The Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) is conducting another Train The Trainer (T3) program this year at the beginning of our next megacycle as a party. This committee within the Democratic National Committee is focused on building the party’s state and local levels of organizing to be more effective.
The ASDCT3 program allows you to become certified as a resource to your state and local Democratic Party organizations. Any units you complete garner you a certification for that topic, and completing all 12 of them provides you the opportunity to be contacted and utilized by the party officials and candidates in your area. Your name and email address will be provided to your state’s Democratic Party, which will then make it available at the Congressional District and then the County Party levels.
If you are interested, you can jump on board the train before the end of May and learn a lot about the Democratic Party from another perspective, and let the Party know you want to chip in and rebuild the Party for the future. We focus a lot of energy and words on candidates, but the other side of the Party is building and renewing the party from the grassroots up, and it deserves more attention and time on our part.
I am a newbie to the Democratic Party in any official way. I’ve canvassed for candidates and volunteered, but after the surprise disaster of November, 2016, I, like millions of others, really started looking for ways to kick the Party in the ass or bypass the Party if they can’t be moved. I have no special insight in this regard — we are still searching for a way to punch through en masse. But by signing up for Precinct Chair Alternate and as a member of the County Party Elections Committee, I have been intrigued by how little I knew about the Democratic Party as an institution and a potential resource for activism.
The Party is a bit schizophrenic: on the one hand we support candidates for office and on the other hand we constantly rebuild and renew the Party itself. And these two imperatives are not necessarily harmonious. But both are vital, and the struggle to carry out both missions keeps the Party relevant. Chris Reeves has done yeoman’s work with his series on the candidate perspective on grassroots politics, and I highly recommend it. But if you, like me, cannot become a candidate, the other path is to join the struggle to rebuild and renew the Party itself. This “party building” effort is what the T3 webinar series is all about. So I will attempt to follow this series and use it as a way to discuss issues surrounding this effort as Chris did for the candidate side of the equation. In the end, we all want the same thing: to end the Trump era quickly and force the Republican Party to implode and clear the way for progressive politicians and citizens to put America on the path to a real future.
You can jump on the T3 train, but you need to act by the end of May. It’s a little obtuse, but once you get the hang of it it makes sense. The sooner you join in, the better the whole thing will flow. First you need to register for the series as a whole:
Sign-up for the T3 webinar program
Once they have your email, they send out invitations to the sessions, which are held live each week on Monday and Wednesday at 6 PM Eastern Time. On each invitation is another link to sign up for each webinar (the obtuse part). You need to follow each of the 12 links as they come, two a week, to sign up for each webinar. These invitations are sent out each Friday.
You then receive another email and invitation (you can have it insert an appointment into your web calendar automatically as well) link which you then follow at the appointed time to view the slide show and hear the instructors. You can text questions to the trainers throughout the session.
If you attend a live session, you are automatically credited with completing that unit. If you cannot (as I can’t) then they will send you a link to the recorded YouTube video and slide deck (in Google docs format) the next Friday so you can catch up. You have to take a short quiz to be credited with completing that unit.
It may seem complicated, but they are serving thousands of Democrats worldwide, so they have worked to make it as easy as possible while still being able to certify you have actually viewed the material before putting you on the certification list for state and local party officials to consult. The following schedule was sent out to party officials asking for Democrats to get certified in 12 sessions over 6 weeks:
Week |
Date |
Subject |
Webinar Name |
Curriculum |
1 |
4/17/2017 |
Political |
An Intro to the Democratic Party |
The Democratic Party- a breakdown of national organizational structure; mission of the Party; Party leadership; Goals of the T3 program- timeline and curriculum overview; certification and "Train the Trainer" expectation |
|
4/19/2017 |
Communications |
Communications: Amplifying the Message |
Overview of the Democratic message; ways to amplify the message; best practices for writing op-eds, letters to editor, writing elected officials |
2 |
4/24/2017 |
Digital |
Email Organizing |
Basics of managing an email campaign; what makes a successful email; building an email list; how to send blast email (digital platforms); content best practices |
|
4/26/2017 |
Digital |
Social Media Organizing |
Basics of social media organizing- using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for recruitment; what not to post on social media |
3 |
5/1/2017 |
Grassroots Organizing |
Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement |
How to organize house meetings; sharing your personal story; building volunteer lists; building neighborhood teams |
|
5/3/2017 |
Grassroots Organizing |
Volunteer Engagement II |
Best practices for engaging key constituency groups in non-Presidential years |
4 |
5/8/2017 |
Technology |
Basics of VAN |
Basics of VAN and Tech platforms- processing volunteers; mapping and cutting turf; miniVAN/field tracking |
|
5/10/2017 |
Technology |
Virtual Phone Bank |
Phone banking- adding and editing voter information; making virtual phone bank calls; basic troubleshooting methods; creating and assigning user accounts |
5 |
5/15/2017 |
Fundraising |
Recruiting Small Dollar Donors |
Donor motivation; donor list building; making the ask |
|
5/17/2017 |
Political |
Candidate Recruitment |
Building the bench; making the ask; candidate support |
6 |
5/22/2017 |
Research |
Opposition Research Tools |
Fact-checking resources; managing trackers- how to track; barriers to tracking; how to transcribe and load footage; best practices for tracking; party resources |
|
5/24/2017 |
Program Wrap |
Teaching What You've Learned |
How to organize training in your state |
From: email from our County Elections Committee Chair
So far, there have been four sessions. To register for these individually and retroactively, you will need to email asdc@dnc.org. You can also contact your state, Congressional District or county party chairs (in Iowa, the contact is aphillips@iowademocrats.org, for example). In your email, tell them you want to get certified as a party building activist with the T3 program.
Every Friday, two more links for the next week’s webinars are sent out to you, along with links to the video and slides from previous webinars which have already happened. This next week’s webinars are recommended for all Precinct Captains, even if you aren’t going for certification.
So check it out. I will try to do diaries on each webinar as I complete them to let you know what the Party is teaching us and invite comments and others to write about how to build the Party for the challenges ahead.
We are Indivisible! We are Democrats! 2017 is a rebuilding year and a chance to cut our teeth on non-partisan and local races as we warm up for 2018 and taking back the Senate and House in every State and for the Nation.
If you are certifiable as an activist, might as well get on the list! If you aren’t registered as a Democrat, just show up at the next county party caucus (they are every month here in Iowa) and get registered so you can get moving and carry the Party along with you.
Now is the time, more than ever.
On Twitter: #ASDCT3
The series:
ASDCT3-1/12: Who Are We As A Party?
ASDCT3-2/12: Getting the Message Out
ASDCT3 3/12: Email: Organzing The Revolutionaries