Medicare for All Mythbusters

Length: 90 minutes
Resources: Training Slides

Description: This training goes over the healthcare crisis in the United States, why our access to care and the costs of care are so bad, and how we compare to countries that have universal healthcare. No background knowledge is required to enroll, and when you finish you'll be equipped to answer questions from friends, family, and the public about how Medicare for All works, and why we need it.

Racial Equity & Medicare for All

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: Structural racism has played a crucial role in shaping the American healthcare system, and even helps explain why the United States is virtually the only developed nation without universal healthcare. Learn more about the intersection of healthcare and race in America, how Medicare for All could be a significant step towards racial justice, and why centering racial inequities is so important for the M4A social movement!

Reproductive Justice & M4A

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: Medicare for All can help to move us closer to a healthcare system that truly respects life — including the lives of people who get pregnant, whether or not they decide to give birth. We will go into the current reproductive health crisis in the US, where we have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world, and access to abortion is erratic, even in the states where it isn’t criminalized altogether. These problems are connected, and guaranteeing reproductive healthcare to everyone in this country through Medicare for All is a critical step towards equity in our society.

Connecting With Your Base

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: To accomplish the goal of revolutionizing the U.S. healthcare system, we are going to need to build power, and the best way we know how to do that is through grassroots organizing. Organizing is all about fostering long-term relationships between people with shared values, so connecting with others who support a just and equitable healthcare system is the first step! In this workshop, we’ll go over recruitment strategies, the art of the one-on-one organizing conversation, and how to engage others so that they can also grow and become leaders in our movement. All levels of experience are welcome, from folks who are new to organizing to more experienced folks who want a refresher on basic organizing skills.

Strategy and Power Mapping

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: This training will teach you:

• The important difference between strategies and tactics
• How to use power mapping, an important tool for developing strategy
• How to assess your current power and influence realistically
• How to develop a plan to “move the map,” building your campaign’s power
• How to turn that plan into a powerful strategy to win!

Planning a Campaign

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: A good follow-up to our “Strategy and Power Mapping” training, this workshop walks you through the nuts and bolts of planning and executing an organizing campaign. We discuss how to pick the most effective tactics, how to escalate your campaign, and how to deal with a range of unique situations (such as organizing allies, or those who are strongly opposed to us).

This workshop picks up where the Strategy training leaves off, assuming that you’ve selected a campaign as a stepping-stone of a longer-term strategy, and that your campaign has a clear decision-maker you’re trying to influence.

Campaign Culture and Structure

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: Strategy and tactics are the "sexy" elements of building a social movement - they are how David beats Goliath by building power and using it smartly. But often grassroots organizations and campaigns fall short not because they lack a good strategy, but because of internal issues, such as:

• Suffering from infighting;
• A small # of people doing most of the work, while others offer their opinions;
• New activists don't find clear roles waiting for them, and tend to quickly disappear;
• Existing leaders who are allowed to be disrespectful, sexist, or racist; or
• Being a volunteer just isn't fun or enjoyable!

In this workshop we'll talk about the under-appreciated, but incredibly important world of building internal culture and structure within a grassroots organization or campaign!

Fundraising: Securing the Bag

Length: 60 minutes
Resources: Training Slideshow

Description: Winning Medicare for All will require mobilizing a lot of people, but also raising a lot of money to go up against the deep pockets of the health insurance industry! This training will help you and your allies overcome the nerves and anxiety many of us have asking for donations, we'll talk about fundraising as a form of organizing, how to find your audience, how to make an ask, and develop a fundraising plan!