Ocean of Organizing

100 people die from gun violence every day in America. We have the highest rate of gun violence in the world. This month (June) is gun violence awareness month and this weekend beginning June 7th marks a nation wide weekend of action to bring about awareness of gun violence in america called "wear orange". 

To help us better understand gun violence and its roots in our history, I hopped on the phone with special guest Thom Hartmann. Thom is a New York Times best selling author of 24 books in print and hosts his own progressive TV and radio show with an audience of over 6.5 million people. His latest book The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment dives deep into our history and sets the record straight for the framer’s intent of the second amendment based on thorough research.

To learn more about Wear Orange, gun violence prevention, and Thom Hartmann, head on over to oceanoforganizing.com/episode10

This week I am thrilled to have my friend and mentor Monna Wong on the show. Currently living in San Francisco with roots in New York, I met Monna when she was the Regional Field Director for marriage equality in Maine in 2012. Running the Portland field operation she grew the team to where by election day there were over 2,000 volunteers that walked through the Portland office alone in the final two weeks of the campaign. She shares with us some of her favorite moments, biggest struggles, and inspirations that keep her in the work. She hooked me into organizing and I continue to learn from Monna with virtually every interaction we have and this interview is no exception. 

Monna has experience running and directing field operations for LGBTQ campaigns on Marriage Equality and Non-Discrimination, she was the Executive Director of API Equality of Northern California working to build LGBTQ Asian and Pacific Islander power, she has consulted on a myriad of projects and is currently a Partner in Special Projects at The Management center. She is also passionate about life and health and as a newish parent with her partner is constantly inspiring in her ability to prioritize the things she cares about most. 

Chris Perez is an urban farmer and food justice advocate. Their passion is supporting and building sustainable food systems in their communities. Chris comes from a background of organizing for LGBTQ rights and racial justice organizing and has applied that experience to their gardening and community building around food and working with youth. Chris shares with us how you can get started in growing your own food, and how to feed your spirit through maintaining hope for our future. 

Soon to graduate as part of the NYU Law class of 2019, Molly was previously political campaign strategist for LGBTQ issues around the United States. She shares with us her experiences, and how to think strategically around movement building and how to take care of yourself along the way.

Quinn Gormley and I discuss what its like growing a non-profit that is part organizing part direct service and all the unique struggles of serving a marginalized community. Quinn is the executive director of the Maine Transgender Network, often referred to as MaineTransNet or MTN for short. MTN is a trans led peer to peer support network dedicated to supporting and empowering transgender people to create a world where they can thrive. Their work centers around the more than 30 support groups offered throughout the state, which, primarily in rural communities, serve more than 2,500 people each year. 

Professor Vassallo, a political science comparativist specializing in contentious politics and protest movements across Europe shares with us a bit about the green party's success in countries across Europe, the culture of protesting in France, social capital and how to build it, and why it is so important to show up to vote. 

This episode is a solo episode where I share some frameworks and ways of thinking about volunteer recruitment that will help you in your volunteer recruitment efforts to increase your capacity through building a team. These frameworks can be applied to various different organizing efforts though they are rooted in my experience on political campaigns. 

In this episode, I jumped on a skype call with Megan Brooker, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of California Irvine. She specializes in social movements, political sociology, culture, and qualitative methods.

We discuss how to navigate decisions on whether or not to organize within institutionalized politics or to go outside it, coalition work, the impact of social movements on political parties and so much more.

Samaa Abdurraqib’s resume of experience in the world of organizing is long. She has been a professor, abortion rights and reproductive justice organizer, she has organized for access to healthcare and so much more. In her current job she provides training, support, and project coordination for the Maine  Coalition to End Domestic Violence.  What we talk the most about though is the organizing she is doing outside of her 40 hour a week job, which is doing resiliency work within communities of color.  We discuss what it means to meet folks where they are at and the importance of finding work that fills your cup.

Shane Diamond, founder of Speak About it sits down with me to talk about how he started an organization that through theatrical plays, has presented to over 300,000 high school juniors, seniors, and college freshmen across the country and around the world about sexual assault prevention and consent. He shares with us wisdom from starting something new, launching an organization, the language around consent, growing in leadership, asking for help, self care, and soo much more.