Inspired by the “Camp Obama” trainings that powered neighbor-to-neighbor organizing across America in 2008, Camp Courage is an intensive two-day training designed to teach the principles and skills of community organizing to activists working to restore marriage equality to California.

Drawing on techniques honed for decades by progressive social movements, Camp Courage teaches empowerment, team building, leadership development, and grassroots organizing skills. Camp Courage is designed primarily for new activists or those who have never engaged with the broader community about marriage equality as well as veteran LGBT activists and allies.

Camp Courage trainings have already been held in Los Angeles, Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, D.C., San Diego and East LA. All seven events have received phenomenal reviews from participants, with evaluations averaging 9.06 (on a scale of 1 to 10).

To see highlights of the East Los Angeles training, watch the YouTube at http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/CampCentralCoast.

Camp Courage Central Coast will be an opportunity for activists and organizers to come together, recommit our energies and our talents to the marriage equality movement, and show the nation that we will not rest until all Californians are treated with the equality they deserve.

WHAT: Camp Courage, for marriage equality activists and organizers
WHERE: Santa Barbara (location provided once registration is confirmed)
WHEN: January 30-31, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
SIGN UP: http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/CampCentralCoast

Camp Courage will cover basic community and political organizing skills, including:

* Finding your voice by telling your “story of self”
* Leadership development
* Principles of successful organizing
* Developing collaboration and building effective teams
* Techniques of voter persuasion
* Organizing a phonebank
* Canvassing
* Tabling
* Throwing house parties
* Online organizing

In addition to providing these essential tools Camp Courage provides a unique opportunity for community members to meet like-minded individuals.

A background in community organizing or an organizational affiliation is not a requirement to attend Camp Courage. The only requirements are energy, commitment, and a desire to broaden your leadership abilities.

Camp Courage is organized by our faculty Torie Osborn, Mike Bonin, and Lisa Powell. Osborn is a senior advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the United Way, and former executive director of the Liberty Hill Foundation and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Bonin is a former regional field organizer for Obama for America, a veteran campaign staffer, and a community activist. Powell is an attorney, longtime trainer, community leader, and co-founder of United Lesbians of African Heritage.

Several amazing organizations will be represented at Camp Courage Central Coast, supporting the event or sending staff to participate or present, including CAUSE, COLOR Ventura, Equal Roots, FUND for Santa Barbara, Marriage Equality USA Santa Barbara & San Luis Obispo Chapters, McCune Foundation, Pacific Pride Foundation, San Luis Obispo Equality Team, Santa Barbara City College Queer & Ally Club, Stonewall Democrats of Ventura County, Strategic Alliance for Marriage Equality, UCSB Campus Democrats, UCSB Associated Students Queer Commission, UCSB Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, and the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance.

Our Central Coast training is one of many planned in 2010. If you are interested in our future trainings, please email CampCourage@couragecampaign.org.

If you have any questions, please email: CampCourage@CourageCampaign.org

Our good friends and allies at the Courage Campaign continue to take an increasing lead in doing excellent work on behalf of progressive causes throughout California. While there have been many arguments and recriminations after the election concerning who and what was to blame for the final result on Proposition 8, it is nearly universally agreed that a comparative lack of local, independent organization and grassroots, nuts-and-bolts electoral know-how on the issue was a significant contributing factor.

The Courage Campaign has therefore undertaken to conduct Camp Courage, a full day’s program of activist training in advance of the coming fight to repeal Proposition 8, should the California Supreme Court decline to overturn the mobocratic assault on minority rights. Speaking from experience, I can unequivocally say that training programs such as these are by far the most valuable way any activist can spend his/her time, and that the Courage Campaign knows as well as any organization in the state how to organize, deliver votes, and take the fight to the political opposition. From the Courage Campaign website:

To repeal Prop 8, we will need a grassroots army of activists empowered with the tools and skills necessary to effectively organize their own communities.

That’s what propelled President-elect Barack Obama into the White House and that’s what it will take to restore marriage equality for same-sex couples in California.

And that’s why we are kicking off 2009 by launching “Camp Courage” — a training program inspired by “Camp Obama” that will use community organizing methods that have developed leaders and nurtured progressive social movements for decades.

The first Camp Courage starts with a special one-day training in Los Angeles on January 25. Of course, we can’t build an army to repeal Prop 8 in one day in Los Angeles. It will take two-day training camps across California in places like Fresno, San Diego, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo and San Francisco.

Of course, they can’t conduct such a massive project without significant support. If you’re willing and able, please consider chipping in a few bucks–and I hope to see you there in Los Angeles on the Sunday 25th to begin the fight to restore equal rights for all the citizens of our great state.

Yes, Ventura, there is a Progressive Left–and it came in force today for Join the Impact. It’s a common joke here that we live in “Ventucky“, though our situation less resembles that of the deep South and more that of a clinging outpost of Red, stuck between the swaths of Blue that are Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. We have the gag-worthy Gallegly as our representative, and even unprincipled liars like Tony Strickland somehow manage to attract over half the population here to vote for them. True, the demographics have been changing with voter registrations to match, but that has translated neither into electoral gains nor significant grassroots activity in the Democratic and progressive community–though that is changing due to the tireless efforts of people like our new VCDP Communications Director Brian Leshon.

But today a sea of Blue washed up on the Ventura shores in front of the Old San Buenaventura Mission to let Ventura and all of California know that yes, we do exist. And no, we’re not taking it lying down anymore. Unfortunately, the pictures here don’t do the crowd justice; an amateur photographer is emailing me some pics that I’ll be putting up as soon as I get them.

The Join the Impact protestors began our march at noon in front of the Mission, walking through downtown, over the 101 Freeway overpass and back again, before regrouping on both sides of the street in front of the mission, with overflow into Mission Park.

On the overpass…

I’ve been involved in many protests over the years, but I have to say without question that this was the most amazing, uplifting demonstration I’ve ever been a part of, for a few very important reasons:

• Focus. The bane of the progressive protest march over the last few decades has been the lack of attention to message unity. Markos Moulitsas discusses this problem at length in his book Crashing the Gate: activists such as those with A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition end up using the occasion to fight for causes ranging from freeing Mumia to impeaching Bush to end the wars in Iraq to acceptance of LGBT rights. Here, there was but one message and one focus, reinforced by the ubiquitous chant: “What do we want? Equal Rights! When do we want it? Now!”
• Diversity and Family-Friendliness. All too often the word “diversity” has been seen especially by those on the Right as a politically correct code word for the disproportionately vocal influence of one or more specific minorities. But for the actual crowd that attended, it might have been easy to dismiss this protest simply as the gay community venting its frustrations. On the contrary: the couples that had gathered skewed more hetero than same-sex, and many had brought their families and small children along with them. The visual impact of this phenomenon on the conservative and fence-sitting mind cannot be exaggerated. Add to this the multi-racial, truly rainbow aspect of the event, and it was not only a joy to behold, but a consternation to those who would insult this movement as merely a special interest, rather than a truly broad-based fight for equal Civil Rights.
• The Support of the Community. There were no counter-protesters anywhere in sight, and most of the cars that passed us were honking, even as their passengers rolled down their windows to flash a quick thumbs up or peace sign. Sure, there were a few nuts in pickup trucks screaming some gibberish about eternal damnation and displaying a hateful middle finger here and there (one of them was so consumed with rage that he very nearly rear-ended the car in front of him), but they were themselves a distinct minority. Downtown Ventura was truly supportive of our cause, and it felt truly righteous being a part of the next step for civil rights in America. As one baby boomer activist said,
  

  “Man, this really is just like the 60s. I haven’t seen a gathering with this kind of positive energy in a long, long time. It’s amazing to see.”

I couldn’t agree more. My girlfriend KK and I spent the final 45 minutes gathering signatures for the Courage Campaign’s Proposition 8 repeal. On that form was a checkbox asking if the signatory would like to volunteer for the cause. Nearly every single box was checked, and nearly every single zip code a Ventura resident. These people were not here just to vent for a day: they were here to be a part of something bigger for the long term.

It was a beautiful sight to behold, and gives me hope for the long term not only for the future of civil rights in America, but for the future of progressive politics here in “Ventucky” as well.