“We have to build our own power.
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
The Building Our Own training series supports progressive electoral organizers to strengthen their community safety practices to prevent and address violence or harm that may impact their organization.
Building Our Own is a two-part training series, one training offered quarterly for three hours, and a second offered as an asynchronous recorded training available to participants for up to one month.
Registration ends 24 hours prior to each training. Questions? Email: safety@visionchangewin.org
Electoral security is a set of practices that build the collective capacity of progressive electoral organizers to address violence and harm meant to disrupt progressive electoral organizing.
VCW uses a holistic approach to electoral security to build collective capacity of progressive organizers and organizations.
This is a two-part training series 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.
Who is this for?
In the past two years, Vision Change Win has received increased requests for training support from electoral organizers navigating increased threats of violence leading up to the 2020 election, especially threats of right-wing violence. The need has continued to grow, and we anticipate increased demand for this work related to the 2022 midterms and 2024 elections.
The electoral safety training series is for progressive electoral organizers to strengthen their community safety practices to prevent and address violence or harm that may impact their organization. It is especially designed for people in the following roles:
At VCW, we believe that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities have created safety outside of the police and prisons for generations. Our trainers have between 10 – 40 years of experience working directly on safety and security protocols, and all have experience coordinating community safety programs for communities that include BIPOC, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, low-income people, people with disabilities, survivors of violence, and other marginalized communities.
Upcoming Training Date(s)
2024 BOOTS 201 Blitz Dates
In preparation for the November 2024 presidential election, VCW will be ramping up BOOTS and offering additional training support around key safety issue areas. These trainings are specialized, it is recommended that organizations first attend BOOTS before attending a Blitz training.
Attendees will attend the live, virtual training. Upon completion, they will gain access to the second recorded training with more in-depth topics on organizational safety planning. Recorded training will be available for one month.
How much does it cost?
VCW is committed to ensuring everyone can access this training. We know safety and security planning cannot be done in isolation. We encourage organizations to send up to 5 representatives to the trainings.
Prices are subject to change in the future.
Solidarity Scholarship
To make our trainings as accessible as possible, Vision Change Win is offering five scholarships each month to BIPOC, low-income folks, Immigrants, Queer or Trans folks, Disabled folks, or other marginalized communities. These slots are first come, first served. Participants only need to indicate in the registration form they are applying for a solidarity seat. We encourage participants applying for a Solidarity Scholarship to apply early, as seats go quickly.
How do I register?
After your registration has been received and vetted, you will receive the training information overview and link for the video conference.
What happens after I complete the series and want to learn 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 trainings and/or troubleshoot issues.
The training series is meant to provide a solid introductory foundation for electoral community safety and security work. For more in-depth training and capacity-building, we recommend attending our Community Safety & Security School, which is a 9-month organizational cohort training and implementation program.