What is the Democracy Teams Initiative, and other FAQ
We are a community of organizing trainers and coaches in the school of Marshall Ganz and the Leading Change Network who want to bring our skills to support those organizing for democracy and civic infrastructure in the US. Read below for frequently asked questions and to sign up for a free overview of the training program.
Organizing training for the pro-democracy movement
Don't see your questions answered below? Please email Jake at training@weown.it so we can get an answer posted - thank you!
Sign up for a free online info session
The easiest way to learn more is to join us for an hour info session where you can meet the coaching team and we can walk you through our approach. Join us on Monday, December 1st at 8pm ET - sign up here. You can also watch a recorded overview meeting with Jake from our first pilot in July.
We're now starting a second, 3-week iteration of the program from Dec 1st to Dec 20th.
You don't have to start with an info session - you can also join us by jumping in with an upcoming Introduction to Organizing workshop. One is offered every day.
Want to schedule an info session just for your organization or membership list? Please reach out to training@weown.it.
Road map of training
These 12 workshops make up the full four-day workshop agenda for a typical Ganz/LCN training workshop. (Find the participants manual for all workshops at https://i.weown.it/dti_manual. You can also read an introduction to the practice of Ganz Public Narrative here.
The curriculum is organized into one Introduction (theory) course and 11 skill-building-and-practice workshops. (The Introduction is required before moving on to the skill-building workshops.) The other four workshops that make up the "Base" will provide a good foundation for your team building and organizing work. Continue to advance your skills with the seven workshops in the "Advance" category.
What if I'm only interested in Public Narrative training?
That's just fine! We've got some of the best trainers in the world leading our course! Start with an Introduction to Organizing course, then schedule a Story of Self, Story of Us, Story of Now, and Linked Narrative sequence (be sure to do them in that order.)
What do workshops cost?
We are still figuring this out, but we believe that at maturity we can offer workshops for $50/seat. That covers our cost to pay for a facilitator and one coach per small group of 4-8 participants. So, while we're offering workshops at cost, we are also mindful that cost could be a barrier. We do not want anyone to be stopped from participating due to cost (and are cognizent that many of our participants are former federal workers who have been illegally fired and may not have had a regular paycheck for quite some time.) To that end, we're working on setting up a scholarship fund to make the trainings more accessible.
Are there scholarships available?
We're actively raising scholarship funds -- please donate here if you can, or email training@weown.it if your organization would like to sponsor training or invite a proposal. If you would like to participate in the training and require a scholarship, please email Jake and the team at training@weown.it.
Training Schedule
The schedule of Base workshops for the four weeks of the "second pilot" effort is below:
To sign up, pick times that work for you and/or your group and register for the corresponding workshop time on this site. See all the Base workshops listed here.
You can also see the schedule for "Introduction to Organizing" workshops.
To get started, register for an upcoming Introduction to Organizing workshop, or to meet the team and learn more about the program, sign up for a free one-hour overview webinar on Zoom.
The schedule for the Advance workshops is split into two parts:
See all the Advance workshops listed here
Other questions? Please let us know at training@weown.it.