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Orientation 2024 Session Recaps

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Week #1:

SESSION #1:

  • Topic: Story of Self

  • This skill is important because sharing our stories helps us determine our values and take action. It also can inspire and motivate others and help build a community.

  •  This practice is foundational as a member because we need numbers to make the changes we want to see in our community. We will be meeting new people and sharing our stories throughout the year to get them to join us in creating the change we want to see. We live in a society where folks are alienated and isolated from each other but experiencing the same challenges. If we get better at sharing our stories, we will be able to build an organization that can motivate others to share theirs and take action.

  • Helpful/Tips: We believe sharing stories is an integral part of our work when canvassing and asking community members to support our work, when testifying at the school board to make changes to the budget, and when recruiting new members to help continue the fight! People joining organizations and sharing their stories ended slavery and segregation, got children out of factories and into schools, and created weekends!
  • When sharing your story to motivate others to action, here’s a helpful framework: challenge, choice, outcome, values, and details. Try to use this when having 1 to 1’s with your pod members this weekend! 

SESSION #2:

  • Topic:  Development as a Team Effort

  • The purpose of this session was to begin understanding that everyone has the capacity to be a leader, whether they know it or not. Our organization has decided to make us all practice being the leaders we want to be, and we need to support each other in doing that. Nobody can do it alone
  • .We also discussed that politics inform all of our ideas; whether we see ourselves as political or not doesn’t matter. Our identities, the language we dream in, and the neighborhood we live in have all been determined out of our control but have been shaped by histories of political struggles and traditions. To be committed to developing ourselves, we must begin to understand how we have been shaped.
  • And lastly, we practice the skill of the “1-1”. This is a foundational skill all members will engage in because community breeds leadership if there is trust and shared values. To be able to find common ground with all walks of life is something that our community will be able to do to build power. That means we need to build relationships with each other first and try to understand what motivates us and what we care about.
  • At Power U, development is the most important thing we can prioritize. But development comes from practicing new things, even if it brings discomfort.

Week #2:

SESSION #3

  • Topic: Social Emotional Capacities

  • Skill Learned: Deepening relationships via 1-1’s and centering

  • Why do we want people to do this as members | We are going to be meeting new people and trying to bring people into the space. 1-1s is one practice we use to gather information and get commitments from new people. Centering is a practice we use in the space to ground in what we care about and notice what we are feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally. We will be doing things that require bravery, and that can make us anxious. Self-awareness helps us navigate anxiety or nervousness, and centering helps us make choices based on what we care about. 

  • Helpful/Tips And Words for advice | EX. We canvass multiple times a year, and sometimes, we knock on the doors of strangers. Being aware of how we feel and what we care about helps us speak to people who we may not know. Centering helps us reground in why we are trying to make change in our communities and what is important to us. The one to one structure helps us to have conversations with new people without worrying too much about what to say. 

  • One of the most important tasks for you to be able to accomplish as a leader in organizing is to try to understand what people CARE about. WE cannot support people if we don’t know what vision they have for themselves.

SESSION #4:

  • Topic: Facilitation
  • Skill Learned: This skill is important because in organizing, you are going to be facilitating even when you think you won’t be facilitating. Organizing requires you to hold containers where discussions are held, and these discussions are to have structures that will allow the goals of these discussions to be met. It is our job as organizers to make sure the members of our organizations are heard and for them to FEEL heard.
  • Why do we want people to do this as members | This practice is foundational as a member because, at Power U, we are in the business of leadership development. Facilitating spaces is one of the key aspects of leadership development, especially as organizers. I’ve had to develop this skill myself through this work and then help nourish that skill in others. The goal is to get members to feel comfortable facilitating even in spaces that have nothing to do with Power U.
  • Helpful/Tips And Words for advice: “As someone who struggles with standing up in front of people, I truly believe that the best way to get over that fear is to continuously put yourself in positions where you do have to facilitate in order for you to feel comfortable. I have now facilitated many spaces, and I still get jitters and anxiety, but because I am in the practice of holding spaces, as soon as I start, it is like I’m going back to a familiar space that I know. This is why we continuously push members to facilitate in all our spaces.”— Gabriel
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SESSION #5:

  • Topic: Canvassing

  • Skill Learned: How to Use MiniVan, Knock on doors, and Have conversations with Community Members

  • Why do we want people to do this as members? Canvassing is a monumental tool to practice engaging community members, listening, and bringing folks together to build power and enact change.

  • Helpful/Tips And Words for Advice: Make a point to talk to your neighbors, classmates, and family about what they imagine their community to look like. It’s often the first time folks have been asked this type of question and then invited to a Power U Community Meeting to join others.

Week #3:

SESSION #6:

  • Topic:  Power in Community Members & Youth Uniting to Build Power
  • Skill Learned: How to follow up with Community Members to invite them out to a space of belonging by making Turn-Out calls
  • Why do we want people to do this as members? It’s not enough to canvass and have one conversation, we have to follow up and invite folks out to a space where they can join in the community to enact change together.

  • Helpful/Tips And Words for Advice:  Do it Nervous and or Scared, Just do it. We are the Change Makers we are hoping for. 
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  • SESSION #7
  • Topic: Research and Campaigns

  • Skill Learned:  Learning about research is incredibly foundational because through research at different stages of our work at Power U, we become informed on what issues our communities need us to focus on and what we can actually do to better those conditions for our people and our communities.
  • Campaigns are important because they are the vehicles for changing our conditions, but most importantly, they are vehicles for DEVELOPMENT. At Power U we know that the only way to develop is through practice, and through working on campaigns the way that we become developed as leaders.
  • Why do we want people to do this as members | This practice is foundational as a member because…. Development happens through practice!
  • Helpful/Tips And Words for advice | Research and campaigns are challenging but incredibly rewarding, especially on our journey to developing our leadership. In actuality, we already practice using different methods of research in our everyday lives. Once our recruits become members, we will be conducting research and creating campaigns together as a collective, and it is our duty to support each other in the process!