Camp Wellstone returns to Seattle this May — don’t miss this premiere training opportunity!

Camp Well­stone — the sig­na­ture train­ing offered by the orga­niz­ing genius­es at Well­stone Action — will be return­ing to Seat­tle for the twelfth con­sec­u­tive year, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Edith Sar­gon tells us.

The 2017 camp has been sched­uled for May 19th-21st, coin­cid­ing with the end of Fil­ing Week here in Wash­ing­ton State. It will take place in Seat­tle at a venue to be announced. As in the past, there will be three main tracks:

• Being a Can­di­date: How to Run and Win a Pro­gres­sive Campaign
• Elec­toral Cam­paigns: Tools and Tac­tics for Success
• Cit­i­zen Activism: Grass­roots Advo­ca­cy and Organizing

All the tracks are excel­lent – they’re just a bit dif­fer­ent in what they cov­er. The first track is ide­al for any activist plan­ning to work on a cam­paign in the near future. The sec­ond is ide­al for activists who are engaged in work­ing on issues long-term. And the third is per­fect for any pro­gres­sive plan­ning to run for office.

Here is a longer descrip­tion of each:

Candidate Track: Are you currently running for public office or interested in running in the future?

We teach can­di­dates the nuts and bolts of running—and winning—a pro­gres­sive cam­paign. Top­ics of focus include: Mes­sage; bud­get­ing and fundrais­ing; writ­ing and deliv­er­ing a stump speech; fundrais­ing; and canvassing.

Campaign Track: Are you managing, working on, or volunteering for an electoral campaign?

We teach cam­paign work­ers and staff the skills it takes to man­age a suc­cess­ful pro­gres­sive cam­paign. Top­ics of focus include: mes­sage devel­op­ment and deliv­ery; earned and paid media; tar­get­ing; and direct vot­er con­tact.  

Grassroots Organizing Track: Are you organizing within your community, coalition, or nonprofit? Are you working on a ballot initiative?

We teach orga­niz­ers the nuts and bolts of win­ning pro­gres­sive change on com­mu­ni­ty-based issues. We believe that the only way to build pow­er is in part­ner­ship with others—not by our­selves. If you are con­nect­ed to a group or orga­ni­za­tion that wants to make real change on a par­tic­u­lar issue in your com­mu­ni­ty, this is the right place for you.

Well­stone will also be exper­i­ment­ing with a fourth track this year, which is very excit­ing. It’s called Intro to Move­ment Tech­nol­o­gy. This track will only be avail­able at two camps, and it looks like Seat­tle will be one of them. The synopsis:

In the era of hash­tags, mem­ber data­bas­es, and email list-build­ing, the pos­si­bil­i­ties are grow­ing for orga­ni­za­tions, both large and small, to use tech­nol­o­gy to boost the capac­i­ty of their cam­paign work and com­mu­ni­ty orga­niz­ing. This track intro­duces the fun­da­men­tals of data, dig­i­tal orga­niz­ing and ana­lyt­ics to sup­port base-build­ing and pol­i­cy orga­niz­ing cam­paigns. It does not require pre­vi­ous expe­ri­ence or skills in move­ment tech and is for any­one who wants to get start­ed or expand their skillset.

Most of NPI’s staff and board have been to a Camp Well­stone, whether in Seat­tle or anoth­er city. With­out a doubt, it is the best train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty a pro­gres­sive activist can take advan­tage of. It is incred­i­bly empow­er­ing and rewarding.

We sim­ply can’t rec­om­mend it enough.

If you’re not already a Camp Well­stone alum­ni, you need to become one. Reg­is­tra­tion is not yet open for this camp, but we advise putting a “Save the Date” notice on your cal­en­dar so you can be ready to reg­is­ter when the time comes.

Reg­is­tra­tion costs $450, which is a frac­tion of the true cost of putting on camp. Schol­ar­ships are avail­able at reduced prices for activists on lim­it­ed incomes.