Training Curriculum
Training Curriculum
 |
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 film "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.
Read more about:
