Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003The initial meetings with community members should be brainstorming sessions. Brainstormingsessions can help identify or clarify the issues to be addressed and explore alternate methods toaddress the issues. In addition, brainstorming sessions can help the participants understand theimportance of the campaign, how the campaign will affect them and their communities and thecritical nature of the role the participants play. These types of sessions encourage the participantsto develop true ownership of the campaign.Some participants may be more hesitant about participating in the campaign than others. Thesemore reluctant individuals might be paired with others who show more eagerness to participate.Assigning pairs or groups to practice a presentation or complete a specific task—such asdeveloping an informational flyer or press release—is one way to make sure that the hesitantparticipants have contact with the more enthusiastic members.Once the organizer has identified the core group of participants and has held initial brainstormingsessions and meetings to plan the scope and structure of the campaign, the next step is to gathersupport from other groups that may help with the campaign.§ 8.6 Identifying AlliesThe success of a campaign is affected by the amount of support it gets from others. It isimportant to identify potential allies and establish relationships with them early on in thecampaign. The CBOs and others who helped identify issues and link the organizer withparticipants in the community might also become allies in the campaign itself. They also may beable to refer the campaign to other natural allies.There are a number of ways to identify the people or organizations that could contribute to thecampaign as it progresses. During the initial community meetings, one of the brainstormingsessions could focus on identifying potential allies. The organizer or key participants could workto establish relationships with individuals or organizations that work on issues related to thecampaign issue. The cooperation of these other groups and individuals could be instrumental forthe campaign. Allies in the AB540 campaign included teachers, school administrators, advisors,parents and parent-based organizations, community organizations, student organizations,political representatives and their staffs, and the media. Some types of allies, such as studentgroups, parent groups and teachers, may be difficult to approach without an existing relationship.A way to reach out to these types of allies is to first approach community organizations that haveestablished relationships with them or who work on similar—in this case, education-related—issues.Once potential allies have been identified, it would be a good idea to have the campaignparticipants—the immigrants themselves—initiate and facilitate a gathering of potential allies.Planning for the meeting would include securing meeting space in a location easy for thecommunity to access, such as a school, church or community organization; preparing a flyer toinvite potential allies; and developing an agenda. The participants should practice running ameeting and learn how to keep a meeting focused and under control. See Chapter 5 for tips onpreparing and running a meeting.8-4