Thursday, June 5, 2014

Grassroots Intern Training Day


On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus attended Planned Parenthood’s Grassroots Intern Training Day. We heard from several speakers about a range of topics, including field organizing and political communications. Many different organizations were also in attendance, such as MassEquality, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, and Mass Alliance.
 
During a workshop led by Amaad Rivera and Andi Wheeler about field organizing, we learned the importance and empowerment of a grassroots driven campaign through the crucial tactics of phone-banking and door-to-door canvassing. We were also informed of the strategy of voter targeting, in which campaigns discern which members of a population should be targeted through paid communication such as direct mail.

Michael Falcone educated us about the difference between politics and policy and their places in a campaign. Politics was defined as the maintenance of relationships and conveying of policy messages, while policy was the construction of a candidate’s position on relevant issues.

All in all, it was an enlightening day that got us excited for this summer’s PAC work with the MWPC.