With all the discord surrounding our politics these days we know that there are lots of environmental supporters who need some extra inspiration and support to vote. Through conversation and personal networking, we can reach many people who are otherwise going to be missed by the campaigns. In a state like Wisconsin every vote counts, so our individual outreach can make a big difference to the outcome.
The plan: 3 workshops, followed by ongoing support on Zoom. These meetings are open to everyone who wants to learn this approach to “relational organizing.” We encourage you to find a buddy or two who wants to do this with you, if possible. And as a bonus, the techniques you’ll learn will be helpful in many parts of your life.
We will learn tested techniques that help us listen with compassionate curiosity and help people activate their own values and reasons for being an environmental voter. Brandyn Keating, CEO of YOUnify, has years of experience with voter engagement and deep canvassing. She will lead us through three workshops on Zoom. They will be recorded and posted on cclwi.org, however you’ll get the most benefit by attending in person if you can.
- Workshop #1, Thursday March 28th, 7 pm: Mapping your Social Networks. Learn how to identify the people in your life that you want to have conversations with about being an environmental voter. There are more of them than you might realize! Then get the basics about how to start those conversations and keep them productive using the BRAVE technique. Begin to make your plan for your courageous voter conversations.
- Workshop #2, Wednesday April 10th, 7 pm: Effective Conversations Using the BRAVE Technique. Learn and practice skills that help you listen well and activate people’s own stories that motivate them to be an environmental voter. Leave with a plan for how you will start having your courageous voter conversations.
- Workshop #3, Thursday April 25th, 7 pm: Extending and Debriefing our First Courageous Voter Conversations. Share your experience of having your first conversations, learn from others, and get your questions answered as you plan your next steps.
On-going support on Zoom: Tentatively planned for every other Thursday at 6 pm: May 9, May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 25, Aug 8. (If that time doesn’t work well, we might move it.) It’s easy to lose sight of our intentions to have these conversations, or to get stuck when we hit a road bump. Madeleine Para will lead most of these Zoom meetings so that we can stay connected as we try things, and keep ourselves on track to meet our personal goals.
Vote August 13th and Celebrate soon after! All our teams will come together (date TBD) on Zoom to celebrate what we accomplished with our conversations, postcarding and phone banking to turn out environmental voters in the Wisconsin August 13th primary. Then we’ll lay out our plans for the November general election!
Citizens' Climate Lobby Wisconsin 