Hello! My name is Chris Palmer, and I’m the Volunteer Manager at 350PDX. A big part of my job is training volunteers: giving folks the skills to plug into our work and the larger climate justice movement. I believe that, with the right knowledge and skills, we can take on powerful interests like fossil fuel companies and build the just, resilient future we all deserve. The only problem? We don’t always have time for a multiple-hour intensive training or the energy to sit on Zoom.
That’s why we’re announcing something new…
Introducing… 350PDX Summer School!
This is a series of self-paced, self-taught courses. The courses come in bite-sized chunks, so you can take breaks and roll through them at your own pace. There is closed captioning available for every video and supplementary links and resources in lots of the chapters too. Through these courses, you’ll learn about:
- People Power 101
- Climate Justice 101
- Finding your place in the movement
Who are these trainings for?
Maybe you’ve been to a bunch of actions but aren’t sure what goes into planning one or building a larger campaign strategy. Maybe you feel good about your baseline organizing and movement knowledge, but you’re looking to go deeper. No matter where you’re at, we welcome you to take these courses!
Why “Summer School”?
During the summer, things at movement organizations like ours often slow down. We’re not doing much external programming until the fall, and so we thought a self-paced, self-taught training program could be a good thing to fill in the summer gap.
I’ve been on the staff here at 350PDX for about 4 years now, and honestly putting together this online course has been one of most interesting and fulfilling projects I’ve worked on, so I’m really excited to share it with you all!
My longer term goal for later in the summer is to have some live sessions, either on Zoom or at a pub, where we can get together and talk about some of the ideas from this course, do some more experiential learning, and also start putting some of this into practice. So keep an eye out for that. But for now, reach out if you have questions, and I hope you enjoy.
In solidarity and action,
Chris Palmer, Volunteer Manager
P.S. Want to learn about more trainings and action opportunities? Sign our new 350PDX Pledge of Action!
