Summer Organizer Leadership Training Program

Organizer Leadership Training Program 

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes in campaigns and social movements? Are you unsure how to make a difference on the issues you care about? Do you want to learn the skills to organize others from the top youth organizers in the country?

Sign up for a training program here!

Building on a successful track record of providing skills and training for thousands of students and organizers over the last 50 years, The Student PIRGs  and Green Corps are excited to launch the Summer 2024 Organizer Leadership Training Program. This training will provide students the training you need to run effective campaigns in your community. 

Organizer Leadership Training Program

Over the last three summers, we have trained hundreds of students and made a real impact on issues to protect the environment, make college affordable, and help students participate in democracy. 

You will have the opportunity to learn from some of the top social change organizers with decades of experience in campaign work. Graduates of our program continue their organizing work into the school year with new leadership skills and professional connections with top-student leaders around the country. 

Students who complete the program will receive the Organizer Leadership Certificate and a campaign leadership badge for each completed project you work on. These include:

• Environmental Conservation Leader Badge 
• Climate Action Leader Badge
• Youth Vote Leader Badge
• Textbook Affordability Leader Badge

How it works

There are two components of the program:

1. Learn the skills: Attend our Activist Classes and learn the skills to be an effective organizer from experienced change makers 
    
2. Make an impact: Work on urgent campaigns with a team of students across the country and run a local project to make a difference in your community 
    

The program takes place over the course of a full month over the summer. We offer multiple opportunities to learn the skills in the form of a weekly Activist Class (two-times a week for 3 weeks) or an accelerated Activist Boot Camp (two full days). 

You will then work with an experienced organizer to develop a local plan to reach your goals for the campaign badge you are working towards. You can earn multiple badges over the course of the summer. 

There will be about 4 hours of activist class each week and an additional 4-6 hours of independent work to be completed and reported by Friday afternoons. Students should expect to have an 8-10 hours/week commitment.

Learn the Skills

Learn organizing and leadership skills from experienced organizers to help you effectively engage your community on the issues you care about. Here are some of the skills you will learn:

• How to craft and deliver and campaign and personal story
• Building a team of student volunteers and leaders
• How to use peer-to-peer tactics to mobilize students (phonebanking, class announcements, and in person events)
• Organizing strategic in person and online actions and events
• Developing campaign coalitions
• And more!

You will also have a chance to learn from leading experts in various issue fields to apply the latest insights and learning to your organizing work. 

Make an Impact on Issues

Students will join campaign teams of students to organize a campaign action in their community by the end of the program. You will work with experts in the campaign fields to create a plan to achieve the goals for your specific campaign. By completing the goals of the project, you will receive the campaign leadership badge. Our campaigns this summer include:

New Voters Project - Help register students to vote and increase student voting in this fall’s election on your campus. 

Save Money, Save the Environment - The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) directed $369 billion to help Americans pay for energy saving purchases and clean energy projects. We’re working to fight cuts to these programs at the federal level and make sure our family members and broader communities know about the tax credits and discounts available to them.

Save Our Wildlife - Recovering America's Wildlife Act, Save the Right Whales, Save Our Orcas - Wildlife is dying at unprecedented rates in what some are calling the 6th great extinction. We will tackle this with multiple regional campaigns this summer, building public support to protect critical ocean life in coastal states and while also protecting funding for state wildlife agencies across the country.

Affordable Textbooks - Save students thousands of dollars by advocating for more affordable textbook options.

Training Calendar 

We will run the same 3 week training multiple times over the course of the summer. We will also run a 2 day boot camp, an accelerated version of the program.