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Zygmunt Plater, Professor of Law at Boston College Law School, speaks about his experience consulting plaintiffs in the Woburn toxic litigation, the subject of the book and movie A Civil Action. |
Green Corps classroom training covers five tracks:
The Issues and Context track
provides trainees with a fundamental understanding of current
environmental problems. Topics includes the threat of global warming,
prospects for reducing dependence on fossil fuels through use of
renewable energy, the condition of our water supply, threats to and
strategies for protection of our wilderness and oceans, the concept of
sustainability, corporate responsibility and accountability,
environmental health threats and more.
The Skills track teaches
tactical skills used in grassroots campaigns. Topics include volunteer
recruitment and leadership development, coalition-building and media
outreach - both traditional and online.
The Organization Building track
provides trainees with the skills they will need to create and maintain
lasting organizations with strong foundations. The trainees are taught
how to structure and conduct grassroots fundraising campaigns, write
grant proposals, and recruit and manage staff.
The Strategy track
teaches campaign development, starting with an organizer's view of the
U.S. political and socio-economic system. It explores the various
forums in which social change can be promoted and how groups choose the
appropriate forum for each policy initiative. Trainers also cover the
nuts and bolts of campaign development: setting goals, developing a
strategy, choosing tactics, identifying targets, refining a message and
"packaging" a campaign, and evaluating progress along the way.
Finally, the Organizing track
provides context for movement work, exploring organizing as a catalyst
in history. In addition to lecturing on the history of movements in
the United States, trainers facilitate book group-style discussions of
Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, civil rights leader John Lewis' autobiography Walking With the Wind, and the Cesar Chavez biography The Fight In the Fields, among other texts.
Over
the course of the year, trainees are paired with experienced mentors. Green Corps also facilitates a series of career panels and forums to
help trainees map out their plans for the future.