Downloadable Resources
Welcome! This collection of organizing trainings, manuals, worksheets, and more is a labor of love put together by Power Shift Network members and allies.
PSN recognizes that young organizers, communities of color, low-income communities, and those most directly impacted by climate crisis need a baseline of theory and skills as a foundation for our justice movements. While capitalism perpetually suggests that competition is key, we know that to thrive, we must collaborate, pool our resources, and decentralize access to learning. So save your limited time and energy by uplifting the great work of your fellow leaders and utilizing their wonderful resources.
Want to share a tool you created with others, or know of a great resource that belongs in this bank? This is a living, evolving project, and we invite you to help us co-create it. Click here to submit a resource to the bank.
Have comments, questions, or feedback? Email us at theteam@powershift.org.
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AntiOppression
Training Materials
Adapted for SPROG: Understand the definition of Affirmative Consent and why it is important, Identify verbal and nonverbal clues that communicate others’ feelings, wishes, and boundaries
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AntiOppression
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Learn about identity categories and explore our own identities, Understand how privilege works within systems of power, Visualize ways to intervene and disrupt oppressive patterns in real-world scenario, Learn basic vocabulary and concepts for Anti-Oppression, Understand how oppression manifests in personal actions, institutions, and culture
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Base Building 101: Recruitment
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand the definition and importance of building a “base”, Know why people get involved and stay involved in groups, Learn tools for list building and data management for mobilization, Understand the different levels of involvement members of their base will have, Be familiar with common tactics for outreach (phone banking, canvassing/tabling, group raps).
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Base Building 201: Mobilization
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand the definition and importance of building a “base”, Know why people get involved and stay involved in groups, Learn tools for list building and data management for mobilization, Understand the different levels of involvement members of their base will have, Be familiar with common tactics for outreach (phone banking, canvassing/tabling, group raps).
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Campaign Planning 101: Intro to Grassroots Campaigns
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Campaign Planning 201: Anatomy of a Campaign
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Campaign Planning 301: Spectrum of Allies
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Campaign Planning 401: Tactics and Escalation
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.
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Climate Justice
Climate Justice 101: The World We Have, The World We Want
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Learn new anti-oppression vocabulary, Understand how climate change and systems of oppression are connected and interrelated, Understand our shared challenges and our shared solutions, Understand that fighting climate change requires us to reach beyond individual-oriented solutions and address the root causes of exploitation and oppression, Develop a shared understanding of “extractive economy” and how this economic model leads to climate change, social and economic inequity, Learn the six steps of the Just Transition Framework and explore what they could look like in practice as we organize to move our society beyond an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.
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Climate Justice
Climate Justice 201: Toward a Just Transition
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Learn new anti-oppression vocabulary, Understand how climate change and systems of oppression are connected and interrelated, Understand our shared challenges and our shared solutions, Understand that fighting climate change requires us to reach beyond individual-oriented solutions and address the root causes of exploitation and oppression, Develop a shared understanding of “extractive economy” and how this economic model leads to climate change, social and economic inequity, Learn the six steps of the Just Transition Framework and explore what they could look like in practice as we organize to move our society beyond an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.
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Narrative Building
Communications 101: Framing and Messaging
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand what strategic messaging and frames are and why they are important, Understand the crucial role of values in campaign messaging, Learn to tailor messaging to a particular audience.
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Allyship
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand how to approach a community and speak about resources and intentions, Value the development and support of campaigns that are driven by voice, Be able to recognize the limitations of the Sierra Student Coalition model in certain organizing settings and learn how to adapt familiar organizing models to better suit community needs, Recognize intergenerational, horizontal collaborations an anti-oppressive tool, Be able to apply knowledge gained from anti-oppression trainings (identity and privilege) and begin to explore the roles of power and solidarity in community work.
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Facilitation and Running a Good Meeting
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand the importance of facilitation for effective groups and campaigns, Know the basics of how to facilitate.
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Demonstration Safety
Training Materials
Outlining 4 main ways to deal with verbal attacks, with time to apply each in a hypothetical scenario.
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Allyship
How to Be Real: Allies, Accomplices, & Anti-Oppression
Training Materials
Explore allyship framework and provide tangible tools to leverage privilege in a way that builds supportive coalition for those being oppressed. Includes an interactive "Privilege Walk" activity.
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AntiOppression
Training Materials
2 hour training on systems of oppression and how they intersect
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AntiOppression
Intro to Environmental Justice
Training Materials
Covering topics of Environmental racism and environmental justice, this lesson helps students understand how pollution disproportionately affects people who are poor and members of racial and ethnic minorities as well as use a map to locate environmental injustice.
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Leadership Development
Leadership Development 101: Building an Effective Team
Training Materials
Recognize and appreciate different leadership styles, Understand why welcoming diversity in leadership styles is an anti-oppressive practice, Recognize the importance of leadership development in campaign work, Understand the concept of the Leadership Ladder, Learn how to plan an Indy Meeting.
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Leadership Development
Leadership Development 201: Roles and Delegation
Training Materials
Recognize and appreciate different leadership styles, Understand why welcoming diversity in leadership styles is an anti-oppressive practice, Recognize the importance of leadership development in campaign work, Understand the concept of the Leadership Ladder, Learn how to plan an Indy Meeting.
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Leadership Development
Leadership Development Training
Training Materials
A 1 hr 45 min training on leadership development, including Ladder of Engagement, one-to-ones, propositions, and creating an inclusive/accountable culture.
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand that meeting with decision-makers is a tactic that is part of a larger strategy, Learn a 9-step process for an effective meeting with a decision-maker.
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Climate Justice
Movement Generation: Just Transition Zine
Training Materials
A strategic framework for a Just Transition
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Community Engagement
Open Space - Tool for Participant Led Conversations
Training Materials
Understand Open Space Technology as a tool to facilitate emergent group conversation, Learn from fellow participants through exploring topics and creating caucus spaces.
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Organizing Skill Rotation [2018]: Working with Media, Fundraising, Movement Songs
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand the rich history of songs in our movements, Know how and when to respectfully utilize songs in a movement, Understand the principles of fundraising, Recognize the importance of fundraising for a purpose, Know where to find additional resources on fundraising for a campaign, Recognize the roles that different types of traditional media can play in a campaign, Understand how to attract and retain media coverage of campaign events, Have the confidence and skills to effectively promote your message through mainstream media.
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Research Justice/Participatory Action Research
Training Materials
This manual includes step-by-step facilitation instructions to conduct a data analysis workshop for survey or other quantitative analysis results. It includes four workshops created to move from getting comfortable with data to analyzing and making statements with data and developing a policy strategy to share the data. Participants will spend time thinking about audiences and key strategies for communicating the results as well as how their research will feed into their organizing agenda.
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Narrative Building
Public Narrative 101: Story of Self
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand the crucial role that motivation plays in organizing, Identify personal experiences that motivate us to do the work we do (why are you here today?), Begin to see how personal narrative can be used to build motivation and inspire action, Begin to recognize the diversity of experience and identity that we all bring to our movements, Understand the three stories that comprise a public narrative, Begin to see how story and narrative build motivation and power to create change, Understand the role of Anti-Oppression principles in solidarity organizing.
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Narrative Building
Public Narrative 201: Story of Us & Now
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand the crucial role that motivation plays in organizing, Identify personal experiences that motivate us to do the work we do (why are you here today?), Begin to see how personal narrative can be used to build motivation and inspire action, Begin to recognize the diversity of experience and identity that we all bring to our movements, Understand the three stories that comprise a public narrative, Begin to see how story and narrative build motivation and power to create change, Understand the role of Anti-Oppression principles in solidarity organizing.
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Organizing & Mobilizing
Recruitment, Retention, and the Leadership Ladder
Training Materials
Simple, 2-page training guides on Recruitment & Retention, and Leadership Development.
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Leadership Development
Role Clusters - Building the Container for a Leaderful Community
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Role clusters are teams of participants who all hold the same role (Coordinator, Facilitator, Community Care, Messenger). Role Clusters work together to support the whole training community by fulfilling their key function.
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Community Accountability
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Understand how to sustain movements by caring for ourselves and each other, Analyze cultural norms of self-care, Understand the relationship between productivity & self-investment, and how we can approach self-care through an anti-oppressive lens.
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Community Building
Training Materials
Created for SPROG: Storysharing and Resonance is a practice adapted from the work of the Relational Center (relationalcenter.org), an organization which partners with social movement leaders to build a culture of radical engagement centered on relationships and empathy. At SSC we see storysharing and resonance as a practice that embodies Principle #9 about prioritizing relationships and centering them in our work. This practice helps community members build trust with each other, and also witness the critical role that vulnerability plays in powerful leadership and resilient relationships.
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Digital Organizing
Top 2018 Tools & Tactics to Bump Up Your Online Organizing Game
Training Materials
An overview of ways you can deploy online tools & tactics in combination with offline organizing to engage supporters, broaden your base and win campaigns. Drawn on lessons learned from resistance movements in 2017, and the latest online developments and social media trends. Learn what other organizers are doing to win and how to do it with limited time and money.
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Research Justice/Participatory Action Research
Training Materials
This manual includes step-by-step facilitation instruction to conduct a series of workshops on survey design and implementation. It includes workshops created to move from survey project planning, survey tool design and piloting and implementing the survey. The manual is a tool for staff and leaders working on social change that want to include community in the survey process. Any sections of the curriculum can be used based on the level of community engagement you are planning for the project.