In L.A.? Join us for our June 4–6 Power Summit to build LGBT power!

Training grassroots activists is the heart and soul of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. We bring our signature three-day grassroots organizing trainings — Power Summits — around the country to train activists in their own cities as part of an ongoing effort to build the political power of the LGBT movement at the state and local level.

In June, we’re heading to meet with more than 100 activists in East Los Angeles for the California Power Summit, our first bilingual training weekend.

Will you be one of them?

The California Power Summit, organized by the Task Force in partnership with Equality California (EQCA), the Vote for Equality Project of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, the Jordan Rustin Coalition, and Bienestar’s Agents for Change, is an intensive three-day training aimed at teaching the skills necessary for waging effective campaigns for social change while also building relationships between leaders of the LGBT community, communities of color, and other communities typically shut out of power.

Since we’ll be in L.A., we’ll focus on supporting the organizing currently going on to restore the freedom to marry in California. We’ve been working with our partners at EQCA and the Vote for Equality Program to run canvasses aimed at persuading voters who decided to support Prop 8 in 2008, and we’ll continue that work at the Power Summit in June. But the skills taught and practiced during a Power Summit aren’t specific to one state or one issue or one weekend — the goal is to train leaders and activists who can take their new skills and apply them to their campaigns at home.

We want every Power Summit attendee to leave feeling confidant about what they’ve learned. That’s why no Power Summit is limited to lectures. Instead, we run an experiential training that teaches theories and tactics, and then supports participants as they try out their new skills in real world actions during the course of the weekend.

And to top it off, we gather some of the best and brightest of our movement for three unforgettable days together to talk, eat, work incredibly hard, and just get to know each other.

Packing your bags already?

If not, take a minute to watch the video from Task Force Senior Field Organizer Trina Olson at the top of this post on what’s going to happen at the California Power Summit, and why you should definitely meet us in L.A.

The Details:

California Power Summit

Friday, June 4 – Sunday, June 6

The training is open to volunteer leaders and paid staff from LGBT and progressive groups working to build grassroots political power.

A non-refundable fee of $100 is required to cover basic meeting costs. Registration covers tuition, training materials, and breakfast and lunch each day. The Task Force offers scholarships on an as needed basis to cover all or part of the registration fee.

For more information about the Power Summit contact Task Force Field Organizer Rodrigo Lehtinen at 202.329.0087 or at rlehtinen@theTaskForce.org.