Summer 2022 Basebuilding Leadership Academy

Summer 2022 Basebuilding Leadership Academy

How to Build or Re-Build Your Mothers’ Out Front Team into a Powerful Force for the Climate Movement

Do you find your team is made up of just a few dedicated people doing all of the work? Do you want to build or rebuild your team into a formidable force for climate justice? Are you waking up to the realization that we can’t win against climate change without a large and diverse movement of people and wish you knew how to get there? This Leadership Academy is for you!

This 6- part training series addresses the value in organizing that our power is in our numbers, or our “base.” Corporations have power in money, but it is the power of the people that gives us the ability to fight and win on climate justice. When we do this intentionally and skillfully across race and class, we transform not just the actors we seek to influence, but we also transform ourselves in the process.

At the end of this Leadership Academy you will have tangible skills to build or rebuild your movement of Mothers and Others fighting for Climate Justice. You will walk away with:

• An understanding of why centering anti-racism in our movement building is vital to building collective power for liberation, and how to begin doing that in your Mothers Out Front Teams
• Tools and a plan to increase the number of active volunteers that are working with you on climate change
• Tools and a plan for how you or your team can turn initial contacts into active volunteers and move people up the leadership ladder
• An array of methods for how you can use already existing social networks to turn one new volunteer into many new volunteers
• An understanding of how to assess what size actions are appropriate for what size team, so that you can continue to engage members while you also grow until your team is big enough to launch a full campaign

Who is It For?

This training is for anyone who wants to grow their number of active volunteers and leaders. This includes but is not limited to:

• Teams who are just in the beginning stages of forming
• Teams that have lost membership and wish to rebuild their team
• Teams that are ready to take the next step to moving from a few dedicated people to a robust team of leaders

When Will it Take Place?

This organizing training series will take place:

• Thursday, July 28, 5- 6:30 ET/ 4- 5:30 CT/ 3- 4:30 pm MT/ 2- 3:30 PCT
• Sunday, July 31, 7-9pm ET/ 6- 8pm CT/ 5-7pm MT/ 4-6pm PCT
• Thursday, August 4, 5- 6:30 ET/ 4- 5:30 CT/ 3- 4:30 pm MT/ 2- 3:30 PC
• Sunday, August 7, 7-9pm ET/ 6- 8pm CT/ 5-7pm MT/ 4-6pm PCT
• Saturday, August 13, 1-4pm ET/ 12-3pm CT/ 11-2pm MT/ 10- 2pm PCT
• Sunday, August 14, 5-8pm ET/ 4-7pm CT/ 3- 6pm MT/ 2-5pm PCT

What Are the Sessions?

Session 1: Intro to MOF and Basebuilding

This session is the introduction to Mothers Out Front, the what and the why of basebuilding

• What is Mothers Out Front and our Organizing Model
• What is  basebuilding, why do we need to do it in order to build truly transformational movements, and how does this differ from other forms of change work
• Why climate organizing cannot and does not happen in a silo. Intersectional organizing is key to winning on climate change.
• Why putting racial justice at the center of our organizing is imperative to the success of the climate movement.

Session 2: How and Why of Basebuilding: This session will introduce you to some tangible skills to reach out to a large number of people to begin or continue building your base. It will include:

• An exercise to assess what stage your team is currently at in its development, and to understand why you are not building power without building your numbers
• The how to of various basebuilding activities: setting up and carrying out a canvass, a tabling event, and outreach to community groups
• Time to build your own plan to carry out these events
• An understanding of the interlocking cycle of basebuilding, building leadership, and action that a team continually takes 

Session 3: People and Relationships are the Building Blocks: This session will focus on the purposeful building of relationships as the glue to good organizing. It will include:

• Learning the basic one to one conversation that is one of the foundations of organizing. We will cover the ‘how to’ of the one to one conversation, provide time to practice it, and make a plan in your team/ area for these vital one to one’s following the initial contact made in a canvass, tabling, or social media outreach.
• How to keep and track data on your people so that you can purposefully develop and move people up the leadership ladder

Session 4: Structures and Action: This session will focus on the importance of building leadership, and building structures that can uphold your team as it grows. It will also focus on knowing when to take action, what size action to take, and how to take action strategically. It will include:

• The ongoing nature of basebuilding and how to support the growth of your team through team structures
• How to continuously bring new people into leadership roles and grow your movement from just a few dedicated individuals to a well oiled machine of interlocking mama power
• How to take action, what size action to take depending on what size team you have, and how to know when your team is large enough/ has enough power to build a campaign plan 

Sessions 5 & 6: Winning Climate Organizing- Racial Justice to the Center: Mothers Out Front is dedicated to building a powerful movement of Mothers and Others across race and class. This is the only way we can build the power we need to defeat climate change and find liberation along the way. That is why this in-depth two-part virtual training designed by AORTA (Anti Oppression Resource and Training Alliance) for MOF staff and members is a required part of completing this Basebuilding Leadership Academy. In these two last sessions of the Leadership Academy we will explore together the ways that the call for racial justice is inherent to our call for a livable climate You can read a more in depth description of these last two sessions here. 

Do I Have to Participate in All Sessions?

It is highly encouraged that you participate in all sessions of this series. This series introduces a number of steps that fit together  in the base building phase of a campaign. If you have to miss one, please let the trainers know in advance.

Do I Need to Join as a Team?

This training series is hands on and will include creating a plan to increase your number of active moms within your existing team/ budding team. You will write an action plan for many of the tools that are taught in this series. That plan will be most effective if it is written in collaboration with other key team members. If you are the only person who can attend from your team, don’t let that stop you though.

How Do I Apply?

Please apply here. 

Childcare?

We understand that many participants have children at home, and we welcome the presence of your children. If you need childcare in order to focus and fully participate in the Academy, we can provide a stipend to hire childcare.