Raising Money Through the Mail
Grassroots organizations without the budget nor the infrastructure for a traditional mass mailing program can still raise money effectively without spending a lot. Learn about key components of an effective letter; finding major donors by mail; and mailing strategy options.
-Andy Robinson

(Just About) All You Need to Know about Major Donor Fundraising
Learn how to get over your fear of asking; mobilize your board; identify potential major donors; build a case for giving to your organization; upgrade your current donors; and maximize your time fundraising. This workshop is hands-on and participants will share their stories.
-Valerie Reuther & Anne Harvey

Desarrollando Estrategias para Campañas
Aprenderemos qué constituye el éxito o la victoria en una campaña; cómo identificar los diferentes recursos con los que contamos; cuáles son las diferencias entre tácticas y estrategias, y entre movilizar y organizar; y cómo utilizar una campaña para fortalecer nuestra lucha por la justicia social.
-Monica Hernandez & Juana Flores

Rethinking Leadership
The concept of leadership has moved from a ‘control model’ to a more ‘partnership model.’ This workshop explores the full implications for leadership in the nonprofit sector, as well as leadership at all levels of our organizations.
-Dahnesh Medora & Guadalupe Guajardo

Who Loves Your Website?
This hands-on training for people who are maintaining a website or are final decision-makers on their organization’s website. We’ll cover creating and writing copy for an audience centered website; website management and the wide array of “content management systems” that are available; and the importance of email in your web strategy.
-Kathleen Pequeño

A Mind-Body Approach to Building Movements
This highly interactive workshop introduces a mind-body approach to proactively face the challenges of organizing and movement building. The basic principles of stance, energy, rhythm, and awareness will be introduced and practiced.
-Norma Wong

Introduction to Social Change Organizing
This workshop focuses on defining power, developing campaign strategy, and other core concepts of community organizing. Those new to organizing will build their understanding and experience to strengthen their organization’s work.
-Sarah Howell & Candace Inagi

Clandestine Poems: Poetry for Social Change
This fun and engaging workshop uses writing prompts around hot political topics to focus our creative energies and passion for social change. We will compose individually and as a team to express both our unique and shared visions, and also discuss ways to include more creative expression in our work.
-Walidah Imarisha

Familia, Comunidad, y la Sexualidad: ¿Qué Significa para Latinas?
Como líderes Latinas, tenemos un poder tremendo para realizar cambio en nuestras organizaciones, comunidades, y familias sobre la justicia reproductiva y la sexualidad. En este taller vamos a explorar el sentido de la justicia reproductiva en nuestras comunidades y capacitarnos en ser procuradoras de nuestras familias y comunidades.
-Gabriela Valle & Marisol Franco

Building the Leadership of Communities of Color in Reproductive Justice Work
Learn how your social justice work could benefit from an intersectional, multi-issue, cross-constituency reproductive justice (RJ) framework and how RJ organizers and activists are resisting the current climate of reproductive oppression.
-Aimee Santos-Lyons

Conceptos Básicos de la Documentación: Estrategias y Téchnicas/Documentation Basics: Strategies and Techniques
In this two-day bilingual (Spanish/English) training you’ll learn about the current media systems and how you can tell your own story. You’ll leave with a working knowledge of how to create a short five-minute movie. We will use rural Latino communities as case studies to show how digital stories can be used as educational tools for organizing.
-Ana Nájera Mendoza, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, & Theeba Soundararajan

Talking about the American Experience: Immigrants and Allies
How can we as justice seeking groups and organizers engage neighbors, friends, family, and communities to be clear about our values and vision for a progressive immigration system? Learn core tools to lead conversations about values and immigration.
-Carrie Tracy

Building Better Boards
Boards of Directors are most effective when all members know their roles and responsibilities. We’ll determine the best role for your board based on your organizational needs and cover the basic responsibilities of board members. You’ll also gain practical tools necessary to develop a recruitment plan, and your board raising money.
-Valerie Reuther & Anne Harvey

Creating a Sustainable, Successful Organization in a Changing World
What are the hallmarks of a successful organization? What benchmarks do you use to measure success and how do you measure up? How can you look beyond the next grant cycle (or funding crisis) and design a sustainable nonprofit that grows, adapts, and thrives in a changing world? In this workshop we will develop answers that address your specific needs and circumstances.
-Andy Robinson

Get That Grant!
Learn what it takes to get that grant. This workshop will help beginners learn the basics of grantseeking and grant writing. Interactive exercises include outlining your organizational case statement and participating in an assessment to see if your organization is ready to receive grants.
-Scot Nakagawa

Freeing the Writer Within
This two-day workshop gives participants an opportunity to explore a number of approaches to writing, including freewriting, poetry, features, and personal essays. We’ll include tricks and techniques and give each participant an opportunity to read their work. Grassroots leaders, organizers, and anyone who wants to write are encouraged to try this approach to getting your thoughts and feelings on paper.
-Gary Delgado & Angela Omulepu

Defendiendo los Derechos Inmigratorios y Civiles en la Frontera y por Todo el País
Por todo el país comunidades inmigrantes están levantándose para defender sus derechos. En este taller utilizamos la educación popular y el video para presentar como una comunidad en San Diego está organizándose contra las operaciones de detención inmigratoria. Usted aprenderá como usar varias herramientas organizativas y técnicas metodológicas que aumentan la participación de la comunidad y defienden los derechos humanos y civiles.
-Pedro Rios

Beyond Diversity: Dismantling Racism
Analyzing personal, cultural, and institutional racism is a first step to see what it takes to change oppressive systems. The trainers have been working within their own organizations to move a racial justice agenda. Participants will receive tools and resources to take home for supporting anti-racist organizational development and racial justice organizing.
-Aubrey Harrison, Jessica Lee, & Kenya Pierce

Taking Action for the 2008 Election/Las elecciones de 2008: Como Tomar Acción
Want to get out the vote, but not sure how to do it? It’s not too late to make a difference this November. This civic engagement workshop will teach you a wide range of voter engagement strategies that will also help build your organizational capacity for the long haul. This workshop is bilingual (Spanish/English) and designed for volunteers, leaders, and staff who are new to electoral organizing.
- Nancy Haque & Lucilene Lira

Beyond the Election: Maintaining the Grassroots for the Long Haul
How do we recharge, capitalize on what we’ve built, and maintain our base once the election is over? This workshop focuses on the question “where to from here?” We’ll cover strategies for keeping our members and communities mobilized and excited between elections.
-Maya Baxter & Marcy Bowers

Conceptos Básicos de la Documentación: Estrategias y Téchnicas/Documentation Basics: Strategies and Techniques
Day two, continued from Friday.

Tackling Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: Facts and Stats
Appeals to people’s sense of justice are don’t always shift the momentum of anti-immigrant sentiment. Working people in the U.S. are suffering from a 66% increase in family debt over the past decade. The financial institutions that caused this debt increase also changed Mexico’s economy that led to the current massive immigration wave. We will use these and other facts to align citizens on the struggles for justice involving immigrants.
-Peter Cervantes-Gautschi

Colorblind Racism: Achieving Justice When Race “Doesn’t Matter”
Racial inequality remains deeply embedded within U.S. social and economic structures. We will explore how racism has become “colorblind” since the civil rights struggles of the ‘50s and ‘60s, the challenges this presents to social justice organizing, and methods for breaking down (and through) the slippery language of colorblindness in order to take effective action on practices and policies rooted in racism.
-Tarso Luís Ramos & Lynne Wolf

The Principles of Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is a skill that can be developed and practiced in all aspects of proactive work. This workshop is geared for leaders and strategists of organizations, especially those who have had at least one year of experience in their current position and a few years in community and/or social justice work.
-Norma Wong

El liderazgo de la Mujer y la Justicia Social
En este taller identificaremos los valores detrás de los diferentes estilos de liderazgo y cuáles son los retos únicos que enfrentamos las mujeres cuando ejercemos el liderazgo dentro de los movimientos por la justicia social. Compartiremos herramientas concretas e identificaremos nuestras prioridades individuales y organizativas para fortalecer nuestro liderazgo y desarrollar el liderazgo de otras mujeres.
-Monica Hernandez & Juana Flores

Executive Director Seminar
Executive Directors juggle a lot to keep their organizations thriving. This seminar will respond to participants’ particular concerns and include basics on financial management, how to prioritize, delegate, and work accountably with staff, board members, funders and constituents alike. Limited to 18 participants; must respond to a survey prior to CSTI.
-Kelley Weigel & Dan Petegorsky

Lady Liberty No More: Understanding and Responding to the Right Wing
Our country is under attack by an increasingly vicious anti-immigrant movement that seeks to divide our nation in order to turn back the clock on American values. This training will explain in full detail the make up and impact of anti-immigrant organizations and provide specific tools that your organization can use in countering anti-immigrant activity.
-Eric K. Ward & Melissa Nalani Ross

Freeing the Writer Within
Day two, continued from Saturday.

Exercising Our Power: LGBTQ Youth of Color in Action
Learn how to exercise the power of marginalized youth. Based on FIERCE’s organizing model, this will be an interactive space for youth to reflect on their own strengths and challenges in taking on campaigns; think strategically about how to ground our campaign work in our political analyses; and clarify how leadership development supports organizing work.
-Yasmeen Perez & Glo Ross

Introduction to Nonviolent Direct Action
This training provides an interactive introduction to Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Disobedience for groups that are new to the concepts. Participants identify the benefits of using NVDA, explore what makes an action effective, and clarify their personal beliefs about what nonviolence means.
-Ruckus Society

Detenciones y Deportaciones: Estrategias Organizativas Comunitarias
Ante el incremento de las redadas de ICE, nuestras comunidades están respondiendo de manera estratégica para disminuir la devastación causada por las redadas y las deportaciones, en este taller también compartiremos la experiencia de cómo las victimas de la redada en el Del Monte, en Portland, se organizan para sobrevivir y capacitarse como líderes en la comunidad.
-Pedro Sosa & Lucilene Lira

Building Toward Reproductive Justice: Changing Policy, Changing Lives
Reproductive Justice is an effective framework for creating a movement that builds a strong base, supports the leadership of affected communities, and changes policy. Using case studies participants will sharpen their skills to define and implement campaigns that both build our movement and change our ability to control and regulate our bodies, gender, and sexuality.
-EMERJ & Kalpana Krishnamurthy

Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote: Mobilizing Voters in Immigrant Communities- -Catherine Han Montoya

CANCELLED- The trainer for this workshop will be unable to join us this year. If you were interested in attending we encourage you to consider “Taking Action for the 2008 Election” on Saturday. If you already registered we will sign you up for your second choice worskhop selection.

Think Outside the Closet: Creating Queer and Trans Inclusive Spaces in our Organizations
Through popular education activities participants assess their organizations’ capacity to be inclusive and create a safe space for LGBTIQ communities of color and immigrants and to recognize and respond to homophobia at work and in their communities. Participants will leave the workshop with assessment tools and steps to create a safe and equitable space for LGBTIQ staff and community members. * LGBTIQ = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer
-Joyti Chand, Gillian Claycomb, & Ned Del Callejo