressive leaders—we are a movement!
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NETWORKING TIPS Speed networking is an opportunity for today’s leaders in the progressive movement to share their background, stories, and lessons with each other. Informational interviewing and speed networking is about strategically building mutually beneficial relationships and gathering information to help you in your career search. It is NOT directly about getting a job. While networking can connect you to someone who may connect you to the right job later on, it often takes time and numerous attempts to get to that point. Furthermore, if you begin an interaction directly asking for a job, it will shift the dynamic away from being an interactive dialogue which is ultimately what you most want from a speed networking session, and it may even put off the person you’re talking with. With that in mind, be sure to consult the tips and sample questions copied below!
DO: • Learn how to tell your personal story and develop an elevator pitch • Know your goal and have a strategy • Be confident; find a role model or a mentor you can emulate • Say thank you • Talk about your skills and experience openly • Make and maintain a good impression (don’t burn bridges!) • Follow up & Follow through • Send handwritten notes (more than once a year)
DON’T: • Don’t wait until a crisis hits; network now • Don’t be a wallflower - make an effort to socialize • Don’t ask for a job, ask for advice first • Don’t be afraid to ask questions • Don’t put things on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter you wouldn’t want a new boss to see
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NETWORKING TIPS QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING A ONE-ON-ONE CONVERSATION:
1. What motivated you to get involved in this work?
2. How did you get into this work? What educational or professional path led you to your current position? Is there anything you would have done differently if you could change the path you took?
3. What made you decide to work for [organization or company name]? What motivates you to continue doing this work?
4. What characteristics best describe how your organization approaches its work? How would you describe your organization’s culture?
5. What advice would you give someone just starting in this business/profession/major?
6. What advice would you give me if I wanted to be successful in your line of work?
7. What do you enjoy most about what you do? Is there anything you don’t enjoy?
8. What makes your organization/work/approach unique or different?
9. What significant changes have you seen take place in your profession/area of expertise through the years?
10. What do you see as the coming trends? 11. In an ideal world, what solutions do you envision for your community? 12. What ways have you found to be the most effective for promoting or advancing your business/organization/ work? 13. What would make someone a perfect fit for your profession / major / school / company / organization? 14. What organizations and individuals in your field are really exciting to you at this time?
When all else fails: why, why, why, and why?
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REGIONAL TRAINING WORKSHOP MATERIALS
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS I AM F RO M . . .
Familiar sights, sounds, and smells from your home or neighborhood growing up I am from…
Familiar foods, especially those associated with family gatherings or special occasions I am from…
Familiar sayings heard repeatedly as you were growing up I am from…
Familiar moments from history that informed your life and work I am from…
Familiar experiences that have challenged or shaped your identity I am from…
Familiar people—family members, friends, ancestors, important people from your past I am from…
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS TE LLI N G YO U R STO RY
An effective personal narrative is: CLEAR • CONCRETE • COMPELLING • CONCISE
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS P ROG R E S S IVE VALU E S
What does it mean to be “Progressive”? Progressives believe in the power of democratic action to create a more just, peaceful and healthy society, in our communal responsibility for working toward that ideal, and in a foundational respect for individual autonomy. We believe the government can and should be a powerful force in promoting economic, social and political equality and in securing fundamental personal freedoms of conscience, expression, identity and association. We hold a number of core values, including freedom, equality, pluralism and diversity, social justice, democracy, pragmatism, religious liberty, cooperation and interdependence, and the common good. Progressives envision a society in which ALL members therein flourish as individuals and as parts of a larger community.
Values are important guiding principles, held by an individual or group. Essential components of this definition: 1. Important: About that which one holds to be of importance, significance, or worth 2. Guiding: Influence the attitudes we hold and how we act (underlying drivers, broadest motivators, determinants, basis, or guide for attitudes, action, judgment, social action, and conception of what is desirable or undesirable, right or wrong) 3. Principles: Beliefs, standards, criteria, goals, convictions, or ideals 4. Individual or Group: Values are held at both the personal and the communal levels
Examples of values: Authenticity • Acceptance • Citizenship • Compassion • Community • Fairness • Friendships • Growth Happiness • Honesty • Justice • Kindness • Knowledge • Learning • Love • Loyalty • Openness Peace • Respect • Responsibility • Self-Respect • Service • Stewardship • Truth • Wisdom
Examples of Organizational Value Statements Because People For the American Way Foundation believes in the principle of democratic participation and the democratic process, we work to foster individual and collective involvement in the community and in government, and we work to protect and preserve the constitutional principles that built our nation. Because People For the American Way Foundation believes in freedom of conscience, we work to defend Americans’ right to worship as they choose free from government interference, we work to defend freedom of expression, and we work to defend Americans’ freedom to make their own decisions about matters of conscience. Because People For the American Way Foundation believes in the value of community, we work to promote pluralism and diversity, and we work to promote tolerance and respect from and for all segments of the American community.
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS P ROG R E S S IVE VALU E S
IDENTIFYING PERSONAL VALUES Your personal core values are standards that greatly influence your attitude and character. They are deeply etched into your emotional and mental make-up and are not easily changed. Guiding questions for identifying your personal values:
• What shapes my behavior?
• What do I absolutely love to do?
• What am I passionate about?
• What motivates my achievements?*
PERSONAL VALUES STATEMENT Guiding Questions when drafting a personal values statement:
• What are my values?
• How do they inform my life and/or work, my purpose?
• How do my values work together to help me achieve my goals?
First, remember that it is YOUR mission/values statement. You don’t need to impress anyone with this or even to show it anyone. Whatever you write must resonate with your inner feelings, however. When you read it, you must know that it is authentic.
• Keep it concise. A short paragraph (2-5 lines) should suffice. If you cannot articulate in such a short note, you probably need more thinking.
• Write it in positive affirmative tone. Avoid using negative sentences (example – Instead of saying “I will not lie to anyone,” you can say “I will be truthful in all my actions and words”).
• You can write more than one mission/values statement.
• You may know by now that in a vast majority of cases, your mission/values statement is about how you impact others directly or indirectly.*
EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL VALUES STATEMENTS Because I am committed to a community that has a responsive government and to a society where community members affirm each other and are engaged and empathic, I advocate for the government to remove roadblocks to civic engagement and instead encourage integral involvement in the public process of all communities. Because I value love and family, I support all peoples’ right to adoption and family. – 2011 YP4 Fellow Because I value respect and stewardship, I work and believe in Environmental Justice. – 2007 YP4 Fellow Because I believe in/value ________________, I _____________________________________________________________
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS P ROG R E S S IVE VALU E S
TEN REASONS VALUES MATTER
1. Values define what we stand for and the kind of society, campus, and community we want. When we approach issues, multiple values may be in conflict.
2. Values stand for something bigger than an individual program, event, or issue. Values can unite us, and help us make connections to each other. Even when we are doing different kinds of work, there is inclusiveness in that we may be approaching our work with similar values.
3. Part of our work is to create a society with a sense of shared interest, values, and commitment in equal opportunity, fairness, and other progressive values. Understanding our values and expressing our hopes for our future, how we see ourselves as Americans/citizens, and what we have in common with those we are working with is part of that pathway forward.
4. We are more visceral and emotional when it comes to the values we hold. People are more influenced by values than statistics or policy analysis. Values help people make personal connections to the issues we are working on.
5. Progressives in particular are often more inclined to talk about policy and programs than their personal stories and the values that motivate them. We can connect with others if we express our values and talk about them.
6. We cannot let conservatives own the word values.
7. Values are the reason we do our work. We tackle problems, but without values, problems would not be recognizable. For example, if “justice” is not a recognized “value,” then “injustice” cannot be a recognized problem.
8. Values can be temporarily ‘engaged,’ and this tends to affect our attitudes and behaviors. For example, when reminded of benevolence values, we are more likely to respond positively to requests for help or donations.
9. Values influence institutions and norms and vice versa. Our values and the priority we put on certain values can shift and change. Our work to cultivate and promote certain values and discourage opposing values can influence societal values. For example, between 1968 and 1971, equality increased in importance among U.S. citizens from seventh-ranked to third-ranked value; it is suggested that the civil rights movement played an instrumental role in this change.
10. Our institutional structures (e.g. egalitarian versus top-down) can also embody and reinforce values. Embedding our values across all areas of our work will not only make our work aligned to our values, it can help nurture intrinsic values and challenge extrinsic values.
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS
M OVE M E NT H I STO RY TI M E LI N E We are not the first ones to work for a more progressive future, and we will not be the last ones. The events of our history—for better or for worse—have shaped our values and our values have shaped our movement. The following is a Movement History timeline, which you will create as a Fellowship Class to represent the collage of events—many of which are not taught to us in school or as part of “official” history—that we believe are most impactful in our collective history and for our shared future. Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl — 2012 Made it harder for a Native non-custodial parent to contest their child’s adoption by non-Native Americans
The Marshall Trilogy cases — 1823-1832 Three cases establishing tribal nations as “dependent nations” with limited sovereignty, that continue to serve as the bedrock of U.S.-tribal sovereignty legal determinations
INDIAN REMOVAL ACT
MARCH ON WASHINGTON Civil Rights, Racial Justice, Economic Justice
Education
1848
SENECA FALLS CONVENTION Women’s Rights
Passage of the 19th Amendment—1920 Gave women an explicit right to vote
Reed v. Reed—1971 Invalidated a state law preferring men over women when two people were otherwise equally entitled to administer a decedent’s estate
Plessy v. Ferguson—1896 Decreed that racial segregation was constitutional, creating the “Separate but Equal” doctrine
THE LITTLE ROCK 9
Native American Cultures, Traditions, & Empowerment
1830
San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez — 1973 Held that a public school financing scheme based on local property taxes didn’t unconstitutionally discriminate against people in poor neighborhoods because there is no fundamental right to education in the Constitution
1957
1961
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INITIATED BY JOHN F. KENNEDY’S EXECUTIVE ORDER Campus Diversity
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke—1978 Upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy, but said specific numerical quotas were not permissible.
Schuette v. Coalition—2014 Upheld a Michigan constitutional amendment that prohibits state universities from considering race as part of their admissions process
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—2010
1963 IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT Immigration Korematsu v. United States—1944 Upheld the forced relocation of Japanese American U.S. citizens into internment camps during World War II
Arizona v. United States—2010 Ruled sections of Arizona legislation S.B. 1070 were preempted by federal law; allowed state law enforcement ask about a resident’s documented status go to see how this works in practice
FORMATION OF MEDICARE AND MEDICAID Healthcare National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius—2012 Upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Shelby County v. Holder—2013 Undermined part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requiring voting law changes in areas with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before implementation
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Richardson v. Ramirez—1974 Upheld the power of states to disenfranchise citizens with past felony convictions
VOTING RIGHTS ACT Voting Rights, Civil Rights, Racial Justice
1965
WORKSHOP MATERIALS
M OVE M E NT H I STO RY TI M E LI N E
United States v. Darby Lumber Co — 1941 Upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, holding that Congress had the power to regulate employment conditions under the Commerce Clause
he Fair Labor Standards T Act of 1938
1969
STONEWALL RIOTS LGBTQ Rights
Bowers v. Hardwick —1986 Upheld Georgia’s criminal sodomy law against LGBTQ folks
U.S. v. Windsor—2013 Invalidated Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act which withheld federal recognition of married gay couples
1971
Buckley v. Valeo—1976 Introduced the idea that money is speech
CITIZEN’S UNITED V. FEC
ROE V. WADE Reproductive Justice, Civil Rights, Women’s Rights
Criminal Justice Reform
Workers’ Rights
McCutcheon v. FEC— 2013 Struck down limits on the aggregate amount an individual can contribute to federal campaigns in one election cycle
Planned Parenthood v. Casey—1992 Reproductive Justice—upheld but weakened the right to an abortion; allowed several abortion regulations under Pennsylvania law
Gideon v. Wainwright—1963 Ruled that state courts must provide counsel in criminal cases to represent defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys
PRESIDENT NIXON INITIATING THE WAR ON DRUGS
DELANO GRAPE STRIKE & BOYCOTT
1965-1970
Miranda v. Arizona—1966 Ruled that police cannot question a suspect without first telling them their constitutional rights, like their right to remain silent or see a lawyer
1972
“DISABLED IN ACTION” LED BY JUDITH HEUMANN HELD A MASSIVE SIT-IN IN NYC TO PROTEST PRESIDENT NIXON’S VETO OF THE REHABILITATION ACT Disability Rights
Americans with Disabilities Act—1990 Disability Rights
nited States v. U Georgia—2006 Ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act extends to people in state prisons and protects incarcerated people from discrimination based on disability
1973
Money in Politics
1982
2010
WARREN COUNTY, NC AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY RESISTS THE DUMPING OF TOXIC PCB-LACED SOIL IN THEIR COMMUNITY Environmental Justice, Economic Justice, Racial Justice
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency —2007 Forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) as pollutants
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS I NTE R S EC TIO NALIT Y
The term “intersectionality” was coined in the late 1960s by Kimberlé Crenshaw when the voices of black women were not being adequately heard and addressed by neither the Civil Rights nor the Feminist movements. During this time, black feminists argued that the feminist movement was only representative of white, middle-class women and did not properly address the needs of women of color, low-income, differently-abled, and/or queer. They challenged the notion that genderidentity was the main factor when addressing women’s rights, stating instead that women do not always have the same struggles because all facets of their identities inform their lived experiences. The term intersectionality challenges us to understand the ways in which all our identities come together to determine our respective power, privileges, and oppressions. Historically, youth, women, people of color, immigrants, queer & trans, differently-abled, and low-income people have had difficulty accessing the resources they deserve. Leaders on all sides of politics have contributed to the marginalization of historically disadvantaged communities. We feel that the conservative movement has made the marginalization of these communities a major part of their local, regional, national and international platforms. Most of the time it’s under the guise of “securing our borders,” “stopping reverse racism,” “fighting socialism,” and most recently “taking back America,” divisive (and sometimes misleading) buzzwords that represent troubling trends like xenophobia, racial superiority, and classism that have emerged amongst conservatives. Because of issues of marginalization (certain communities being disregarded when working on these issues) it is critical that we work now to make certain that these needs are addressed in our work. This way of thinking requires some practice. Because our world functions (particularly in the West) from a very individualistic perspective, we often don’t see intersectional thought modeled for us. It is a mental practice to identify all the intersections that exist between our issues and get used to seeing things from this lens.
DEFINITIONS: Power: the ability to get what you want, to influence others and to have decision making capacity; the ability to move and acquire resources in order to bring about change. Privilege: Dominance and advantages systemically conferred onto a group based on characteristics usually outside of the groups’ control (unearned power). Oppression: Systematic, unjust repression and disadvantage. The combination of prejudice and institutional power which creates a system that discriminates against some groups (often called “target groups”) and benefits other groups (often called “dominant groups”). Examples of these systems are racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, classism, ageism, and anti-Semitism. These systems enable dominant groups to exert control over target groups by limiting their rights, freedom, and access to basic resources such as healthcare, education, employment, and housing. Institutions: Institutions are fairly stable social arrangements and practices through which collective actions are taken. Examples of institutions in the U.S. include the legal, educational, health care, social service, government, media and criminal justice systems. Institutional Oppression: Institutional oppression is the systematic reflection and production of inequities based on one’s membership in targeted social identity groups through established laws, customs, and practices. Institutional Oppression occurs when established laws, customs, and practices systematically reflect and produce inequities based on one’s membership in targeted social identity groups. If oppressive consequences accrue to institutional laws, customs, or practices, the institution is oppressive whether or not the individuals maintaining those practices have oppressive intentions. Institutional Oppression creates a system of invisible barriers limiting people based on their membership in unfavored social identity groups. The barriers are only invisible to those “seemingly” unaffected by it. The practice of institutionalized oppression is based on the belief in inherent superiority or inferiority. Institutionalized oppression is a matter of result regardless of intent.
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CHALLE N G E S TO I N CO R P O R ATI N G I NTE R S EC TIO NALIT Y 1. Marginalization of historically disadvantaged communities Historically, youth, women, people of color, immigrants, queer & trans, differently abled and low-income people have had difficulty accessing the resources they deserve.
2. Political Environments Leaders on all sides of politics have contributed to the marginalization of historically disadvantaged communities. We feel that the conservative movement has made the marginalization of these communities a major part of their local, regional, national and international platforms. Most of the time it’s under the guise of securing our borders, stopping reverse racism, fighting socialism and most recently sold as taking back America. Many of these messages are designed to divide and conquer, to pit groups against each other, and to keep us fractionalized as a movement for social justice as we identify single issues that the conservative movement focuses on.
3. Power, Leadership Roles, & Movement History Because historical marginalization (certain communities being disregarded when working on these issues) has further deepened inequity and injustice, it is critical that we work now to make certain that the experiences and needs of these communities are addressed in our issue area. Historically marginalized communities are not sufficiently reflected in leadership in the public or private sectors. This requires that we acknowledge the history of political movements. The good the bad and the ugly and how these issues were not taken up by the broader movement (ie women’s sufferage & women of color; Employment Non-Discrimination Act & Trans folk). This is why what we do around the country is so important. We can change this dynamic over time by creating change in our communities that is inclusive.
4. Language and Cultural Barriers Issues like language barriers, cultural competency, and different physical needs have all been ignored in the past, and now, more than ever, we need to develop an infrastructure that secures and amplifies everyone’s voices.
5. Western Individualism and Competition Thinking using the lens of intersectionality requires some practice. Because our world functions (particularly in the West) from a very individualistic perspective, we often don’t see intersectional thought modeled for us. Intersectionality allows us to acknowledge that we experience our identities simultaneously and we can’t continue to live with one another by placing each other in restrictive boxes.
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I N D IVI D UAL I NTE R S EC TIO NALIT Y CHAR T
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS I NTE R S EC TIO NALIT Y
A CASE STUDY FORWARD TOGETHER POLISH – Participatory Research, Organizing and Leadership Initiative for Safety and Health The nail salon industry in California is a fast-growing industry that exposes workers to toxic chemicals, some unregulated, that contribute to global warming. Forward Together’s (formerly Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice) POLISH program works with the nail care industry to improve the health of nail care workers and to reduce negative environmental impacts. A reproductive justice analysis of working conditions in nail salons directs improvements not only to making the nail salon environment one that is conducive to good health, but also to increasing wages, improving benefits, reducing working hours, reducing harassment and discrimination, and creating more educational opportunities for workers.
Forward Together’s definition of Reproductive Justice: “We believe Reproductive Justice exists when all people have the social, political and economic power and resources to make healthy decisions about our gender, bodies, sexuality and families for our selves and our communities. Reproductive Justice aims to transform power inequities and create long-term systemic change, and therefore relies on the leadership of communities most impacted by reproductive oppression. The reproductive justice framework recognizes that all individuals are part of families and communities and that our strategies must lift up entire communities in order to support individuals.”
Intersectionality Commitments Below, write at least one commitment for yourself and at least one for your work. I commit myself to the following:
I commit my work to the following:
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P OWE R , P R IVI LEG E , AN D O P P R E S S IO N
RACISM DEFINED YP4 borrows the definition of racism used by the People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond (PISAB), an organization that has had a very long history of training communities around racism and organizing at the local and institutional level to undo racism. PISAB identifies racism as the following:
RACISM = PREJUDICE BASED ON RACE + POWER Racism is a SYSTEM of oppression based on race. (So, for example, Sexism = Prejudice based on Sex + Power, and sexism is a system of oppression based on sex).
Interpersonal Racism: racism between individual people (manifests as prejudice and/or discrimination) Institutional Racism: racism embedded in laws, policies, practices, cultural beliefs and values Internalized Racism: racism within oppressed communities AND non-oppressed communities, which can manifest itself as internalized racial inferiority or internalized racial superiority. Internalized Racial Inferiority: The acceptance of and acting out of an inferior definition of self, given by the oppressor, is rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of disempowerment and disenfranchisement expresses itself in self-defeating behaviors. Internalized Racial Superiority: The acceptance of and acting out of a superior definition is rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of empowerment and access expresses itself as unearned privileges, access to institutional power and invisible advantages based upon race.
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS ALLYS H I P
A GOOD ALLY…
• Is asked to be an ally
• Recognizes that just because they were asked to be an ally to someone of an oppressed group, they are not necessarily an ally to an entire group
• Realizes, questions, and educates oneself and reconciles with personal privilege
• Supports the leadership of oppressed group by strategically stepping aside
• Is accountable to the oppressed group
• Ensures any work they do with or on behalf of the oppressed group is truly inclusive and does not tokenize
• Challenges misconceptions of oppressed groups when members of the oppressed group are present (with permission) and when members of the oppressed group are not present
• Identifies opportunities to use their privilege to leverage access and power in the interest of establishing social equity and acts on these opportunities after having accountable conversations with the communities with whom they seek to be, or have been asked to be, an ally towards
• Works through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath those feelings and what needs to be healed
• Acts collaboratively with members of the target group to dismantle oppression.
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS ALLYS H I P
KEN HARDY’S TASKS OF PARTICIPANTS IN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT RACE AND OTHER ASPECTS OF SOCIAL IDENTITY GENERIC TASKS:
1. To be the expert in your own experience, not of others.
2. To create space for the telling of one’s story.
3. To make space for both thoughts and feelings.
TASKS OF THE PRIVILEGED:
1. To resist false notions of equality. It is not helpful to equate suffering.
2. Intentions vs. consequences: to understand that intentions may be good, but that doesn’t change the fact that consequences may be bad. It is not helpful to just clarify intentions when consequences were hurtful. Acknowledge the effect of and consequences of your actions. Intentions are the province of the privileged; consequences are the provinces of the subjugated.
3. To challenge the ahistorical approach. History does matter, the past does effect the present. The privileged cannot understand the subjugated “out of context.”
4. To develop thick skin. Need to be able to thicken one’s skin, to not give up on connections with people who have been subjugated even if you are initially rebuffed, to continue to go back and back, to continue to try.
5. To not become a FOE—framer of others’ experiences.
TASKS OF THE SUBJUGATED:
1. To overcome learned voicelessness; to advocate for oneself. One needs to challenge the belief that it is not worth speaking up. The subjugated have often been taught that “silence is golden” and “don’t speak unless spoken to”; the challenge is to unlearn this behavior.
2. To learn to exhale the negative messages that have become internalized.
3. To overcome the addiction to protect, educate or change the privileged.
4. To deal with one’s own rage, to channel it appropriately, not to eradicate it. Shame is a major stumbling block for the privileged; rage is a major stumbling block for the subjugated.
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS ALLYS H I P
GOOD ALLYSHIP CASE STUDIES 1. JEWS FOR RACIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE (JFREJ) & DOMESTIC WORKERS UNITED Since 2003, a grassroots organization called Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) based in New York City has been organizing employers of domestic workers and other allies in the New York Jewish community in solidarity with Domestic Workers United (DWU). In 2010, DWU and JFREJ won an enormous victory—the first ever Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in the country! It was a tremendous win not just for domestic workers but for women, immigrants, people of color, low-wage workers, and many more. JFREJ’s work on this campaign involved organizing their own community stakeholders for this campaign - synagogues, rabbis, Jewish legislators, Jewish community organizations, and perhaps most prominently, Jewish employers of domestic workers - who came out in full force in support of a Bill of Rights for the largely immigrant workforce that they employ. This campaign demonstrated that employers can be on the side of justice, and that all of us have a stake in immigrant/worker justice. The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights victory is reverberating nationally and internationally, paving a road for dignity and recognition for all excluded workers.
2. REGENERACIÓN - BUILDING AN INTERGENERATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR COLLECTIVE LIBERATION Across the US, many women of color led and continue to lead projects recognize kids and families as integral to movement building. Inspired by these projects, a group of organizers in New York City pulled together a childcare collective called Regeneración. A diverse group of members of Regeneración participate in child-raising as a form of resistance that builds communities and relationships. Members provide childcare at organizational meetings, community events and more so that women of color and immigrant families find these events like late-night organizing meetings and day-long outreach events accessible, and can attend these events without fear that their children will be left home alone.
3. ALLIES STANDING BEHIND AND BESIDE LGBTQ/GNC COMMUNITIES The Audre Lorde Project (ALP) is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, ALP works for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, ALP seeks to responsibly reflect, represent and serve its various communities. ALP hosts countless events ranging from community potlucks to mass mobilizations. Almost all events are public and oftentimes may lend themselves to police presence. Knowing all too well the hostile relationship between communities of color, particularly Queer and Trans communities of color, and the police, ALP is intentional about protecting its members from police intervention at community events. ALP does this by recruiting, training and mobilizing community security teams who liaise directly with law enforcement and support community members to feel safe coming out to events. Security teams are trained to negotiate with police to prevent interference and are willing to take an arrest if a situation escalates, instead of a community member. Security teams are a key place for gender-conforming, white, documented and/or cisgendered allies and allies who may not have an open police record, to play a role supporting community events.
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I D E NTI F YI N G ROOT C AU S E S
ROOT CAUSE TREE The Root Cause Tree helps you visually analyze the symptoms (fruit), institutional causes (trunk), and underlying systemic causes (roots) of a problem. This tool helps you define your individual analysis about a problem if you complete it as an individual exercise, or create a shared analysis of a problem if you complete it with a group. Determining a problem’s root causes will help you avoid band-aid solutions or solutions that only address symptoms. Our analysis of a problem will determine the strategy we use to solve it. You must be able to articulate your analysis in order to develop a solution and to identify appropriate allies and partners. It is important that people have a shared analysis of a problem so that they can have a shared plan of action to address the problem.
How Do I Use a Root Cause Tree? STEP 1: Decide what issue to analyze using the Root Cause Tree. Typically, you want to analyze the main issue that you’ve chosen for your Blueprint.
STEP 2: Use the blank Root Cause Tree chart on the next page. Start by filling out the top level of the sheet with the impacts or symptoms of the issue. These impacts are represented by the fruit; they are problems that you can see or touch in your community.
STEP 3: Ask yourself or the group, “What are the structures and policies that institutionalize the problems we see (the fruit)?” or “Why do these problems exist in our communities?” Fill in the trunk section with structures or policies that institutionalize the main issue you’ve chosen.
STEP 4: Ask yourself or the group, “What are the underlying historical, social, political, or economic root causes of these problems?” or “Why do these structures or policies (trunk) exist?” Keep asking “Why?” in order to get to the root causes.
STEP 5: Think about what your analysis of the main issue means for your Blueprint project. Your Blueprint must go beyond the symptoms (fruit) and address structures or policies (trunk) in order to make lasting change in your campus or community.
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I D E NTI F YI N G ROOT C AU S E S
LGBTQ RIGHTS ROOT CAUSES TREE MANIFESTATIONS
SOLUTIONS
• 89% of LGBPQ youth report being
• 2013 Fellow Zane Ballard’s Blueprint
harassed in school • 1 in 3 LGBTQ youth
calls for the development and launch
dropouts out of high school, 7 times the
of a campus LGBTQ+ SafeSpace
national average.
FRUIT:
Program. This program involves training of all members of the Millsaps College community to foster and maintain safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students and employees in all facets of campus life
• 2007 YP4 Fellows Robert Proffer and
• Teachers and administrators don’t
Jessica Klein held a rally to demand
protect LGBTQ students
that sexual orientation be included
• Violence against LGBTQ people in
in the schools nondiscriminations
the media • Lack of community in public
policy and that the university offer TRUNK:
school systems
domestic partnership benefits to support LGBTQ employees. • In 2013 the Supreme courted ruled in
• School curriculum that degrades
Windsor v. United States that Section 3
LGBTQ people
of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional
• Sexism: Rigid, institutionalized gender
• Base building in communities
roles that punish difference
• Critical resistance
• Transphobia and Homophobia: Legacy of institutionalized and interpersonal discrimination against LGBT people
ROOTS:
• Solidary on the part of non-LGBTQ communities
(some consider this to be the result of sexism).
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I D E NTI F YI N G ROOT C AU S E S
ROOT CAUSES TREE STRUCTURE FRUIT: What impacts or problems do you see facing the community?
TRUNK: What structures, practices, and policies institutionalize the problems?
ROOTS: What are the underlying historical, social, political, or economic root causes of these problems? Why do these structures or policies exist?
SOLUTIONS: What does your Blueprint Project aim to do? What levels of the tree does your Blueprint address?
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
CHOOSING AN APPROACH In a strong movement there is a division of labor. One person or organization cannot be good at all things. Instead, people should focus on approaches that fit their strengths, and coordinate with others using different, complimentary approaches. Therefore, to work toward fulfillment of your Blueprint goals and, in turn, achieve your vision, you must choose an approach that will have the strongest impact and fits your unique talents. You should also work to find individual or organizational partners who are using different approaches to supplement your work and strengthen your movement, which you’ll have the chance to do during the “Community Scan” step of designing your Blueprint .
Questions to consider when choosing an approach that fits who you are and what you bring to the work:
1. Do you have any experience in the approach you’ve chosen?
2. Do you understand the assets and tactics necessary for the effective implementation of this approach?
YES
NO
YES
NO
3. If not, are their folks working closely with you who do?
YES
NO
4. Are you a member of the community you plan to work with?
YES
NO
5. If not, are their members of that community among your peers/colleagues?
YES
NO
6. Are the stakeholders in the community among the leadership and/or folks YES
NO
choose the same approach you’ve selected to do the work you’re imagining?
YES
NO
8. If not, have members of that community validated it as a worthwhile approach?
YES
NO
9. Can you do this work without any limitations that may arise from your YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
making decisions about the execution of your approach?
7. Would the community members you’re hoping will be a part of your work
identity hampering your efficacy? 10. If not, are their individuals among the leadership of your work who are able to fill these gaps and supplement these limitations? 11. If your employment of this approach has ever been challenged by the community impacted by your work, have you given serious consideration to the issues raised? 12. Do you think that, should such a challenge arise, you should consider employing a different approach? 13. Do the activities associated with this approach align with your ideological orientation, values, and beliefs about how change happens?
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
CHOOSING AN APPROACH Questions to consider when choosing an approach that fits the desires and needs of your community/ the community you’re working with:
1. What approaches are currently in use to address your issue and/or demand?
2. What approach could be strengthened to substantially help the cause? For example, if there is a mediocre media strategy already in place, would putting more energy into the media approach substantially help the cause?
3. What approaches are not currently in use and, if added, could substantially help the cause? For example, if the organizing approach around your issue is strong but there is a lack of data and research on the issue, perhaps using a research approach in your Blueprint could substantially advance the work.
4. If you do not know the answers to these questions, who could you ask?
5. If you answered “YES” to the limitations question above, might those limitations be so significant as to hamper the efficacy of your work? If so, what other approach might allow for you to do your work more effectively?
Based on the answers to the above questions, is the approach you’ve currently identified for your work still seem like the best match? If not, which seems like a better fit?
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
APPROACH
DEFINITION
Direct Service
Provide service directly to the community, community residents, or both.
Community Organizing
Develop a membership or group that can be mobilized to fight for specific demands around social justice
Capacity Building, Education & Leadership Development
ACTIVITIES
STRENGTHS
CHALLENGES
Develop sustainable leadership, skills, and knowledge of others
Advocacy
Represent constituencies not currently at the table for specific demands around social justice. Usually a smaller group of individuals who speak on the behalf of others. Commonly referred to as lobbying.
Governance
Push for social change from within institutions or positions of formal (elected or appointed) decision-making power
Alliance & Coalition Building
Create spaces or forums to link groups for information sharing or collaboration
Idea Creation: Media, Research, Communications & Culture
Create knowledge and promote ideas usually through media, research, and culture
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
INTERSECTIONALITY OF APPROACHES CRITICAL QUESTIONS
1. If you were using your primary approach, what would you do to address the issues in this root cause tree?
2. What impact would your primary approach have on this root cause tree?
3. Would using only your primary approach lead to success in addressing the overall cause/issue?
4. How does your primary approach interact with others?
5. How could integrating different approaches move the work on this root cause tree forward more effectively than if you employed just one?
6. In general, how do the various approaches intersect and interact?
7. Which other approaches would benefit the work you are doing and/or planning to do?
8. How can you integrate approaches that are not your primary approach into your work?
9. What are 1-2 takeaways from this group exercise that the group would like to share with the full group (also designate who will share).
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
MONEY IN ELECTIONS ROOT CAUSES MANIFESTATIONS
SOLUTIONS
• Increase in spending for corporate interest groups in elections • Marginalization or decrease in voting power for lowincome communities,
FRUIT:
students and communities of color
• The Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. FEC (in 2010)
TRUNK:
• Racism: discriminatory legal and economic regimes • C apitalism: Lack of regulation of profit motive. Corporate control and
ROOTS:
involvement in policy making.
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
WO R LDVI E W & CU R R E NT CO N D ITIO N S What is the nature of inequality and why does it exist?
Radical Social Change
People are essentially communal and desire equality. Inequality and individualism at the expense of the community are a result of capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and other socio-economic structures. Inequality, oppression, and exploitation are necessary for capitalism and the current world order to continue to operate. The longer capitalism and the current world order operates, the more unequal society will get. People have a right to a decent quality of life (health care, education, housing, etc…) and many people do not have a decent quality of life because market forces are not held in check.
IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM
Systemic Social Change
Capitalism leads to inequality AND the government and public sector must regulate capitalism to ensure that the public’s and the earth’s rights are upheld. Inequality happens because the government is not playing a big enough role in checking the self-interest of the market as well as checking sexism, racism, heterosexism and other institutionalized systems of oppression.
Liberal Social Change
People are essentially communal and desire equality. Inequality and individualism at the expense of the community are a result of capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and other socio-economic structures. Inequality, oppression, and exploitation are necessary for capitalism and the current world order to continue to operate. The longer capitalism and the current world order operates, the more unequal society will get.
Neo-Liberal Social Change (‘Mainstream’ or ‘Center’)
People are essentially self-interested and the market makes the most efficient decisions for society. People are self interested and capitalism works.
Conservative Social Change
Inequality is natural and is a result of differences of ability or life circumstance. The government should have less or no role in ensuring equality. If there is a government role in ensuring equality, it should be for the “deserving poor” only. Poverty happens when the government is not supporting the corporations and rich enough. When the economy is doing well (through support of the rich), prosperity trickles down to the poor in a way that is in line with the current social order. People are self-interested and capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism work.
Hard Right Social Change
Inequality is a result of actions of the individuals. Because the system is fair, those who are on the bottom deserve to be on the bottom. Those with more resources are those who are more capable and therefore they should make decisions for society. Inequality is efficient and should be maintained. The system needs for less capable people to do grunt work while the more capable people run society.
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AP P ROACH E S TO SOCIAL CHAN G E
P O LI CI E S AN D STR ATEG I E S
What are appropriate ways to work for social change?
Radical Social Change
Strategies that: Dismantle capitalism and put in place a completely new system of production and distribution of resources that benefits all equally, regardless of race, class, gender, etc. Confront the current power structure to expose it’s inherent unjust operations. Violent as well as non-violent methods. Non-cooperation with the current system. Work within the system with the long term goal of destroying it. Strategies that: Work within the current economic, social, and legislative system in order to ensure rights of people to basic standard of living and political participation.
IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM
Systemic Social Change
Policies that: Large scale shifts in public resources towards eliminating inequities and/or injustices: in public education, healthcare, taxes, housing, etc. Establish laws that: • Fully guarantee workers’ rights. • G uarantee the right to authentic representation (universal registration, public financing, etc. • M andate non-polluting production processes • Place strategic limits on corporate power (The right of workers to safe jobs with living wages supercedes the ‘right’ to make a profit. Strategies that: Work within the current economic, social, and legislative system in order to reduce inequality by leveling the playing field.
Liberal Social Change
Policies that: • Provide some government resources to address the economic and social hardships caused by market-driven policies. • Require corporations to give something (a little) back for the consequences of development (some housing, some jobs, some services, etc.) • Require corporations to observe some rights of workers. • Limit the amount of acceptable pollution/poisoning. Strategies that: Work within the current economic, social, and legislative in order to tweak it, specifically around market failures.
Neo-Liberal Social Change (‘Mainstream’ or ‘Center’)
Policies that: • Create ‘new market incentives’ to address the economic and social hardships caused by marketdriven policies. (New public subsidies for businesses, welfare reform policies, international free trade policies, pollution credits) • Reduce and/or ‘Streamline’ Regulations to maximize the ‘efficiencies’ of the market. • Privatize public entities to improve government ‘inefficiencies’. (Privatize public housing, school vouchers, privatize government services – utilities, mass transit, health care services.) Strategies that: Work to support the current economic, social, and legislative system in a way to supports the rich.
Conservative Social Change
Policies that: • Eliminate all obstacles to wealth creation and accumulation. These obstacles include: Taxes, regulations, limits on corporate size and/or power. • Weaken federal, state and local government’s capacities to communities from: - The market’s negative impacts. - Racism, sexism & homophobia People are self-interested and capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism work.
Hard Right Social Change
Inequality is a result of actions of the individuals. Because the system is fair, those who are on the bottom deserve to be on the bottom. Those with more resources are those who are more capable and therefore they should make decisions for society. Inequality is efficient and should be maintained. The system needs for less capable people to do grunt work while the more capable people run society.
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THE FUTURE WE ’ RE FIGHTING FOR How should power be used and distributed?
Direct community control over production, resource allocation, and development. All businesses are public and/or cooperatively owned and run based on community needs.
Radical Social Change
IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM
Systemic Social Change
The right of every person to a decent, safe, affordable quality of life. The government’s role is to uphold and protect these rights in society and to work affirmatively to dismantle racism, sexism, homophobia, inequality and other institutional barriers to these rights. Every person has a decent, safe, affordable quality of life and every person is able to participate in the collectively-made decisions affecting their lives. These rights are more important than the corporations right to make a profit. The government and public sector serves as an effective check and balance on the market. The government fulfills its role in upholding and protecting individual rights in society and works affirmatively to dismantle racism, sexism, homophobia, inequality and other institutional barriers to these rights. The government, a third party and/or a group of people act as advocates on behalf of those most affected. Not everyone gets to vote or participate (due to citizenship, prior felonies, etc) politically.
Liberal Social Change
Neo-Liberal Social Change (‘Mainstream’ or ‘Center’)
Conservative Social Change
The role of the government is to: • intervene only when the ‘Market’ (capitalism) fails to provide for the common good • limit overt individual racist, sexist, homophobic and other discriminatory behaviors Everyone gets to have the same opportunities and access to resources in order to advance in the current social system. Corporations and the private sector should have primary control over key decisions in society in order for the market to work. These decisions include: • What gets produced • How it gets produced • How goods & services get allocated The role of the government is to: • create ‘New Market mechanisms’ when the existing ‘Market’ fails to provide for the common good (like needed basic services) • limit overt individual racist, sexist, homophobic and other discriminatory behaviors Corporations and the private sector must have primary control over key decisions in society in order for the market to work. These decisions include: • What gets produced • How it gets produced • How goods & services get allocated The government’s presence and intervention is much less than it is today. The government serves to support corporations and the market.
Hard Right Social Change
Corporations and the private sector must have primary control over key decisions in society in order for the market to work. These decisions include: • What gets produced • How it gets produced • How goods & services get allocated The government’s presence and intervention is much less than it is today. The government serves to support corporations and the market. Active barriers are built to prevent immigrant and LGBTQ people from accessing any political power or voice. Diminish the access of women and people of color to political power and voice.
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS B U I LD I N G P OWE R TO WI N
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WHAT’S AT STAKE? • • • • • •
YP4 DEFINES CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AS: Individual and collective actions designed to identify and create positive social change on issues of communal concern
EXAMPLES OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INCLUDE: • • • • • •
BARRIERS TO CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INCLUDE: • • • • • •
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WORKSHOP MATERIALS B U I LD I N G P OWE R TO WI N
TYPES OF POWER Power
Political/Legislative
How it Works
Supporting candidates and policies who champion your issues by voting and capital (human and monetary) contributions
Young people organizing lobby visits and voter education campaigns in support of or against legislation on an issue they care about (ex: DREAMers’ work on Comprehensive Immigration Reform1)
Cutting profits by redirecting purchasing power elsewhere (involves media campaign to expose other consumers to issue)
Customers organizing against a company’s harmful labor practices by boycotting the items that company produces they would otherwise consume. If the campaign is successful, the company may very well rescind its policy (ex: the Delano Grape Strike and Boycott of 1965-19702; the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) boycott of Chipotle 2006 – 20123)
Pursuing progressive change to laws and regulations, often through the courts
An individual who feels their or their communities’ rights have been violated pursuing litigation. Usually the development of this approach is through a combination of historical and current economic and political context. (ex: Roe v. Wade 4)
Cutting profits or efficacy by stopping a company, government agency, or other entity from functioning
Opponents of harmful trade policy staging massive protests that disrupt a decision makers’ meetings, bring national/global awareness to the issue and possibly securing a meeting with decision makers to advocate for change (ex: the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting protests5)
Consumer
Legal/Regulatory
Disruptive
Examples
1 http://unitedwedream.org/about/history/ 2 http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=cc_his_research&b_no=10482 3 http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/coalition-immokalee-workers-demand-fair-food-agreement-chipotle-restaurant-2006-2012 4 http://www.streetlaw.org/en/landmark/cases/roe_v_wade#Tab=Background 5 http://www.globalissues.org/article/46/wto-protests-in-seattle-1999
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES To supplement our conversations this weekend, check out the following resources:
ON TELLING YOUR PERSONAL NARRATIVE: Ganz, Marshall. “Telling Your Public Story.” Us, Self, Now. Kennedy School of Government, 2007. Web. http://www.wholecommunities.org/pdf/Public%20Story%20Worksheet07Ganz.pdf Ganz, Marshall. “Why Stories Matter.” Sojourners Magazine. March 2009. http://sojo.net/magazine/2009/03/why-stories-matter
ON PROGRESSIVE VALUES: “Values and Frames.” Common Cause. Web. http://valuesandframes.org/ Halpin, John, and Conor P. Williams. “Progressive Traditions: The Progressive Intellectual Tradition in America.” Center for American Progress, 14 Apr. 2010. Web. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/progressive-movement/ report/2010/04/14/7677/the-progressive-intellectual-tradition-in-america/ Garib, Andrew. “What Is Progressive?” Alternet. 25 July 2005. Web. http://www.alternet.org/story/23706/what_is_progressive Vikingkingq. “Progressive vs. Liberal: What’s in a Name?” Daily Kos, 28 Feb. 2008. Web. 24 May 2013. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/02/28/466044/-Progressive-vs-Liberal-What-s-In-a-Name
ON INTERSECTIONALITY Crenshaw, Kimberle. “A Primer on Intersectionality.” African American Policy Forum. http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/pdf/intersectionality_primer.pdf Smith, S. E. “Push(back) at the Intersections: Defining (and Critiquing) ‘Intersectionality.’” Bitch Magazine. 5 Aug 2010. http://bitchmagazine.org/post/pushback-at-the-intersections-defining-and-critiquing-intersectionality Killermann, Sam. “You Soup: Understanding Diversity and the Intersections of Identity.” It’s Pronounced Metrosexual. http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/10/individual-difference-and-group-similiarity/ “Welcome to This AND That: Global Identities and Intersectionality!” Gender Across Borders. 28 April 2011. http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/04/28/welcome-to-this-and-that-global-identities-and-intersectionality/ DB, Devon. “Oppression and Intersectionality.” What About Peace. 1 August 2012. http://whataboutpeace.blogspot.com/2012/08/oppression-and-intersectionality.html
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON POWER, PRIVILEGE AND OPPRESSION: McIntosh, Peggy. “”White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies”” Independent School (1990). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEHaNWcaSVhIx1yzw2VZEYQB3rASl8GosfiiiKCLxdU/edit McKenzie, Mia. Black Girl Dangerous. 2013. Web. http://blackgirldangerous.org Jones, CP. “Levels of Racism: Theoretical Framework and a Gardner’s Tale.” Am J Public Health 2000. 90: 1212-1215. http://prezi.com/7332y4ctmnxl/levels-of-racism-a-theoretic-frameowrk-and-a-gardners-tale/ Organizing for Power, Organizing for Change. “Anti-Oppression Resources & Exercises.” Resources for Organizers and Trainers. http://organizingforpower.org/anti-oppression-resources-exercises/ “White Privilege Terms and Resources.” Occupy Detroit Sensitivity and Racial Inclusion Workgroup. Euroamerican. org. 4 December 2011. http://www.euroamerican.org/Library/Resources/Occupy/White_Priv_Terms_Resources.pdf
ON ALLYSHIP COLORLINES. “The 1963 March on Washington in Photos” http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/08/the_1963_march_on_washington_in_photos.html Decolonizing Yoga. “Meet Us at Our Table: The Problems with the White Savior Complex” http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/meet-us-at-our-table-the-problems-with-the-white-savior-complex/ The Good Men Project “What’s the Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation?” http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/hesaid-whats-the-difference-between-cultural-exchange-and-culturalappropriation/
ON ROOT CAUSES Lopez, Christine; Ed. Steve Fawcett. “Analyzing Root Causes of Problems.” The Community Tool Box. 2013. http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1128.aspx.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES B U I LD I N G P OWE R TO WI N
ON APPROACHES TO SOCIAL CHANGE Hawkes, Suzanne. “Mapping it Out: Social Change Approaches.” 4 March 2007. Web. http://suzannehawkes.com/2007/03/04/mapping-it-out-social-change-approaches/ Reeler, Doug. “Reconciling Community Development and Rights-Based Approaches to Social Change.” Community Development Resources Association. September 2007. Accessed online: http://www.cdra.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=249%3Areconciling-communitydevelopment-and-rights-based-approaches-to-social-change&Itemid=2
ON BUILDING POWER TO WIN Citizen’s United v. FEC. Story of Stuff. http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/ Loeb, Paul. ““My Vote Doesn’t Matter”: Countering Cynicism” http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/09/25/essay-role-colleges-encouraging-students-vote#sthash. EnFavAcP.mLCqbJYn.dpbs Lawson, Joy. “For Democracy with Integrity, Students Take Action.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joy-lawson/super-pac-citizens-united-political-spending-college-_b_1525889.html The Brennan Center for Justice. http://www.brennancenter.org/ The Advancement Project on Voter Protection. http://www.advancementproject.org/issues/voter-protection The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. http://www.civilrights.org/voting-rights/
ON WHY COURTS MATTER Raskin, Jamie. “Why the Supreme Court Matters Crucially to Voting Rights.” https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7RtCsmo1-kSRU1Qdl9EaE9hc0U/edit Street Law Inc. http://www.streetlaw.org/en/about/who_we_are The Oyez Project. http://www.oyez.org/about The Supreme Court of the United States Blog. http://www.scotusblog.com/
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
B LU E P R I NT A S S I G N M E NT 1 : CO M M U N IT Y SC AN First Name:
Last Name:
Mentor: Staff Point of Contact: Email:
Phone Number:
Campus or Community:
1. What geographic area to do plan to work in?
2. How are you part of this community?
3. What is the primary issue you are working on or want to work on?
4. Who are the organizations, people, campaigns or institutional program in your community already working on your issue?
5. Who do these organizations work with? Who are their partners and allies?
6. Are there other YP4 Fellows/Alumni in your community? If so, who?
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
B LU E P R I NT A S S I G N M E NT 1 : CO M M U N IT Y SC AN 7. Are there leaders in your community that can offer you guidance, support, or help you navigate community dynamics when it comes to implementing your project?
8. Are there people or communities missing from the conversation and decision making? If so, who? Why?
9. Why should people or communities care about this issue?
10. Do you have any ideas about how you could encourage collaboration on this issue and/or how you can be a better ally to communities impacted by this issue?
11. Are there any campus/community events that will impact your work?
12. Does the approach to social change you’ve been planning to use still seem like the most effective and appropriate one? If so, why is it the right approach?
13. If not, what approach are you considering now instead? Why does this approach seem like a better fit?
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
B LU E P R I NT A SS I G N M E NT 2 : CR E ATI N G YO U R VI S IO N First Name:
Last Name:
Mentor: Staff Point of Contact: Email:
Phone Number:
Campus or Community:
1. What is the issue that your Blueprint for Social Justice seeks to address? Remember an issue is a topic of problem or concern.
2. What are the values that are associated with this issue?
3. What is your dream for your campus or community? What do you want the world to look like when you have accomplished your goals? Fill the space below with images or text that conveys your dream.
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
B LU E P R I NT A SS I G N M E NT 2 : CR E ATI N G YO U R VI S IO N 4. How will your Blueprint positively impact this community/ resolve the issue?
5. Write a draft vision statement for your Blueprint for Social Justice. Remember, your vision statement should be concise (1-3 sentences), compelling, credible, clear, and show your commitment.
6. Are there other YP4 Fellows/Alumni in your community? If so, who?
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
E X AM P LE S O F E F F EC TIVE VI S IO N STATE M E NTS We envision a society that supports and nourishes same sex relationships, marriages, and families. – Katie McNamara, 2007 YP4 Fellow
My vision is for the young Native American ladies of Anadarko, Oklahoma to take pride in their heritage and community, to have high self-esteem, and to become leaders of the community and state, representing their community in a positive manner. – Maya Torralba, 2008 YP4 Fellow
We envision a world where access to basic healthcare is universal. We envision a world where individuals are brought together to create a culture of awareness and action for the needs of others while creating networks for action and inspiration. – Alex Hill, 2007 YP4 Fellow
Our vision is educate, disseminate, and support the creation of a sustainable healthy community that seeks to nurture the development of future leadership, economic resources, and entrepreneurship for the benefit and development of families and communities. Our mission is guided by a strong believe that all people should have the right to equal opportunity in all aspects of society. -Diego Janacua Cortez 2010
I envision the Bronx as a community known for its empowered youth, who rightfully demand respect and acknowledgement of their dignity. Young Latina women will emerge as leaders of their community, poised for their future and ready to take on their roles as social and political activists and leaders. – Amanda Matos, 2011 YP4 Fellow
I envision a public university whose values of global service never overshadow its commitment to the long term health of its local community, by engaging in ethical banking and socially responsible investment practices. –Ariel Boone, 2011 YP4 Fellow
I envision students joining with progressive labor and community organizations statewide to fight for revenue reform and for a significant reinvestment in affordable, quality public education. On my campus, I envision a broad spectrum of student organizations joining in an action coalition to help forward these goals. - Jeremy Pilaar, 2011 YP4 Fellow
I envision a world where children have equal and equitable access to an education where all cultural experiences and histories are included in the classroom. I believe that such awareness education, which prioritizes an inclusive cultural and historical curriculum and diverse learning experiences, will lead our nation’s youth to be civically engaged and aware and become future leaders in ensuring that our communities are free, just, and empowered. – Liz Harvin, 2012 YP4 Fellow
I envision a community at Brown that continually challenges itself to reevaluate our relationship to each other, to our institution, to Providence, and to the world. Through coalition building and collaboration, I envision taking these relationships beyond dialogue and moving towards collective action for social justice. – Jenny Li, 2012 YP4 Fellow
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
B LU E P R I NT A SS I G N M E NT 3 : S H O R T & LO N G -TE R M G OAL S E T TI N G First Name:
Last Name:
Mentor: Staff Point of Contact: Email:
Phone Number:
Campus or Community:
BLUEPRINT GOALS & DELIVERABLES: A goal is a desired result for a particular project. A deliverable is a concrete, actionable, and measurable step taken to achieve a goal. We first set goals, and then we set deliverables to help us understand our progress toward achieving those goals.
I. SHORT-TERM GOAL SETTING
1. Goal One:
a. Deliverable One:
b. Deliverable Two:
c. Deliverable Three:
2. Goal Two:
a. Deliverable One:
b. Deliverable Two:
c. Deliverable Three:
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
B LU E P R I NT A SS I G N M E NT 3 : S H O R T & LO N G -TE R M G OAL S E T TI N G
3. Goal Three:
a. Deliverable One:
b. Deliverable Two:
c. Deliverable Three:
II. LONG-TERM GOAL SETTING
1. What will your blueprint look like if you leave your community or graduate from college?
2. In 5 years, where will you be?
3. What will your blueprint look like in 5 years?
4. In 10 years, where will you be?
5. What will your blueprint look like in 10 years?
6. Will the short-term goals you set above move you toward these visions and goals for the future?
7. What support do you need from YP4 to help you achieve these goals?
8. What kind of connections or networks do you need from YP4 to meet your goals?
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
E X AM P LE O F S H O R T & LO N G -TE R M G OAL S E T TI N G GOAL 1: Persuade UC Berkeley to vote to divest its finances, financial services, retirement accounts, debts, endowments, and holdings from Bank of America and similar large finance institutions, and responsibly re-invest in community banks and local credit unions within Alameda County Deliverable 1: Set precedent for the University by moving the $3.5 million budget of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) from Bank of America to smaller finance institutions by writing an ASUC Senate Bill, creating a Financial Investment Committee of student representatives, and approving a final proposal to move money. Deliverable 2: Persuade the UC Berkeley administration to divest by writing a business proposal or memo of three to five pages, to be delivered to Chancellor Birgeneau and Vice Chancellor John Wilton, of Administration and Finance, at a meeting with the Dean of Students on February 3rd. Deliverable 3: Hold a campus-wide referendum, a vote of 35,000 student voters in March 2012, of which most likely 14,000 will vote, to express majority student support for this money-moving.
GOAL 2: Persuade the UC Regents to vote to divest the finances of all ten University of California campuses from large finance institutions by investing in local credit unions and community banks. Deliverable 1: Convince the UC Student Regent and Student Regent-Designate to take stances in support of ethical banking and reinvestment in community finance, and use their professional connections to conduct behind-the-scenes conversations with Regents who are not trustees of large banks. Deliverable 2: Form relationships between student leaders on all ten University of California campuses to introduce similar student government legislation urging their individual campuses to divest. Deliverable 3: Seek and enlist the help of Change.org, the US Students Association, the UC Students Association, and Campus Progress in pressuring the UC Regents to take this bold step.
GOAL 3: Incite other campuses nationwide, public and private, to follow UC Berkeley’s example. Deliverable 1: Build infrastructure via a website, partnering with organizations like the Great Bank Migration or the Move Your Money Project, to connect the many public commissions, city governments, and education institutions which vote to divest. Share the text from such resolutions. Deliverable 2: Recruit a team, including • Messaging • Website maintenance • Fundraising/Development • PR and content production • Nationwide campus outreach Deliverable 3: Share the text of divestment resolutions via the website, and publish a toolkit for student organizers nationwide to approach their own campus administrations.
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BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE First Name:
Last Name:
Mentor: Staff Point of Contact: Email:
Phone Number:
Campus or Community:
As you develop your Blueprint for Social Justice, you will be asked to consider and complete the following: • Brief Summary: This should be between 150 to 200 words summarizing your Blueprint for Social Justice. • Vision Statement: What is your vision for your campus and/or community? • Issue Area: Which of YP4’s social justice issues areas does your Blueprint address? • Approach to Social Change: What will your primary approach be? Why did you choose this approach? Do you have secondary approaches? What are they? • Assessing Your Campus and Community: What community or campus problem does your Blueprint address? What structures, practices, and policies institutionalize the problem? • Blueprint Format: Will your Blueprint be an organization or club on campus or in your community, an ongoing program, a one-time or recurring event, an alliance or coalition, or another format? • Vehicles: What will your vehicle(s) be? Within what structure will you primarily work for your Blueprint project? • Goal Setting: What are the Goals and Deliverables of your Blueprint? • Identifying Key Players: Who are the decision makers, the constituents, allies, opponents? • Project Timeline: Create a project timeline outlining tactics and activities need to plan, implement and evaluate your Blueprint for Social Justice. • Funding Request: If you will be requesting funding from YP4, you will need to complete a Budget Proposal and Fundraising Plan.
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CURRICULUM CREDITS, LICENSE, APPRECIATIONS YOUNG PEOPLE FOR (YP4) CURRICULUM CREDITS
ORIGINAL BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT TEAM: Rachel Burrows, Taj James, Jidan Koon, Mateo Nube, Neelam Pathikonda, Lisa Russ, Calvin Williams, and Kristen Zimmerman
ADDITIONS TO THE 2009 BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT TEAM: Jeremy Bearer-Friend, Sophia Kizilbash, Zach Dryden
ADDITIONS TO 2011 BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT TEAM: Sakeena Gohagen-Kenton, William Dennis, Joy Lawson, Rebecca Thompson, Vincent Villano, Cedric Lawson, Danny Montes, Alex Hill, Kendal Nystedt, Bernardita Yunis, Jos Truitt, Eduardo García, Sam Menefee-Libey, Peter Gallotta, Imran Battla, Durryle Brooks, Jameelah Muhammad, Teresa Obrero, Crystallee Crain, Angie Buhl- O’Donnell, Andrew Macurak, Moises Lopez, Adriana Cortes Luna, Baber Mohammed, Corina McCarthy-Fadel, Crystallee Crain, Nick Savelli
ADDITIONS TO 2012 BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING TEAM: Paloma Ibañez, Nijeul Porter, Sasha Ahuja, Marisol Becerra, Dorien Blythers, Sesali Bowen, Jamarr Brown, Lizette Ceja, Dustin Cox, Matthew Harris, Diego Janacua, Andrew Jenkins, Jess Klein, Robin Lane, Daniel Leon, Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, Rajiv Narayan, Raquel Ortega, Lilly Padía, Corey Paris, Ryane Ridenour, Kelley Robinson, Yvonne Tran, Poy Winichakul, Mike Woodward, Laura Hadden, Michael Gallin, Marisa Turesky, Sammie Dow, Morgan Lucas
ADDITIONS TO 2013 BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING TEAM: Laura Williamson, Chagan Sanathu, Andrew Humphrey, Matt Gravatt, Maribel Hermosillo, Ted Young, Ezra Temko, Amber Jolla.
ADDITIONS TO 2014 BLUEPRINT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING TEAM: Gabriela De Golia, Vidushani Jayalal, Poy Winichakul, Jamin Raskin, Marge Baker, Paul Gordon. The original Blueprint for Social Justice was developed by the Movement Strategy Center (MSC) for Young People For. The Power Map exercise was adapted by MSC, based on materials developed by Scope. The Tactics Escalation worksheet was adapted by MSC, based on materials developed by SOUL, the School of Unity and Liberation.
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CURRICULUM CREDITS, LICENSE, APPRECIATIONS LICENSE This work is a remixed and updated version of the Blueprint for Social Justice Workbook & Curriculum licensed in 2009 to Movement Strategy Center, under the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5” License. You are free:
• To Share – to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
• To Remix – to make derivative works, under the following conditions:
- Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. - Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. To view a copy of the full license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
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CURRICULUM CREDITS, LICENSE, APPRECIATIONS YP4 APPRECIATIONS On behalf of the Young People For team, thank you to the people who made the 2014 YP4 Regional Trainings possible through their generous financial support. In particular, we thank the staff and board members of the Annenberg Foundation, David Bohnett Foundation, Open Society Foundation, Frances Lear Foundation, individuals such as Marilyn and Robert Clements, M. Quinn Delaney and Wayne Jordan, Lawrence and Suzanne Hess, Ambassador James Hormel, Susan Sandler, and Steve Phillips, and Philippe and Katherine Villers, Frank Biondi, James Gallagher, Weston Milliken, Pam Grissom, as well as the dozens of foundations, individuals and anonymous donors who invest in People For Foundation’s work to identify, engage and empower the newest generation of progressive campus, community, and elected leaders to create lasting change in their communities. We also wish to thank the People For the American Way Foundation board of directors, who have generously supported this initiative from its beginning and continue to extend a great deal of faith in our program: David Altschul — Chair
Norman Lear, Founding Chair
James A. Autry
Rev. Timothy McDonald
The Hon. Nicole Avant
Deborah Rappaport
Alec Baldwin
Joshua Sapan
Arthur Bellinzoni
Rabbi David Saperstein
The Hon. Mary Frances Berry
Paul Song
Barbara Bluhm-Kaul
Margery Tabankin
The Hon. John H. Buchanan, Jr.
Kathleen Turner
Bertis Downs
Ruth B. Usem
Ronald Feldman
Reg Weaver
Joan Harris
Nate Westheimer
Daniel Katz
Geraldine Day Zurn
Michael Keegan
We also wish to warmly thank our People For the American Way Foundation family: Michael Keegan, Anne Walter, Bernardita Yunis Varas, Bray Creech, Brittany Sherrill, Diallo Brooks, David Perlman, Debbie Liu, Drew Courtney, Erica Johnson, Larry Sirna, Layne Amerikaner, Marge Baker, Paul Gordon, Calvin Sloan, Tyler Hatch, and the rest of the staff for helping make the regional trainings possible. Last but not least, we would like to thank our Young Elected Officials Network family: Andrew Gillum, Dawn Huckelbridge, Ryan Hurst, Adam LaRose, Jenalyn Sotto, Andrew Gustafson, Linda Inge, and Stephen Fitzmaurice. Without all of your tremendous support and guidance, none our work year-round would be possible
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STANDARDS OF CONDUCT Alcohol can impair judgment and can lead to situations that can negatively impact you, YP4, PFAW Foundation, and all parties involved. That being said, the following is our policy on alcohol consumption by Fellows during YP4 events:
• NO ONE under the age of 21 is permitted to drink alcohol at a YP4 event, conference, or space. NO ONE is permitted to provide alcohol to a Fellow, alumni, staff, volunteer, or other participant who is under 21 years of age.w Such activity will result in immediate disciplinary action, including possibly removal from the program.
• All Fellows, regardless of age, may NOT consume alcohol or smoke in housing facilities or on campus. Doing so is prohibited under university policy and may result in significant fines and/or removal from campus by university personnel. Additionally, irresponsible engagement in such conduct will negatively impact your future in the Fellowship, including the revocation of your travel scholarships and/or your removal from the Fellowship Class.
• While at a YP4 sponsored event or while representing YP4, YP4 Fellows should always act professionally, and consider the impacts of consuming alcohol. Please always remember that your conduct during events can negatively impact your future opportunities, so please act accordingly.
The offenses set forth below are not all-inclusive, but are intended as examples of unacceptable behavior of such serious nature that a first occurrence will normally warrant immediate removal from the program:
• Any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors, or verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature by a Trainer towards any persons involved in the YP4 program, including, but not limited to, Fellows, YP4 staff, speakers and other Trainers
• Any unwelcome and severe or pervasive repeated sexual comments, innuendoes, touching, or other conduct of a sexual nature which creates an intimidating or offensive environment for a person involved in the YP4 program, including, but not limited to, Fellows, YP4 staff, speakers and other Trainers.
• Threatening or coercing persons associated with the YP4 program (including, but not limited to, fellows, YP4 staff, speakers and other Trainers)
• Fighting and/or other acts of physical violence or threats thereof
• Violating or threatening to violate another person’s physical space without their express and explicit consent, including threats of physical harm
• Criminal charges filed or criminal convictions for illegal conduct that is violent or physical in nature whether or not they are related to your work as a Trainer in the program
• Willfully or negligently damaging or defacing meeting facility property or property of other persons (including, but not limited to, fellows, YP4 staff, speakers, and other Trainers)
• Theft or unauthorized removal of YP4 property or the property of other persons (including, but not limited to, fellows, YP4 staff, speakers and other Trainers)
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STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION Joy Lawson jlawson@pfaw.org 202.467.2315 @JoyNLawson Chagan Sanathu csanathu@pfaw.org 202.467.2327 @ChaganSanathu Laura Williamson lwilliamson@pfaw.org 202.467.2367 Marion Andrew Humphrey, Jr. ahumphrey@pfaw.org 202.467.2341 @humphreymarion Vidushani Jayalal vjayalal@pfaw.org 202.467.2338 @vidushani Gabriela De Golia gdegolia@pfaw.org 202.467.2363 Anthony Stevens astevens@pfaw.org 202.467.2368
youngpeoplefor.org Twitter: @YP4 YouTube: YoungPeopleFor Facebook: www.facebook.com/youngpeoplefor
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