Texas JSAChapter Activism Handbook

2014 - 2015

#FightApathy

Table of ContentsLetter from the Director of Activism 3

What is Activism? 4

How to: Social Activism 4

How to: Political Activism 6

Organizing Your Chapter Activism Project 8

Fighting Apathy Against Child Labor 9

Other Initiatives 10

The Texas Activism Team 12

Additional Resources 12

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Statesmen and Stateswomen,

Being statesmen and stateswomen, we constantly strive to “be the people” through debate and discussion. A large part of being the people, though, is fighting apathy by being active and engaged members of your community. Activism is a crucial to JSA’s mission but is often neglected at the chapter level. It sets JSA apart from other debate organizations and allows us to apply the principle of “being the people” to our community. Activism further allows statesmen and stateswomen to learn more about the political issues they care about, whether it’s gun control, women’s rights, or tax policy. This year the Texas PR Team aims to increase involvement in activism at a chapter level and get every JSA member to be the people. In this handbook you will find resources on what activism is, how to get involved, and tips for success. In addition to this packet links, documents, and contact and information are all provided for further success, feel free to contact me at any time if you need any help. I hope that with the we can help #fightapathy and truly be the people.

Sincerely,Maya PatelTexas Director of Activism

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What is Activism? Social activism is nonpartisan work done to benefit the less fortunate in one’s community, or the broader world. This is work done to provide a necessary, but unfulfilled, societal need, and often has an immediate impact. Political activism can be either partisan or nonpartisan, and is long-term advocacy work to advance a cause one believes in. Its goal is to change policy so that it better serves a community, whereas social activism focuses more on direct outreach and aid. We recommend you try out both types of activism this year, by hosting at least one event in each field.

How to: Social Activism

Social activism is a great way to help out the community around you. These are fun events that encourage chapter bonding, but also help out the community. Planning one of these is simple and most organizations are more than happy to accept help. Here are some ideas for social activism events.

Charity DrivesThese are both easy and time efficient. The hardest part of running one is simply publicity. Get chapter members to pick up donations once a week for as long as the drive is going on. Contact Maya Patel, the Texas Director of Activism, for help on publicizing your event.Common Examples: Canned food drives, toy drives during the holiday season, clothing drives (make sure the clothes are seasonally appropriate), book drives and school supply drives. Contact the Salvation Army or your local food bank to find out what supplies they need.

Food PantriesSpend an afternoon volunteering at a food pantry. This is a fun bonding idea for your chapter, and food pantries are always in need of helping hands! Common Examples: Click here to find food banks near you, look for local branches of the Red Cross Food Bank, or the United Way website under Volunteering.

Homeless SheltersVolunteer opportunities vary based on age, but even the underclassmen in your chapter should be able to get involved. Halfway homes for single mothers rely on volunteers to play with children, giving their moms some much-needed time for themselves. You can also help out by cooking and serving food to residents of a homeless shelter.Common Examples: Use the Homeless Shelter Directory to find homeless shelters near you. Some shelters are not in the safest of areas, so keep safety in mind while looking for places to volunteer.

Working At Local Libraries

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Local libraries help strengthen communities through reading and education. They offerprograms based around reading for students and adults alike. Students can run book drives, volunteer to help, and host workshops with children. Furthermore, they can work with their local elementary and middle school libraries to run workshops and educate younger students.

The Teaching Peace InitiativeThe Teaching Peace Initiative is a student-run nonprofit organization that bringscomprehensive peace education to students across the country and the world. Theyorganize teens to teach nonviolence and open-mindedness to young children in theircommunities. Students can work to encourage students to act and resolve problems peacefully in their school. They can also hold events at local elementary and middle schools as well as public libraries to teach nonviolence.

The Go Green InitiativeThe Go Green Initiative provides schools, homes, businesses and organizations of allkinds with the tools and training they need to create a “culture of conservation” withintheir community. Their goals are to conserve and protect natural resources for futuregenerations, and to protect human health through environmental stewardship. Students can work to educate fellow students on current problems and host recyclingdrives in public places such as in libraries and schools. Chapters can also runenvironmental awareness days in school.

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How to: Political Activism

Political activism is a great way to “be the people.” While, JSA is a non-partisan organization, we encourage you to share your beliefs and stand behind your beliefs.

Campaign!Whether it’s for a town, state, or even national election, campaigns need dedicated teenagers like you. As a volunteer, you’ll be knocking on doors (canvassing) to poll potential voters, attending rallies, and whatever other work needs to get done. You can also apply to be a campaign intern and get an insider’s look at how a campaign operates. Campaigns are one of the few places that offer internships to high school students, although you will often need access to a car. To get involved, just search for upcoming elections and send an email and résumé expressing interest.

Stand Up For Your BeliefsProtest movements are the bread and butter of political activism. They’re the most direct way to get policies changed. The most important thing to keep in mind while organizing one is publicity. Spread the word on social media ahead of time, and take lots of photos at the event. See if you can get local media to cover it as well. You’ll also need to get a permit in most places prior to your protest. Or if full-on protests aren’t for you, you can still get involved. Try a letter-writing campaign, speaking at a School Board meeting, or starting a Youth Advisory Board with your local representatives.

Listen to OthersBecome an informed citizen, and get your community involved along the way! See if your chapter can host local candidates for office at your high school, as well as various guest speakers. Spice up debates by organizing inter-club debates between your school’s Young Democrats and Republicans Clubs, or have a Faculty Debate, getting two popular teachers to face off in a public event.

Voter RegistrationAccording to the CIRCLE Project, only 45% of young people (between 18 and 29) voted in 2012, down from 51% in 2008. According to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, the March primaries in 2014 only drew 1.9 million. Yet, there were 18.9 million adults in the Texas in March, and 13.6 million of them were registered to vote. Texas is one of the worst places in the country for voter turnout. We can help to bring these numbers back up by hosting a voter registration drive at our schools. Be sure you follow state laws regarding voter registration, check with local authorities and check out this handout on holding a drive. Set up a booth during lunchtime, cover it with all the patriotic decorations you can find, and start registering!

Attend a School Board Meeting

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At School Board or Board of Education Meetings members of the administration discussimportant school issues and concerns. Every public school is mandated to have at least one public board meeting each month where you can make your voice heard. If you go to a private school and your school does not have open meetings request to meet with administrators to voice your concerns. It is an opportunity to voice your opinions about things that affect you. Your input can make a difference at a place where you spend 9 months a year.

The State Director of Activism is available to help chapters to find School Board meeting schedule and choose a date to go. Once chapters choose which meeting(s) to attend theyshould report the dates to their State’s Activism Department. The students think in advance about changes they would like to see in their schools. Chapter Presidents can work with their members to figure out what the students would like to speakabout. Chapter leaders should help students prepare to sharetheir opinions at meetings.

The Freedom to Marry CampaignFreedom to Marry is a grassroots campaign working to win the freedom to marry in morestates, grow the national majority for marriage, and end federal marriage discrimination.They partner with individuals and organizations across the country to end the exclusionof same-sex couples from marriage and the protections, responsibilities, and commitmentthat marriage brings. Students can work to educate their community and student body on the importance of marriage equality as well as write letters and send petitions to the their legislators. Chapters should focus on urging legislation for marriage equality in their state.

The Can Kicks Back CampaignThe Can Kicks Back is a youth-based campaign to defeat the national debt and reclaimour American Dream. They work to educate, organize and mobilize young Americans in order to promote a sustainable federal budget. Chapters can work to educate their student body about the track that the national debt is on. They can work to have write-a-thons and petition signing events. Students can also reach out to meet with their Congressmen in order to give their opinion on the issue.

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Organizing Your Chapter Activism Project

As a part of the Chapter Activism Revival Events [C.A.R.E. Initiative] we are encouraging every chapter to organize at least one activism project. This packet has listed many ideas for chapter activism initiatives and your State Activism Director is always a resource. Take these steps towards creating your own activism project and make sure to inform your State Activism Team of your progress! For more information about any of the above initiatives please ask Maya Patel, Texas State Director of Activism.

1. Choose a project. Do so based on what’s convenient for your chapter. Keep in mind everyone’s schedules, talents, and interests. Find out the requirements. Some organizations have a minimum age limit for volunteers, so be sure the underclassmen can get involved! Others only ask for a specific list of donations, so take that into consideration if planning a food drive.

2. Contact your chosen organization. Look at their website for information on how many and what kinds of volunteers they’re looking for. Send an email explaining the mission statement of your chapter and expressing interest in getting involved. Keep the email brief, polite, and to the point. If you don’t hear back within a week, call the organization to follow up. If you’re unsure about what to include in it, contact your Director of Activism.

3. Publicize the event to your chapter. Create a Facebook event page and talk about it at meetings. If a convention is coming up, make participation in the event a requirement to go. Make sure to notify your members at least three weeks ahead of time. This will give you time to organize a carpool if necessary, as well as maximize attendance. Also, contact the state Director of Activism for help on publicizing the event. If you want to reach out to schools

4. Host the event!

5. After the event is over, make sure to publicize its success. You’ve earned it! We love seeing photos of JSA’ers getting involved and giving back to their communities. Tweet us @Texas_JSA and caption your photos #FightApathy. You may even see yourself on HOTJSA!

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National and State Initiatives

Fighting Apathy Against Child LaborGCR:http://www.thepangeanetwork.org/http://www.acamweb.org/

PMC:http://www.hrionline.org/events/5k-run-for-human-rights/http://www.amshaafrica.org/

ACR:http://www.havenforhope.org/new/

Search for more organizations at volunteermatch.org

Child Labor and Food Production:Here is information on the farm workers:http://www.foodispower.org/produce-workers/ It is estimated that about 300,000 of these farm workers are children.

Here is a film on the issue:http://theharvestfilm.com/ Here is information on the chocolate industry – please note the references that have more videos:http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/ Here is a film on the issue:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vfbv6hNeng&noredirect=1 You can watch the entire documentary on-line.

There is a follow up film called Dark Side of Chocolate which shows that the various certifications are not working in Western Africa:http://www.shady-chocolate.com/en We advocate that people not purchase chocolate that comes from the worst forms of child labor in Western Africa (again not based on certifications):http://www.foodispower.org/chocolate-list/ Chocolate might be an issue that many high school students might be interested in.

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There are a variety of things that can be done – including showing these films, having speakers, information tables and of course having students use their purchasing power.

Youth Voting Letter Writing Campaigna. Objective: Statistics will be gathered on factors that affected voter turnout.

Letters will then be written by chapters to politicians and newspaper editors/journalists with the findings. Hopefully, if enough JSAers send in letters, this will fight apathy by altering the way that voting takes place in the state and increase voter turnout. Texas, in 2010, was ranked 51st for voter turnout, let’s change this!

b. Timeline: Nov. 4 - Winter Congressc. How: A packet with information on the analyzed statistics, a letter template,

and list of potential people to contact will be distributed to chapter presidents to make this effort easier for them.

Fight Apathy Campaignd. Objective: To create a catalyst to spark discussion about political issues

throughout the day. Discussion is a great way to inform other about different political and social issues and fight apathy.

e. Timeline: Mid-March - Late-Marchf. How: All the materials to carry this campaign out will be distributed to those

chapters who sign up to bring Fight Apathy to their school. This will be a very simple thing to set up. In addition to having the stickers and posters, chapters are encouraged to bring in speakers to help fight apathy. There will also be a leadership team involved with this that will help make sure everything runs smoothly for the chapters.

Regional Activism Eventsg. GCR

i. Fall1. Voter Registration Drive

ii. Winter1. Plant it Forward

iii. Spring1. Adopt a Beach

h. ACRi. Battle of the Flowers Paradeii. Puppiesiii. Clean up the riveriv. Immigrant shelters

i. PMCi. Will be having activism events to be announced

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Having Chapter Activism Revival Events [C.A.R.E. Initiative]j. Objective: Chapters are the root of everything that JSA does. If chapters are

excited about their own activism, they will be more likely to participate in state and national initiatives.

k. Timeline: All yearl. How: Utilize the tools given in this chapter activism guide and reach out to

your state activism team to make your events a success.

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Your Texas Activism Team

Maya Patel, Director of Activismmpatel@texas.jsa.org

Sophia Gilmour, Deputy Director of Activismsgilmour@texas.jsa.org

Elizabeth Pancotti, Director of Political Communicationsepancotti@texas.jsa.org

Additional Resources

The Food Pantry Directory: http://www.foodpantries.orgHomeless Shelter Directory: http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.orgVoter Registration Drive Information: https://texasimpact.org/PDFs/FIT07VoterRegDrive.pdfMarch Primary Information: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/mar2014.shtmlTexas Voter Turnout Information: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtmlAmnesty International: http://www.amnestyusa.org/

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