EMPOWERING A more REFLECTIVE DEMOCRACY

Purpose:

To foster pathways to leadership where people in marginalized communities are reflected in the places that policy and budgetary decisions are made (boards, commissions, panels, elected offices, etc.)


Lead Tactic:

Create training curriculum and leadership development programming based on Rep. Booker's unique political and electoral experience, which will include survey results from existing infrastructure (supporters, volunteers, etc.); Surveys will include questions regarding current skills, needs, and wants surrounding the topics of citizen lobbying, running for elected office, organizing, and accessing boards and commissions.


Original Goals:

  • Engage all existing resources in the next 30 days (via survey) to reignite and refocus their energy on short term goals, new opportunities to build skills, get trained, and have an impact on their community;
  • Set training curriculum and leadership development programming scope based off survey results


What We've Done:

  • Created a community survey with questions regarding current skills, needs, and wants surrounding the topics of citizen lobbying, organizing, etc. 
  • Digital organizers have sent surveys to social media lists (~4500+ people and counting)
  • Identified 25 resources to create internally, or publish in partnership with Arena
  • Published resource library for our website 
  • Partnership with Arena to recruit and sponsor folks for their 5-day intensive training; over 260 people applied through Hood to the Holler and 141 people that applied live in Kentucky
  • Because of the overwhelming response and to create more accessibility, we partnered with Arena to create a 2-day training with collaborative curriculum tailored to training Kentuckians. 


Training:

In order for us to foster pathways to leadership where people in marginalized communities are reflected in the places that policy and budgetary decisions are made, we must address issues of access, training, and support.   

On March 12-16 we hosted, in partnership with Arena, a world-class political training. This five day, multi-disciplinary political training program is one way for us to invest in Kentucky and give access to this information to a larger audience. This investment, in folks who want to run for office or help work on campaigns, can help ensure we are creating and fostering a statewide network of people from every corner that can engage in the democratic process, run for office, and advance a progressive agenda to transform Kentucky.

At the five-day Academy, seven tracks are offered for participants: Campaign Manager, Communications, Data, Digital, Finance, Organizer, and Organizing Director. Participants attend some plenaries and receive a "deep dive" training in their specific track. They are then partnered with folks from the other tracks to form a "campaign team". They receives Kentucky specific data and competed in the Arena Cup -- a competition that simulates a real campaign.

This program not only gives participants real-world training, expert coaching, and support, but it connects folks from across the state and will create a strong infrastructure of Kentuckians who are committed to making change through electoral politics. The skills that are learned are also transferable to other advocacy organizations, and will ultimately help strengthen all of our partner organizations.

The March training was such a success that we added an April training. To make the program more accessible, it was a two-day event that gave a more overarching look at campaigns, and enabled even more Kentuckians the ability to access this information. 

By the end of 3 years, our goal is to have 1,000 people trained through these programs. We plan to focus our outreach on every federal, state, and local district in Kentucky.


Resources:

Outside of providing access to our flagship academies, we are working toward publishing other training materials that can provide ongoing support, training, and insight for Kentuckians, whether or not they attend our trainings. 

The initial resources include PDFs and Excel style workbooks to guide folks through many aspects of campaigns, organizing, and advocacy. Future resources may include videos and podcast episodes featuring local experts in each topic. 

By the end of year 3, our goal is to have 7,500 downloads of these training resources. 

Resource guide topics and materials range from anything related to campaign management, data, digital, organizing, and everything in between.