Building Our Own: Electoral Safety Training Series (B.O.O.T.S.)

We have to win every single political office we can, where we have a majority of black people… The question for black people is not when is the white man going to give us our rights, or when is he going to give us good education for our children, or when is he going to give us jobs.

If the white man gives you anything – just remember when he gets ready he will take it right back. We have to take for ourselves.”

–Fannie Lou Hamer

SAFETY IN SOLIDARITY

At VCW, we believe that QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities have found effective ways to create safety outside of the police and prisons for generations.

We welcome all organizations that share our values and our passion for bringing about positive changes within communities.

Register today!

What It Is

This two-part training series consists of two sequential workshops. The first is a live, virtual training for three hours with opportunities for questions, followed by a recorded training to go in-depth on more topics. All participants also gain access to weekly office hours and our rapid response system.

101 — Introduction to Electoral Safety, De-escalation, and Safety for Canvassers (Virtual, live synchronous)
201 — Organizational Security Culture, Building Security Protocols, and Safety for Electoral Organizers (Recorded, asynchronous)
Regular drop-in office hours —Offered weekly. Dedicated time to answer pressing questions and provide coaching on immediate and ongoing needs. Participants can sign up for office hours as needed following the trainings.
Online rapid response system —Provides community safety rapid response support to organizations and leaders who are experiencing and/or anticipating community safety. Participants can submit tickets as needed.

Skills You’ll Gain

Threat and Risk Analysis
De-escalation techniques
Physical Situational Awareness
Solidarity and Coalition Building Strategies

B.O.O.T.S.

FORMAT

Online, live and asynchronous

Start Date

2026:
April 21st 4-7 PM ET
May 12th 4-7 PM ET
August 11th 4-7 PM ET
September 29th 4-7 PM ET

TIME

Combined six hours between 101 and 201

Price

$400 for 101 and 201 trainings

Questions?

Email: [email protected]

WANT MORE?

Once you’ve completed the first workshop, you will get access to VCW’s weekly virtual community safety office hours, where you can book a time to speak one-on-one with one of our community safety practitioners to ask questions from the training and/or troubleshoot issues.

B.O.O.T.S. is meant to provide a solid introductory foundation for electoral community safety and security work. For more in-depth training and expanded capacity-building, we recommend attending our Community Safety & Security School, which is a 10-month intensive organizational cohort training program.