Date: February 15, 2016 at 12:18:42 PM ESTDear friends,
Over
the past 14 months, you may have received requests from me for any old
training materials you have. We have gathered hundreds of documents, and
are still working on sorting, digitizing and cleaning them up to be
available to AI members.
While
we embarked on this project simply to create a digital record of past
training efforts, our little ad hoc group (Eric Michelsen, Hilary
Naylor, Todd Schwarz and I) proposed and received funding from the Board
for the first year of a three year Membership Empowerment Training
Project (METP) to develop and implement a training program for our
grassroots members.
Like
the member training programs of the past, this program will rely on
trained volunteer trainers. As an initial step, the METP Working a Group
will offer a Pilot Training of Trainers prior to the AGM in Miami. This
will take place March 30-31, with some AI-specific practice exercises on Friday, April 1.
Participants
will receive substantial travel and lodging subsidies (we cannot
guarantee 100%), and a certificate of completion of the TOT from our
facilitators (a good resume item).
In
return, we ask that each participant commit to carrying out several
trainings for AI groups in the field from April until the end of July.
We also ask this group to participate in the development of a new AIUSA
TOT by providing feedback from their training experiences and on
occasional readings about training. Finally, we hope the Pilot
participants will attend our TOT in late summer and commit to continue
serving as trainers.
At
this time, we are assessing the level of interest in a program that
will greatly increase our ability to generate human rights activism in
communities all over the US. As volunteer leaders most familiar with the
skills and needs of our grassroots activists, we hope you will help us
identify members who would be good candidates for the Pilot TOT.
Please forward this to your groups and to other members you think may be interested.
Anyone
interested in participating should send a resumé and a letter
explaining why they would like to be a trainer, time availability, and
willingness to commit to the follow-up work outlined above to metpwg@aivol.org by 12:00
Finally,
as our front line in supporting our grassroots activists, your insights
on a training program are invaluable. Please feel free to share your
thoughts and questions with us.
Thanks for passing this along.
Best regards,
Beth Ann Toupin
METP Working Group
