Building a community of trained activists and staffers in 2007

Written by: Arshad Hasan on Jan 31, 2007 10:33 AM EST

Because, in politics, it is important to build networks and follow up on the good work we're doing. As a group of activists and staffers with special training from DFA, it's important that we build a community of people who share skills, experiences, and questions. This DFA Link group is for DFA members who've attended the DFA Training Academy weekend trainings to share experiences and resources. This DFA-Link group is the foundation of our Alumni follow up program.

http://www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=2126 

Each Training weekend will have one Alumni class coordinator. This person will follow up with trainees from his or her weekend, asking about successes, challenges, and lessons learned. We encourage everyone to add content and share relavant experiences. Blog posts will stick to topics such as skills training, lessons learned, Q&A, and stories of successes and challenges. Your alumni coordinator should follow up with you, and you should be sure to contact him/her and to contact me.

As an additional resource, I'll make available electronic copies of training materials so that you can go back to them whenever you need. I'll keep you in the loop as we add or update material. Most importantly, I will make myself and fellow trainers available for continuing advice and guidence. Since this is a grassroots movement, please feel free to upload and download resources of your own.

I know we discussed a few examples and even promoted some specific actions and events on what to do with your new skills. Remember, you all set yourselves a goal to accomplish after 60 days, we'll share some of those, too.

Some people are also planning to start their own thing. Well, I want to know! Help me out. Tell DFA what you're planning. Tell us what you've seen others do, and what you'd like to see us do. My goal is to build a program that will equip you to take and sustain action in your own communities. Learning from your experiences post-training is just as valuable to DFA as learning from you during our trainings. Follow up is key to any effort and I want to see how it's going.

--Arshad Hasan, DFA Training Director

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