Wellstone training in Michigan
21 04 2008Michigan field office intern Sarah Jaward did a wonderful job summarizing the Wellstone training sessions that took place the first weekend of April. Below are some excerpts from her report:
AAI Voter Engagement Training
On Friday April 4th through Saturday the 5th the Arab American Institute-Midwest office hosted its first ever Voter Engagement Training, featuring the Wellstone Action Fund. The aim of this initiative was to provide political training and leadership development with the expectation that the skills attainted by the attendees would be implemented back to their communities, helping to mobilize social change within the United States for the Arab American population as a whole.
From the start of the training, a sincere concern regarding the advancement of the Arab American community resonated in the atmosphere. The training focused on interaction amongst the assembly of participants; the trainers and trainees were very vocal in voicing what they believe contributes to the Arab American community’s lack of political involvement. Barriers include limited faith in the political system, fear of involvement within politics, and lack of political efficacy. The resulting debate strove to define what constitutes an Arab American political culture.
During the training, the above issues were addressed via PowerPoint presentation, group exercises, and group discussion. Training sessions revolved around three categories:
- The Building Blocks of Voter Engagement
- Components of a Voter Engagement Program
- Grassroots Organizing Fundamentals
The Building Blocks of Voter Engagement introduced the essentials needed to obtain power as an Arab-American community and how to keep voter mobilization nonpartisan. The trainers introduced the concept of “The Three Faces of Power”:
- The power to elect candidates and influence decision makers
- The power to set the legislative agenda
- The power to define a world view, to determine what is and is not “normal”
In order to analyze how much power your organization had, the participants were encouraged to use a “Social Power Inventory” checklist, provided in the distributed manual. Members also received critical training on such issues as how to keep voter mobilization nonpartisan, outlining the right way to address issues to keep the conversation focused on voter empowerment without regard to political affiliation.
Components of a Voter Engagement Program discussed Voter Registration, Voter Education, Candidate Education, Election Protection, Get Out the Vote, and Beyond Election Day. “Get Out the Vote” was most appealing to the attendees who enthusiastically contributed to an open discussion of how to rally active Arab Americans to recruit and educate within their community. Using group exercises, the trainees gained valuable skills and insight into engaging the community and successful canvassing strategies. With much enthusiasm, each person let their personality and passion shine through, demonstrating their newly attained skills and testing those of the other participants.
Other skills acquired by participants included delivering messages through earned media and recruiting and retaining volunteers. Earned media was explained as exposure to the press that is earned by building relationships with press members. These media outlets include news stories in print and broadcast formats, open based coverage, letters to the editor, commentaries, and editorials. Some strategies used to obtain this coverage include issuing press releases, calling radio shows, reaching out to bilingual press, or holding a press event.
Now, the attendees of this inspiring and informative training weekend must return to their own communities and educate their fellow members on the best practices and techniques to get out the vote this November.
AAI is, as always, ready to help. If you have any questions about the Wellstone trainings, please contact Maram Abdelhamid at the Arab American Institute, (202) 429-9210.
We look forward to meeting our endorsing partners at the next Wellstone training session in Washington, DC in May. Watch your email for details!
[...] If you would like another glimpse of this training from a slightly different perspective, take a look at the Wellstone Action website’s write-up of this information packed few days. [...]