Parents and grandparents can be incredibly powerful agents for change. You influence your family, friends, and colleagues through your words and actions, and you influence the society you live in by standing up, speaking out, and holding elected representatives accountable for making responsible decisions.
Still, bringing people together to talk about big topics like climate change and a just society can feel intimidating, particularly if you haven’t been involved in something like this before. Our Organizing Guide breaks it down into very manageable steps and options for getting started. Here are some key points:
Open the door by starting a conversation within your social network; you’ll be surprised who may come forward and voice interest in joining you.
Spread the invitation further and set up an initial session to get to know each other and share ideas. House parties are a tried-and-true method, but it will be a while before that kind of gathering can take place, given COVID-19 restrictions. Online meetings make it a little more difficult to create the same kind of atmosphere, but they do offer more flexibility and the chance for parents to participate from their own homes, so they are a good alternative. Here are some tips for running effective online meetings.
Brainstorm ideas for action and decide which one the group will take on first. There is a lot involved in this process and it may take a meeting or two for the group to come to agreement. You’ll find more about this in the Organizing Guide, and some ideas of projects teams have already taken on here. A great way to start is to check out For Our Kids’ action of the month. Each month will feature ready resources for individual and group actions with different levels of time commitment, and they can be adapted to be specific to your community.
It takes work to build a relationship, so it’s important to maintain an aspect of fun and allow time to check in with and support each other.
Share what you’re working on with other groups in the For Our Kids network and elsewhere, to inspire more parents and grandparents to get involved.
Interested in learning more and possibly helping to lead a team? Sign up on this page and we’ll be in touch.
