How to Organize Volunteers

When you first start, you will need to find others in your community who are willing to work with you on this issue. There is strength in numbers! Feel free to use our Talking Points document in our toolkit as you start talking to friends, neighbors, and community members. Once people are aware of the content of a Critical/Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum, most will be as concerned as you are.

Next, find a few volunteers who are willing to attend an ACES webinar for training. Then gather your volunteers (perhaps a Zoom meeting so that people have an opportunity to connect with one another) and outline the cause. It is important that you know what specific action you will be focused on so that everyone has a clear mission.

Once you have some people who are willing to help, decide as a group who will reach out to the appropriate local district and/or county officials - i.e., Superintendent, Principals, School Board members - to do some education, create relationships, and hopefully find a connection that they can keep in contact with regarding curriculum or professional development initiatives. You can use the following steps as a guide on how to organize volunteers:

1. Identify who will reach out to local, district, and/or county officials, as appropriate
2. Ask a volunteer to act as the liaison with ACES
3. Decide who will serve as spokesperson at one-on-one meetings

As you move along, the people who have done the training can take on some more focused roles:

• Organize people to talk at Board meetings (See Sample Instructions to Volunteers for a School Board Meeting document.)
• Customize your talking points 
• Help with outreach efforts. (It’s always a good idea to connect with other local groups who support your efforts. The more diverse and wide-reaching the group of citizens, the more effective you will be in making your voice heard. Use your volunteers’ connections to widen your circle.)

Once you gain momentum, have met with key educators and elected officials, and know how you’re going to move forward to achieve your goal, there are more ways for people to get involved. Getting media attention is key, especially in helping educate the public to get their support. For example:

• Encourage people to write letters to the editor
• Gather stories about Critical/Liberated Ethnic Studies in classrooms from parents and students (and incorporate these in your talking points)
• Help with marketing and education
• Serve as a media liaison/help get articles published, interviews, etc.