Engaging and Educating Your Community  

Read this Guide in Spanish here: Lee esta Guía en Español aquí

Why is it important to engage and educate your community?

• Issues like voting rights or immigration can be complicated and confusing. By educating your community, you can close the knowledge gap and ensure people are informed.
• You can build connections and helpful partnerships by getting involved in local events, speaking to community groups, or holding your own education events.
• You can recruit new activists to join your group.

How to engage and educate your community?

Do research on opportunities

• Community groups often meet at a certain time each month. Look for meeting calendars to see what dates are coming up. Make a list of meeting information and contacts.
• Events can be excellent venues for education. Are there upcoming events related to voting? Are there farmer’s markets that happen weekly? Are there festivals where you can have a booth?

Make a decision

• Think through your next actions: Are you in the middle of a big petitioning push? Are you working to pass a state bill and have an champion in the legislature who loves speaking on this issue?  
• Think through capacity. Speaking to a community group at their monthly meeting is a great way to collect petitions and educate people on your issue - it also doesn’t take much time or effort to accomplish! Planning a community forum is an excellent way to educate many people at once and develop relationships by asking other groups to sit on a panel or having a local councilperson speak about their passion for voting rights - it can be totally worth it but it does take time (~1 month) to plan a big educational event like this.  

Get out there!

• Regardless of what venue you are in, you can use a simple structure to speak about your campaign.

• Introduce yourself
• Give the basic background/description of the problem (Why are you here to speak to them today?)
• State your call to action goal (What can we do about this problem?)
• Tell them how they fit in (What can they do to help?)
• Make a strong and clear ask to take action (Sign-up to volunteer! Sign a petition)

• You can find information for your pitch in your People Power materials and state plans. Feel free to add in why you care about this issue and any personal stories that connect to the issue.
• Make sure you always have a way to collect names and contact information. Education is only the first step - action is the next - and you need information to get people involved.

Example

It is helpful to see this simple structure in action. This is an example based on a voting rights campaign working to pass a state bill on early voting. The content of your pitch will vary depending on the issue and specific policy you are working on. Example:

• Hi, I’m ______, thank you for letting me speak to your group at the start of your monthly meeting!
• Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy and the fundamental right that underpins all our civil liberties. Our voting system should be set up so that every eligible citizen has a fair chance to vote, including busy working parents, rural voters, frequent movers, and other Americans who face similar challenges.  Flexibility to register online, register on Election Day, or vote early helps to ensure that people can exercise the fundamental right to vote.
• That’s why our local People Power group is working to convince both chambers of the state legislature to pass resolutions in the 2018 legislative session to establish an early vote period in our state, which is a necessary step on the path to a vote on the constitutional amendment required to make this important change. Early voting will make it easier for all eligible residents to cast a ballot in our elections, and strengthen our democracy.
• 37 states and the District of Columbia have already adopted early voting - don’t you think it is time that we do too?! I have a petition asking our local Representatives to do exactly that. We are working to collect 1000 this month to deliver at the start of the legislative session.
• I’m going to pass it around and make sure to fill out all the fields so your Representative knows that you are in the district, and make sure you put down your phone and email so we can stay in touch.
• Thanks so much!

After you’ve held an event or spoken to a local group, report back to People Power and the ACLU by filling out this form!

Please note: As a People Power activist, you don’t represent the ACLU as an organization. You represent your own causes as a concerned constituent and community stakeholder. This is critical to our strength as a movement: As you work on your Freedom Cities campaign, Let People Vote campaign, and other causes, your voices will be stronger as representatives of your community. If anyone is looking for a comment about a formal ACLU position, you can refer them to info@peoplepower.org and we can contact the appropriate ACLU representative.