Getting Skills and Training

A number of organizations (such as the Leadership Institute and the MidWest Academy) offer a wide range of classes for activists wanting to develop and hone their skills.

If there are no classes in your area, you can use training manuals and online materials to read about other people's experience.

Some good training manuals (can be obtained from various bookstores and perhaps Amazon.com):

• Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy: Manual for Activists
  by Kimberley A. Bobo, et al
• "How to Save Your Neighborhood, City, or Town" by Maritza Pick (environmental focus, but tools/skills are applicable to civil liberties)
• The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface by Randy Shaw (Paperback)
• Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky (Paperback)
• The Community Toolbox

There are other resources available online and we hope to provide links to them in the near future (if you have suggested additions, please email actionkit@dcaclu.org)