Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003§ 8.3 An Example: The AB540 CampaignThe AB540 campaign had two goals: 1) to inform the community—undocumented immigrantstudents, their families and their allies—about the benefits of a specific law, and 2) to encouragestudents to develop leadership skills by participating in a campaign. When the campaign began,AB540, a California law that waives the out-of-state tuition requirement for qualifyingundocumented immigrant students enrolled in public universities, had just been enacted. The keyplayers of the campaign were the students who would execute it, and an advocate who wouldtrain the students how to carry out the campaign.In the AB540 campaign the advocate participated as an advisor and the students were given theindependence to carry out the campaign by themselves. This model allowed the students todevelop leadership skills and implement their own ideas. Furthermore, it encouraged the studentsto have ownership of the campaign. This model can be used successfully in campaigns whereone of the goals is to empower and develop leadership skills within a community.§ 8.4 Identifying an IssueThe initial—and possibly most important—step in any campaign is to identify the issue. Theissue must have a direct impact on the community the organizer hopes to work with and becompelling enough so that the community will donate its time and energy. In the AB540campaign, the issue of access to higher education for undocumented immigrant students met boththese criteria.There are different ways to identify an issue. Advocates might hold a community meeting to hearabout local issues, engage in individual conversations with community members, or talk withcommunity-based service providers or organizers who have worked with the community in thepast. Alternatively, the community itself could initiate the campaign, identifying the issue andapproaching an advocate for help.When an organizer initiates a campaign, he or she determines the issue and then presents it to agroup of potential participants, explaining its importance and seeking the community’sinvolvement. When a campaign is client-initiated, the participants identify an issue and approachan organizer for assistance in planning and implementing the campaign. However it is initiated,the community members make the critical decisions—whether, how and when to move forward.The issues addressed in the AB540 campaign were important and provided the incentive forstudents to participate. Students understood that it was in their self-interest to participate becausethey would learn how to take advantage of the benefits offered by the law as well as receiveinformation on other things, such as how to access financial aid. Even those who would notdirectly benefit from the law identified with those who did stand to benefit, and realized thatthere was more power in standing together in a campaign. As a result of the students’ activeparticipation and ownership of the AB540 campaign, it has grown to include other issues, such8-2