Building The Public Interest Movement Through Training
At The Public Interest Network, we start from the idea that activists aren’t born, they’re trained. Building on forty years of success in this arena, we recently launched The Public Interest Network Training Center to house and coordinate all of our training activities, including an upgrade and expansion that will enable us to do more than ever to populate the social change movement with new talent. The Training Center’s mission is to train activists, paid or volunteer, in organizations and communities across the U.S. In 2011, for example, PennEnvironment teamed up with the Training Center to begin training 1,000 community members to keep the state’s forests, rivers and communities safe from fracking in the Marcellus Shale region. Every year, in August, the Training Center introduces 250 new full-time staff of groups in The Public Interest Network to a two-year-long, 18-module curriculum, covering topics ranging from “Strategies of Social and Political Activism” to “Media” to “Online Organizing.”The Activist Pipeline
The organizations within the Public Interest Network have served as an “activist pipeline” for the public interest movement. We’ve taught thousands of people the ropes — as student volunteers, as canvassers, and as professional organizers and advocates. Our alumni embody the value of our programs. They include:
- Adam Ruben, Political Director, MoveOn.org
- Eric Garcetti, President, Los Angeles City Council
- Gina Cummings, U.S. Campaigns Director, Oxfam America
- Heather Smith, Executive Director, Rock the Vote
- Mary Raftery, Director of Major Donor Development and Special Projects, Blue Green Alliance
- Sarah Hodgdon, Director of Conservation, Sierra Club
- Tom Subak, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- And thousands of others who continue to make social change as staff or leaders of advocacy groups, as public officials, and as leaders in philanthropy, socially conscious businesses, and the labor movement.
Our Trainings
Our approach to professional training is similar to those of clinical programs in law and medical schools, with top-notch classroom instruction occurring alongside real-world organizing and advocacy, performed through our partner organizations. Trainees are given significant responsibility from day one on the job, coupled with the careful supervision and mentorship of more advanced staff. We bring them back throughout the year for additional classroom trainings that help them refine their skills, and give them the opportunity to discuss, with our trainers and with each other, the successes and challenges they have experienced in the field. The result is a uniquely intensive and comprehensive training program that prepares hundreds of people each year for careers in social change activism.