Rural Strategies for CCL Chapter Success

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Did you know that three of out the top five most productive U.S. CCL chapters in 2018 are groups nestled within communities with populations smaller than than 1,000 people? This training explores how rural-based chapters from Chatuge, Georgia to Birchwood, Wisconsin, from the high plains of northeast Arizona to the breadbasket of Nebraska are uniquely engaging their communities to be effective across all five levers of building political will.

Breadcrumb
/topics/group-recruiting
TOC and Guide Section
 
Lobbying Lever: CCL NY Columbia County
  • Smaller scale farms abound and are the drivers of local economy
  • Chapter hosted a community forum on how farmers can help with climate change
  • Brought community together to listen and share solutions

Building Relationship With Their Member of Congress

  • Rep. Faso invited & attended forum
  • Followed up to arrange a site visit nearby Stone House Farm - a model of many benefits of regenerative agriculture
  • Rep. Faso now continues to engage in farming carbon sequestration topic
  • The local chapter is working to collaborate with other local community influencers  - Cornell Extension, Project Drawdown, and NY Farm Bureau

Rural Advice: The Power of Listening

  • Move your officials towards solutions in steps
  • Provide locals a platform to share ideas and solutions
  • Earn your community’s trust
Media Lever: CCL GA Chatuge
  • Mountain community that values the beauty of the land and outdoors
  • Local climate spiral of silence - no one dared talk about climate change locally because no one was talking about it, repeating the silence.

Start Out Writing

  • Our group had never written a letter, got started with first one in our local paper
  • Began to extend the focus to other surrounding newspapers
  • We now average 5-6 letters each month!
Media Multiplier Effect
  • Build relationships with paper staff and editorial board
  • Leverage published letters to send to your congressmembers
  • Other community members began to notice and spoke up

Rural Advice: Letters Lead To Events & More

  • Invitations to Present - Organized Climate Forum
  • Collecting contacts for additional calls to action and group collaboration
  • By speaking up we feel we have broken the spiral of silence in Chatuge
Grassroots Tabling: CCL AZ Flagstaff
  • Northern AZ Chapter - more urban than rural but active members wanted to set out to table across the countryside
  • Our Tabling Tour Mission - to meet community members where they were:
  • We wanted to listen to concerns and priorities when it came to climate change & solutions
  • Understand how we could better work together 

Rural Advice: Main Takeaways

  • Tabling doesn’t need to have immediate results
  • Engage grassroots locals ahead of time
  • Be sensitive in listening to local needs and concerns
Grasstops Lever: CCL WI Birchwood
  • Rely on rural networks as a strength- who knows who? and understand it’s okay to start small 
  • Our efforts have lead to a district-wide effort drafted specific letter with local impacts - the Wisconsin Business Leaders’ Letter 
  • Collected over 220 leaders’ signatures and built a network of business climate advocates - shared with member of Congress and beyond
Wisconsin Conservation Congress
  • Traditionally very conservative body and works with the state DNR and voted by statewide ballots
  • Worked Passed with 66% of the vote! Also shared with Congressmembers
Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum
  • Hosted at our local Fred Thomas resort and met with state lawmakers and conservative candidates
Group Development Lever: CCL NE Chadron
  • Have a potluck with your monthly meeting 
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help and have roles ready to share
  • Being creative with your outreach and local events (film parties, parades, shows)

“In our rural context, one thing that attracted us to CCL was its valuing civility. This fits so closely with the ways of life here in the Midwest. You tend to know everyone and we’re nurtured to be respectful of our neighbor and to be helpful. You don't want to offend them as you might go to church with one another or share farming during harvest. CCL’s emphasis on respect and appreciation helps us succeed and build political will throughout our community.” -Cheryl Welch, CCL NE Chadron

Length
Press play to start the video (47m 58s)
https://vimeo.com/album/5497600
Video Outline
To skip ahead to a specific section go to the time indicated in parenthesis.

Intro & Agenda
(From beginning)

Columbia County, NY: Outreach Methods
(2:40)

Chatuge, GA: Print Media
(14:00)

Flagstaff, AZ: Guerilla Tabling
(24:24)

Birchwood, WI: Business Outreach
(32:59)

Chadron, NE: Organizing Tips
(43:30)

Instructor(s)

Dr. Vernon Dixon

Jan Elise Storm

Dan Herscher

Don Bayles

Downloads

Download PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation.

Download the video.
Audio length
Press play to start the audio (47m 58s)
Audio embed code
Audio Outline
To skip ahead to a specific section go to the time indicated in parenthesis.

Intro & Agenda
(From beginning)

Columbia County, NY: Outreach Methods
(2:40)

Chatuge, GA: Print Media
(14:00)

Flagstaff, AZ: Guerilla Tabling
(24:24)

Birchwood, WI: Business Outreach
(32:59)

Chadron, NE: Organizing Tips
(43:30)

Instructor(s)

Dr. Vernon Dixon

Jan Elise Storm

Dan Herscher

Don Bayles

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Discussion Topic
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Category
Training
Topics
Chapter Organizing
Format
Audio / Video, Presentation
File Type
Google Slides, PowerPoint (.pptx)
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