Such an honor to be with you.
I am so blown away by your actions.
In my presentation I will link transformational advocacy, Hahrie Han calls it transformational organizing, to a statement by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Hahrie Han: Transactional
Advocacy vs. Transformational Advocacy
Transactional Advocacy: Sign the petition, transaction complete�Transformational Advocacy: Advocates are trained, encouraged and then succeed at doing things they never thought they could do and, as a result, see themselves in a new light, they see themselves as community leaders. They are amazed!
I will link transformational advocacy to this statement by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
How has your advocacy in CCL
left you amazed?
-Was your first ever meeting with a member of Congress with CCL? Were you amazed?
-Was your first letter to the editor or op-ed published with CCL? Were you amazed?
-How has CCL helped you do things you never thought you could do?
Story of Self
(What happened in your life and what decisions did you make that got you to this commitment?)
Listen to how I was called to advocacy, how I was called to purpose really
How would your story of self go?
��
That’s a nearly 66% decline in global child deaths saving almost 10 million young lives a year compared to the early 1980s.
Here’s proof that RESULTS’ efforts played a key advocacy role.
After RESULTS volunteers generated 90 newspaper editorials supporting a tripling of the child survival fund in 1986, UNICEF Executive Director, Jim Grant, said in a handwritten note to RESULTS:
….I thank you in my mind at least weekly, if not more often, for what you and your colleagues are accomplishing, but I thought I should do it at least once this year in writing.
Twenty-seven years later, in a New York Times interview, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kul Gautam said:
To a great extent, it was because of the receptivity created by RESULTS that the U.S. funding for child survival increased so dramatically. And that led many other countries to come on board.
That is advocacy that has left me amazed and grateful for my advocacy partners in RESULTS.
Now my amazement and gratitude for my advocacy partners in Citizen’s Climate Lobby.�
Why working with CCL matters so much
Two scenarios:
(Engaging the disengaged)
--
“It’s estimated that between 98 and 99 percent of humanity is disengaged. Your friends might be engaged, but between 98 and 99 percent of humanity is disengaged. From the earth’s point of view there’s no difference between a climate denier and someone who understands the problem but actually doesn’t do anything.”
Paul Hawken, Editor, Drawdown
Engaging the disengaged
CCL’s transformational advocacy work in 2021
the first full year of Covid, work to engage the disengaged.
1,353 meetings with Congress or their staff
4,112 media hits (LTEs, op-eds, etc.)
1,735 outreach events (engaging the disengaged)
CCL’s transformational advocacy
from the first month of President Trump’s
Administration, Jan. 2017 until Jan. 2023*
(6 years)
Engaging the disengaged
8,831 meetings with MoCs or their staff
25,261 media hits (LTEs, Op-eds, etc.)
16,233 outreach events (engaging the disengaged)
*’22 #s extrapolated from lowest previous year
If this quote rings true for you, what organization would you want to be volunteering with?
“It’s estimated that between 98 and 99 percent of humanity is disengaged….From the earth’s point of view there’s no difference between a climate denier and someone who understands the problem but actually doesn’t do anything.”
Another look at why
working with CCL matters so much.
Meeting with new members of Congress,
(More than 340 new members of Congress in the last 6 years, nearly two-thirds of Congress is new.)
Number of New Members of Congress
77 in 2017 (115th Congress)
107 in 2019 (116th Congress)
86 in 2021 (117th Congress)
(*73 w/ 10 TBD) in 2023 (118th Congress)
(*343 means about 64% of the 115th-118th Congress is new, 64% of the 535 total are new in the last 6 years.
*Final results not in yet.
With nearly 2/3 of Congress new over 6 years, which organization would you want to work with when it comes to meeting with Congress?
CCL’s transformational advocacy in 2021
the first full year of Covid
1,353 meetings with MoCs or their staff
4,112 media hits (LTEs, op-eds, etc.)
1,735 outreach events
With nearly 2/3 of Congress new over the last 6 years, which organization would you want to work with?
CCL 2021 transformational advocacy
from the first month of President Trump’s, Administration, Jan. 2017, until Jan. 2023*
8,831 meetings with MoCs or their staff
25,261 media hits (LTEs, Op-eds, etc.)
16,233 outreach events
*’22 #s extrapolated from lowest previous year
With nearly 2/3 of Congress new over the last
6 years, which organization would you want to work with when it comes to meeting with Congress?
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Opportunities for Engagement
Write me: sam@civiccourage.org
Write your name and the word:
List: if you want to be on my mailing list
Chapters: if you want me to send you two chapters from Reclaiming Our Democracy
Slides: if you want these PowerPoint slides�Speaker: if you’re interested in having me as a speaker
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature, instead of a selfish, feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw
Opportunities for Engagement
Write me: sam@civiccourage.org
Write your name and the word:
List: if you want to be on my mailing list
Chapters: if you want me to send you two chapters from Reclaiming Our Democracy
Slides: if you want these PowerPoint slides�Speaker: if you’re interested in having me as a speaker
How do you engage in transformational advocacy, advocacy that leaves you amazed?
1) Find an organization that is:
committed to dissolving your sense of powerlessness. That’s an organization that 1) builds chapters and 2) brings advocates together for a national conference call 1) enrollment and 2) building community).�(Sound familiar?)
2) Find an organization that is:
Committed to providing you with new skills. That’s an organization that provides ongoing training and key asks of elected officials.
3) Find an organization that encourages you to move out of your comfort zone: That’s right, confidence grows when you’re encouraged to do things you thought you couldn’t do and surprise or amaze yourself when you make it happen.
(Sound familiar?)
Your comfort zone
Where the magic happens
To where you’re amazed
Account | FY ‘17 Enacted | FY ‘18 Pres. Request | FY ‘18 Enacted |
Maternal and Child Health | $814.5 mil. | $749.6 million 8% cut | $829.5 mil. 2% increase |
Nutrition | $125 mil. | $78.5 million 37% cut | $125 million 0% cut |
Account | FY ‘19 Enacted | FY ‘20 President’s Request | FY ‘20 Enacted |
FY ’21 President’s Request
|
Maternal and Child Health | $835 mil. H: 148 S: 37 | $620 mil.
26% cut | $851 mil. 2% incr. | $660 mil. 22% cut |
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria | $1.35 billion H: 157 S: 36 Pompeo: 137 HRes517: 159 SRes318: 21 | $958.4 mil.
29% cut | $1.56 bil. 16% incr. | $658 mil. 58% cut |
…I have absolutely no history as a political activist….Before meeting these four Washington state legislators, I had never met with a legislator before… I had never written a letter to a legislator or called their office…..[One of the four was] a state representative who chairs the environment and energy committee….It turned out that…. the committee chair, did know a lot about climate change. But when it came to carbon removal, he had just barely heard of it….He liked the idea [of our doing] a more in-depth briefing with him and his staff to talk about carbon removal and to push for some legislative actions!! It’s a bit mind-blowing that we will provide a briefing for the Chair of the Environment and Energy Committee and his staff and our chapter is just a few months old. Mike Robinson, Chapter leader, Foundation for Climate Restoration (2022)
�
“It’s estimated that between 98 and 99 percent of humanity is disengaged. Your friends might be engaged, but between 98 and 99 percent of humanity is disengaged. From the earth’s point of view there’s no difference between a climate denier and someone who understands the problem but actually doesn’t do anything.”
Paul Hawken, Editor, Drawdown
Those of us not engaged in advocacy believe that meeting with elected officials is:
too hard….too frustrating….you know the drill
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Transformational Advocacy
�Transformational Advocacy (Radical Amazement): Advocates are trained, encouraged and then succeed at doing things they never thought they could do and, as a result, see themselves in a new light, they see themselves as community leaders. They are amazed!
Our Congressperson was already a co-sponsor, already a supporter, we invited him to be an advocate—and he did.
How do you engage in transformational advocacy, advocacy that leaves you amazed?
1) Find an organization that is:
committed to dissolving your sense of powerlessness. That’s an organization that 1) builds chapters and 2) brings advocates together for a national conference call 1) enrollment and 2) building community).�
2) Find an organization that is:
Committed to providing you with new skills. That’s an organization that provides ongoing training and key asks of elected officials.
3) Find an organization that encourages you to move out of your comfort zone: That’s right, confidence grows when you’re encouraged to do things you thought you couldn’t do and surprise or amaze yourself when you make it happen.
Your comfort zone
Where the magic happens
To where you’re amazed
Opportunities for Engagement
Write to: sam@civiccourage.org
Write your name and the word:
List: if you want to be on my mailing list
Chapters: if you want me to send you two chapters from Reclaiming Our Democracy
Slides: if you want these PowerPoint slides�Speaker: if you’re interested in having me as a speaker
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
�
Below is an email I sent last month outlining CCL's chapter activities in the month of April, things like: 897 outreach events, 3 speaking tours in the toughest to organize states (e.g. Mississippi and Kentucky), 97 op-eds and 200 letters to the editor--all published in April 2022.
A lot of groups talk about volunteer-led teams and volunteer-led action, but do so assuming that that just happens naturally, that there isn't ongoing training and inspiration and connection--that you just train 'em up once and let them go. That's certainly not been my experience and not how CCL does it.
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
“….Our real problem is not a heating planet or rampant malnutrition….We only have one real problem: our own feelings of powerlessness to manifest the solutions right in front of our noses.”
� Frances Moore Lappé
Getting a Grip2��[The gift of the groups Civic Courage coaches, their deep commitment to dissolving the powerlessness.]�
Here’s a common view of most groups doing advocacy work, groups that are not really up for thawing the resignation, not up for transformational advocacy:
“We can’t let our volunteers write letters to the editor or op-eds because they’ll get it wrong and misrepresent the organization….”
����
Citizens Climate Lobby
2010 2019
Letters/op-eds pub. 65 4,305
Number of groups 14 465
Congress/staff mtgs. 106 1,714
Conf. attendance 25 1,500
CCL volunteers enrolled 45 Republicans and 45 Democrats in joining the House Climate Solutions Caucus in 2018
The Magic Happens When You
-Build a relationship with an elected official
(not just sign a petition)
-Have a letter to the editor or op-ed published
-Enroll a journalist to support our issue
-Table at an event to bring in new members
-Speak at an event to get our message out
-Raise funds for the organization
“Optimism is a political act. Those who benefit from the status quo are perfectly happy with a large population of people who think nothing is going to get any better. In fact, these days, cynicism is obedience. What's really radical is being willing to look right at the magnitude and difficulty of the problems we face and still insist that we can solve those problems.”
Alex Steffen
Activism fit on a spectrum.
Resistance and deep advocacy are
just two points on that spectrum.
My talk will focus on one aspect on the advocacy spectrum: appreciative, relational, bipartisan, deep advocacy. Being a champion for a cause.
The resistance movement is a different, point on the advocacy spectrum.
Main Messages
Account | FY ‘17 Enacted | FY ‘18 Pres. Request | FY ‘18 Enacted |
Maternal and Child Health | $814.5 mil. | $749.6 million 8% cut | $829.5 mil. 2% increase |
Nutrition | $125 mil. | $78.5 million 37% cut | $125 million 0% cut |
Account | FY ‘19 Enacted | FY ‘20 President’s Request | FY ‘20 Enacted |
FY ’21 President’s Request
|
Maternal and Child Health | $835 mil. H: 148 S: 37 | $620 mil.
26% cut | $851 mil. 2% incr. | $660 mil. 22% cut |
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria | $1.35 billion H: 157 S: 36 Pompeo: 137 HRes517: 159 SRes318: 21 | $958.4 mil.
29% cut | $1.56 bil. 16% incr. | $658 mil. 58% cut |
Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion – its message becomes meaningless.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
God in Search of Man
Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. A liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow the forces that destroy the promise, the hope, the vision.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
In the 18 years since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria was launched it, along with its partners, has saved 32 million lives and provided 17.5 million people with antiretroviral therapy in 2017….
--
Read excerpt from Race Against Time
By Stephen Lewis
Tzedek, tzedek tirdof
צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף
Justice, justice shall you pursue.
Deuteronomy 16:20
If our voices as citizens
can make such a profound difference on big issues,
Why don’t more of us get involved?
Our sense of powerlessness.
How does it work? If volunteers raise their hand at a launch meeting and say “I’m in!” In what? What have the volunteers and the organization promised to each other? How powerful is the structure of support?
One component: A monthly conference call with guest speaker, Q&A, sharing grassroots victories, training, monthly Action Sheet.
How does it work? If volunteers raise their hand at a launch meeting and say “I’m in!” In what? What have the volunteers and the organization promised to each other? How powerful is the structure of support?
One component: A monthly conference call with guest speaker, Q&A, sharing grassroots victories, training, monthly Action Sheet.
Main Messages
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature, instead of a selfish, feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw
One aspect of the Civic Courage process is a spiritual approach to politics—a politics of love.
One Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteer called her meetings with 20 Congressional offices “sacred and profound.”
Read from Reclaiming Our Democracy
E & E News (September 2017):�Tom Moyer, a CCL volunteer who worked with former Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) said it’s impossible to convince anyone of anything if you fundamentally don’t like them. “If you walk in thinking they’re an idiot and evil, you’re done from the start, it doesn’t matter how logical your position is,” he said. “You have to put yourself in a place where you can find something to respect [in them].” ���������
�One way I’ve grown in the past year in my FCNL Advocacy Team work is:��1) “My heart is more tender, loving, and hopeful than it has been in many years, not just the last.”����������
Organizations Committed to Dissolving the Powerlessness
__Ending poverty (RESULTS)
__Climate solutions (CCL)
__Peace/Ending Endless Wars (FCNL)
__End global poverty/ECD (CRS)
Opportunities for Action
Write to: sam@civiccourage.org
Write your name and the word:
List: if you want to be on my mailing list
Organizations: if you want me to send you links to these organizations
Chapters: if you want me to send you two chapters from Reclaiming Our Democracy
Slides: if you want these PowerPoint slides�
Again, if our voices as citizens
can make such a profound difference on big issues,
Why don’t more of us get involved?
Our resignation
Harvard Prof. Lawrence Lessig said:
“We did a poll and found that 96% of Americans believe it important to reduce the influence of money in politics. But 91% don’t think it’s possible. That’s the politics of resignation.
“But the politics of resignation gives you a perfect strategy for winning…how do we thaw that resignation because once we do, then I think we have a real chance of winning.”
[Again, that’s the gift of the groups Civic Courage coaches, their deep commitment to thawing the resignation.]
[Advocacy] is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. [An advocacy] movement must become a revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow the forces that destroy the promise, the hope, the vision.
Adapted from Abraham Joshua Heschel
Frank Rich in a NY Times column from November 2007 wrote:
“….Last weekend a new…poll found that…only 24 percent of Americans believe their country is on the right track. [Seventy-four percent told pollsters the country was on the wrong track.]….
�
“Wrong track is a euphemism. We are a people in clinical depression. Americans know that the ideals that once set our nation apart from the world have been vandalized.”
My response:
Most non-profit organizations don’t acknowledge the toxicity into which they send their volunteer advocates. Consequently, they don’t create a powerful enough structure of support that can be the antidote to that toxicity.
It’s now time to totally trust our volunteers.
It’s now time to give them the tools that provide them the confidence to speak and lead for a better world.
Sam Daley-Harris
�You might have a low opinion of your Member of Congress, but you have to decide whether your goal is to be right about that or to cause a transformation. It’s really up to you, but we will never get climate change reversed, poverty eliminated, Citizens United overturned, or nuclear war prevented with Democrats only or Republicans only—it has to be a bipartisan, trans-partisan effort. ���������
Visionaries are possessed creatures, men and women in the thrall of belief so powerful that that they ignore all else—even reason—to ensure that reality catches up with their dreams. But always behind the action is an idea, a passionate sense of what is eternal in human nature and also what is coming but as yet unseen, over the horizon.
Time magazine
��
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Apple Computer ad
�
Champion Scale
Opposed: I think we can agree that the farthest you can get from being a champion on our issue is being opposed. A member of Congress or other elected officials who are opposed might say, ‘I don’t support that,’ or ‘my constituents wouldn’t support that,’ or ‘what you’re talking about isn’t even a problem,’ or ‘I agree that it is a problem but I can’t support your solution.’
�
Neutral or Uninformed: The next level up from opposed is neutral or uninformed. Someone who is neutral might say, ‘I need more information,’ or ‘can you explain it to me more fully,’ or ‘could you give me materials to read so I can make a more informed decision?’
Supporter: The next level up from neutral is supporter. A supporter might say, ‘I’ll co-sponsor that,’ or ‘I think that is a good solution and I can get behind it.’
Advocate: The next level up from supporter is advocate. An advocate might say, ‘now that I’m a co-sponsor I think it is important to build support for this,’ or ‘I am going to talk with others in Congress about supporting it,’ or ‘Could you help me draft an op-ed for our paper so we can educate my constituents?’
Leader and Spokesperson: The next level up from advocate is a leader and spokesperson. A leader and spokesperson might be the lead sponsor on a bill or the initiator of a sign-on letter or a caucus on our issue.
Champion: The final level is a champion. I don’t like it when groups cheapen the term champion and call anyone who does anything good a champion. A champion is someone who is so
passionate, that they are out in front of Citizens Climate Lobby and pushing CCL to catch up. They might say ‘I have arranged for 5 of my Democratic Colleagues and 5 of my Republican colleagues to host town hall meetings on the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act and I need your help finding speakers for some of those 10 cities.’ Or they might say, ‘I am gathering signatures on a letter to President Trump asking for a meeting to discuss re-joining the Paris
Accord and I’d like your help in getting Congressional signers and letters to the editor urging the President to meet with us and agree to our request.’