The Organizer-In-Training fellowship program will equip fellows with the tools they need to transform from feeling lost, confused, and angry, to being able to channel that into meaningful and impactful campaigns and initiatives to engage, and mobilize your communities, families, congregations, and neighbors around the things you care about most. This program is particularly aimed at Generation Z and Millennial teenagers and young adults who feel as though the elders in their lives, in organizing spaces, and in government are not making an effort to share the wealth of knowledge that allows them power and influence over young folks. We do not gatekeep the tools to change the world. This fellowship will be open to every person who wants to apply and aims to accept every single person who applies and wants to change the world to be a better, more equitable, community-based place. This is a cohort-based fellowship and all fellows will follow along to hopefully build meaningful relationships with their cohort members. The time commitment will be 5 hours or less per week so that we may accept every person possible and be flexible in the way we move through the curriculum.

Objectives

Through the Organizer-In-Training Fellowship, the future organizers will not only be able to successfully cut an issue and organize people and money around it, but also will have formed strong networks with their other cohort members. We are certain that these relationships will not only be useful in connecting with other organizations and building greater power but also be impactful in building a strong sense of community. The Organizer-In-Training Fellowship will teach or reinforce important organizer tools like:

• Identifying self-interest

• The 1:1

• Loving agitation

• Mutual Aid versus "Systemic Change"

• Compromise and Negotiation (Melian Dialogue)

• Calendering and Who Cares for You?

• Public versus Private Life (Building a powerful public life)

• Power mapping and Power analysis

• Building Teams, Task Forces, and Coalitions

• Public Actions

• Propositions

• Organizing Money

• Public and Organizational Meetings

• Cutting an Issue

Requirements

The fellowship will require the use of Zoom and the ability to understand documents from the Google Suite (slides, forms, and docs). We commit to making the fellowship accessible to every person who is accepted as a fellow. If you have accessibility needs and would like to be a cohort member, please fill out our initial interest survey above or email us at fellowship@detmutualaid.com

While we focus on making this fellowship accessible to all, we want to discourage white supremacists, homophobes, xenophobes, racists, ableists, etc. Because we all live and were socialized in a capitalist white supremacist society, we are all capable of doing harm to those we fight alongside and for but we will not tolerate purposefully organizing against our siblings. We will be utilizing the honor system because we trust you but we will allow those you have harmed to determine your punishment as necessary if something arises

*We are here* February 2023: Initial Interest Survey published.

The initial interest survey at the top of this page will be utilized to finalize our organizer curriculum and make accessibility accommodations necessary to make sure that anyone and everyone who would like to participate in the fellowship can participate.

March 2023: First quarter curriculum finalized based on feedback given in survey.

The 1st quarter curriculum will be finalized by the end of March. Because this is our pilot year, we will continue the completion of curriculum based on the pacing that our fellows feel is appropriate for them. We will have a check in after the first quarter to analyze whether or not what we are doing is working and adjust as needed.

April 2023-March 2023: Finalize fundraising to rightfully compensate organizer-in-training fellow

The Metro Detroit Mutual Aid believes in compensating people for their work. Thus, we are slating the inaugural class of The Organizer-In-Training Fellowship for Fall 2022 and will seek to compensate all fellows a reasonable stipend. As the nature of individual organization fundraising is tumultuous, if we do not come up with the monies to stipend all fellows, there will likely be a principled and holistic review of all interested fellows. If you are interested in being an individual donor, you can find our interest form here.

April 2023: Application Opens and applicants are interviewed on a rolling basis

The application will open mid-April 2021. At that time, we will begin holding short video or phone group interviews for cohort placement. This is not an interview for acceptance or rejection.

June 2023: First batch of applicants notified of acceptance and assigned cohort

July 2023: Second batch of applicants notified of acceptance and assigned cohort