One of the things we learned as former congressional staffers is that Congress really only has the bandwidth to handle one or a few things at once. Sure, there’ll be plenty of speeches, hearings, and press conferences, but usually Congress is really only focusing on one or two issues at a given time. That gives Indivisible groups the power to focus energy into those things that really matter.
We all know that Trump poses an existential threat to this country. No matter what your issue is—whether it’s health care, immigration, the environment, civil rights, or something else—it is under attack by Trump and his cronies in Congress. A tactic they’re using is to spread our movement as thinly as possible, hoping that we don’t have the energy or the fortitude to keep fighting. We're going to prove them wrong.
However, the fact is that we still have to prioritize what we focus on in a given moment in order to maximize our impact. The question isn’t WHAT issue we care most about, it’s HOW we can have impact. Ultimately, we can't respond to everything, and we don't want to. Let us explain.
Read MoreMany Indivisible groups have a single leader: the person who registered the group on Indivisible’s website, who first put out the call for his or her neighbors to participate, who led the first meeting. But a single leader can’t effectively lead an Indivisible group for long. You need a leadership team to be successful. Here are just a few reasons why:
So who would be a good member of your leadership team? Find out in this resource!
Read MoreWith vibrant, diverse, and passionate members but limited time, we know that it can sometimes be tough to make decisions efficiently. This guide covers four ways that your group could use to help reach decisions:
This resource also discusses electing leaders and promoting diversity in leadership, as well as digital communication tools. However, it’s worthwhile to highlight here that our number one tip is not to rely too much on digital communications to make decisions: if you can, meet in person or pick up the phone. Decisions are a lot easier if you can talk.
Regardless of what tools you use, remember to record the decisions as you make them—check out our How to Run a Meeting guide for a sample action item and decision tracker. It’s also good practice to review the list of actions and decisions that you have recorded at the end of the meeting.
Read MoreThanks to Trump and his crazy cronies, we all have a lot to do these days! Building up the size of your local group is essential to effectively #standindivisible. Whether it’s to increase your capacity to tackle your goals, to make sure your group reflects the amazing diversity of your community, or to demonstrate the strength of your opposition, you need to be recruiting.
To help you grow your group, this document shares some best practices around member recruitment.
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Indivisible Austin is a chapter of the grassroots movement based on the principles outlined in the Indivisible Guide. This document was originally posted on Indivisible Austin's website here. Read Indivisible Guide’s Town Hall Tip Sheet, which has great advice on Town Halls with your Member of Congress. Most of this guide applies to “mock” or “ghost” Town Halls that your MoC does not attend.
Read MoreOne of the top requests we get from local group leaders is help coordinating with other Indivisible groups in their area. And that makes sense. Across the country, there are more than 5,800 local Indivisible groups—at least two in every congressional district, and an average of thirteen! That’s a lot of groups.
That’s part of the beauty and power of this movement: anyone can form a local group and start taking action to resist the Trump agenda. But we also know that we will have to stand indivisible together to win. And that means coordinating, collaborating, and working with the other Indivisible groups in your area. We have an obligation to each other to do that, so we build the strongest movement we can.
Read MoreIn the weeks and months since Donald Trump’s election, millions of Americans have begun mobilizing to resist his backwards, ill-conceived agenda. With more than 7,000 groups located in every Congressional District in the United States, millions of Americans are ready to stand Indivisible. But we haven’t done enough to reach out to the college students and young people of this country—many of whom have the most to lose under this Administration.
This toolkit goes into the nuts and bolts of how to implement the Indivisible strategy—how to assert your constituent and campus power through organizing your own Indivisible Campus group. The Indivisible team will provide support where we can, but remember: you’re the leaders of this movement. The thousands of other Indivisible groups across the country started in the same way: they found the guide, they decided to form a local group, and they got to work.
Read MoreSome of you may already have a well-organized campus group—and that’s fantastic! Others may just be starting out. But regardless of how long you’ve been doing this or how many people are in your group, you’re not just a leader—you’re an organizer.
Read MoreNow that you have a group of energized, dedicated friends ready to stand Indivisible against Trump, you’ll want to make sure that your first event is a success. It may be a visit to your MoC’s local office, a group-wide appearance at their next town hall, or a surprise appearance at one of their upcoming public events.
Read MoreYou have the most leverage when you’re talking to them about an issue that’s currently moving across their desks. Congressional staff regularly take meetings with folks who want to talk about stuff that’s happening in a month or next year. But a typical staffer isn’t thinking far beyond today.
Read MoreThe work you are doing is at the forefront in the fight against the Trump administration and his agenda in Congress. As a result, there may be times when you and other members of your group are asked to speak to a journalist. Leadership team members may be asked to answer questions about the story of your group or correct misinformation that is out there. Individuals impacted by a certain policy may have opportunities to share their stories.
When giving an interview, the single most impactful thing you can do is be yourself. We’re not just saying that. Indivisible’s founding principle is that local constituents are positioned to influence Congress in a way no one else can. You don’t need to be perfectly polished. You don’t need to be a policy expert. You just need to be an informed, passionate constituent, someone who’s paying attention, someone other constituents might identify with. There’s nothing more attention-getting than that to a Member of Congress (MoC).
In this training, we’re going to cover some basics.
How to prepare for an interview;
How to practice your interview skills; and
How to stay out of trouble.
Read MoreWhere on earth has your Member of Congress gone? Something strange has been happening in the last month or so: Members of Congress (MoCs) from all over the country are going missing. They’re still turning up for votes on Capitol Hill, and they’re still meeting with lobbyists and friendly audiences back home—but their public event schedules are mysteriously blank. Odd.
This toolkit describes how local groups can make missing MoCs more accessible. MoCs are gambling that out of sight means out of mind. It will take some work, but their constituents have power win at this game. It means getting active, standing together indivisible, and getting local press attention on your MoC’s cowardly behavior. This works—and this brief describes the nuts and bolts of getting it done.
Read MoreThe games your Members of Congress play. During the last recess period, several Members of Congress (MoCs) adopted tactics aimed at suppressing your involvement in their public events and town halls. Some refused to meet in-person with their constituents, holding Tele-Town Halls that could only be accessed via phone or Facebook. Others limited their public events to specific groups—telling many of you that you weren’t welcome at their town halls. A few went so far as to ban questions and discussion at their public events, choosing instead to force an audience full of their constituents to sit quietly while they read prescreened questions from index cards without allowing any time for follow-ups or debate.
Here are some tips for dealing with Sham Town Halls in your district.
Read MoreCongressional recess is a special time. It’s when Members of Congress (MoCs) come back to their home districts for extended periods of time to meet with their constituents and hold public events. These recess periods are when your MoCs prefer to hold town halls, ribbon cuttings, and otherwise garner good local press for themselves.
In this resource are some expanded tips and strategies on how to maximize this opportunity to influence your MoCs. Keep it up. This is working. We can win.
Read MoreAcross the country, many Indivisible groups have grown very big, very quickly. We love seeing all the photos pouring in of groups with hundreds of people showing up to stand Indivisible.
This surge in growth for local groups is really exciting—the more people can we can recruit, the more power we’ll have. But organizing large groups presents some unique challenges, ranging from logistical hurdles (like how to make sure everyone can fit in a single meeting room) to organizing problems (like how to communicate amongst yourselves).
Here are a few tips to help manage some of these challenges and get the most out of a large, enthusiastic group.
Read MoreAs we wrote in the original Indivisible Guide, Members of Congress (MoC) care enormously about maintaining a good image in their hometown media. They want to appear in-touch, well-liked and competent. They want to highlight their work on certain policy issues whenever possible—and they’d never talk about some policy issues at all, if they had their way! Splashy cable TV shows are nice, but local media really is where a MoC’s career lives and dies, and where their legacy matters most.
When your Indivisible group holds events that get the local media’s attention, it puts a unique pressure on your MoC. No coverage is too small. Because of the magic of Google Alerts, whenever a media outlet mentions an MoC, their staff hears about it right away, like a mythical creature in a movie that’s summoned by the mention of its name. Local media coverage forces your MoC and their staff to spend time reckoning with your issues and your stories.
Read MoreEvery meeting needs a facilitator! The facilitator is responsible for helping a group of people achieve their objectives for a meeting or call, and for making the meeting inclusive and rewarding for everyone.
Read MoreThis guide contains a summary of your rights under the Constitution during police encounters at protests and marches.
Read MoreAny time that Congress is back in their home state/district on recess presents a good opportunity to demand that they hold a town hall. Recesses are when Members of Congress (MoCs) are back home holding public events and meeting with constituents. These meetings are a great opportunity for your group to remind your MoCs that they need to stand up for you—and that means standing up against the Trump agenda. Here are some tips on how to maximize this opportunity to influence your MoCs.
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