Article
Landecker Democracy Fellow Tara Dickman is a community organizer, trainer, facilitator and strategist who works to help the powerful become more inclusive and the inclusive build power. In her current role with France’s largest equal opportunity organization, Article 1, Tara Dickman supports the Different Leaders, a youth group of 125 successful students and professionals from underserved backgrounds, in their efforts to become changemakers towards sustainable, inclusive, and equitable societies for future generations.
Through a thorough training and coaching of a small group in community organizing and strategic campaign design, the project will result in two to three campaigns related to issues encountered by the Different Leaders and their peers in their journey through higher education and employment. Throughout the process, Tara will also be developing and running an inclusive, empathy and courage-based leadership training.
The community organizing trainees will learn how to gradually build their campaigns and engage their peers, audience and allies through active listening, relationship-building, research, power analysis and strategic action.
The overall goal of the project is to empower the group to build a courage and empathy-based community organizing culture members can then autonomously carry out both as a community and in their own respective communities for years to come.
In the fall of 2020, the youth group’s community organizing trainee team will set up a townhall to identify the key goals and asks of their community, as well as conduct a digital vote on the 2 or 3 campaigns that they want to work on throughout the year.
Those who have committed to working on a campaign will then benefit from a strategic campaign training. Through workshops and continued coaching, the community organizing trainees will learn how to gradually build their campaigns and engage their peers, audience and allies through active listening, relationship-building, research, power analysis and strateic action.
By December 5th, the international equal opportunity day, the group will have lead their first public action, online and/or offline, to further their goals. In January, they will evaluate and elaborate on further tactics. From January to June, they will work with their new allies towards SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, and time-bound) which they will will aim to implement by September with public online/offline actions. In September, they will evaluate their progress and decide on their next steps, as a community, and as inclusive, ethical and responsible leaders within their communities.
Further Resources
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Towards Relational Design Practices
Senior Landecker Fellows Erica Dorn and Tara Dickman co-authored a paper on de-centering design through lessons from community organizing.
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Landecker Fellow Tara Dickman - Training future leaders
Humanity in Action checks in with Landecker Fellow Tara Dickman about her Action Project.
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Tara Dickman prepares Training with Leading Change Network
Landecker Fellow Tara Dickman prepares Training with Leading Change Network which is set to take place at the end of October 2021.
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Landecker Fellow Tara Dickman facilitates workshop for Amnesty International France
In September 2021, Landecker Fellow Tara Dickman facilitated a workshop to help Amnesty International France members work through the first steps in their long-term transition towards becoming an anti-racist organization.
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Anti-discrimination at Work: Training Course led by Landecker Fellow Tara Dickman
Landecker Democracy Fellow Tara Dickman conducted an annual training course on non-discrimination at work for Corps des Mines graduating class.