Wrapping up the California Power Summit
By Jenna Lowenstein, Interactive Media Coordinator, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
CA Power Summit participants, after helping to raise $28,000 for organizations they support.
Whew! It’s been a long, challenging and very productive weekend here in Los Angeles. We’ve had sessions and workshops covering topics ranging from asking for help to asking for money, and from organizing in communities of faith to organizing in communities of color. Participants are definitely ending the past few days with lots to think about and put into action.
It’s been incredible to record parts of the Power Summit online — here on the blog, and on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook — so folks not here with us can experience some of what the weekend was about.
We posted major highlights on the blog:
- Task Force trainer Trina Olson recorded a video about why Power Summits are so powerful.
- On Friday morning, participants arrived at our site at East Los Angeles College and started to get to know one another.
- In this video, I talked with a number of participants about their hopes for the summit, and in the name of building power, what super power they would choose if given the opportunity.
- We learned important lessons about what being an organizer means.
- Friday night was about training trainers so they’d be prepared to lead the Saturday morning canvass.
- We canvassed! And then we debriefed about the canvass!
- Participants learned the ABCs of grassroots fundraising; on Sunday, they tried their new fundraising skills out, with fantastic results.
Even more pictures of our convening are on Facebook. Check out these two albums:
And when the Internet went down (as sometimes happens) we kept mobile updates coming on Twitter:
Of course, the events documented online are only a fraction of what goes on at a Power Summit. Much of the power that comes from these convenings stems from the work everyone does outside the official sessions and activities — meeting other organizers, swapping stories and building enduring relationships that can be called on later.
Special thanks to Equality California, the Vote for Equality Project of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, Jordan Rustin Coalition and Bienestar’s Agents for Change for co-sponsoring this terrific gathering. (You can get more background about the Power Summit here.)
We hope you’ll join us at the next Power Summit to see for yourself!
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