Fighting Poverty with Faith Week of Action: How to Guide on September Media Event
August 6, 2008 - 6:53pm — Holly Boykin
An Abridged "How-To" Guide for Holding a Successful Interfaith Media Event
"Fighting Poverty with Faith: A Week of Action"
Summary:
This guide aims to help you organize a memorable faith-based media event that sends a strong message to candidates and the public that poverty is a religious priority. One event structure is proposed below. As described below, we recommend that you organize the event by creating a planning team and holding the three planning meetings, plus some more work from 2-3 media captains.
Goals:
- Garner media attention
- Coverage in 2-3 media outlets
- Strengthen local faith efforts around poverty
- Bring 4-7 groups together in an effective planning process and powerful event, including faith groups and grassroots groups
- Empower poor people to be the center of this event, with faith groups showing their solidarity
- Recruit 20-50 volunteers to the event, and offer them follow up opportunities to continue working on these issues
- Highlight one poverty-related issue
Proposed Event Structure:
We propose the following structure, which is likely to garner media attention. Of course, you can feel free to shape this as you like. The key is that each faith speaker speaks from their tradition, describes one aspect of the problem, and then calls on the candidates commit to a major anti-poverty policy in 1st 100 days of office.
1. Introduction: Introduction by MC, who introduces the event as a prayer vigil or revival, and introduces the week of action, introduces the highlighted issue, and how it is part of larger cluster of poverty issues in this country (5 minutes)
2. Opening Song: Song leader leads an inclusive opening song, ideally a Gospel and/or civil rights song, such as "I'm On My Way to Freedom Land" or "We are Marching in the Light of God." (5 minutes)
3. Muslim leader talks about anti-poverty teachings in Islam, and particularly about the teachings related to Ramadan around purifying oneself toward ethical action. If there is an appropriate Muslim ritual or song, insert it here.
4. Introduction of poor people and local campaign: Organizer from grassroots group introduces the poor people and frames their campaign (2 minutes)
5. 1-2 poor people tell their stories. These people should receive help in preparing to frame their story in terms of the issue-focus of the event, how it has effected them, possible solutions, their sense of hope and prayerfulness about a solution, thanking the group for their support (8 minutes)
6. Christian leader and laying on of hands ceremony: Christian leader speaks about teachings from the Christian faith around poverty. The Christian leader then leads a "laying on of hands" ceremony, where volunteers and/or other clergy lay their hands on the poor people and pray for healing for their personal struggles, and for the struggles of other people around the country facing the same problems, and for the decision makers whose hearts may be closed, that they have the compassion and courage to do the right thing by these people and create change. (7 minutes)
7. Jewish Leader and Shofar: Jewish leader speaks about the High Holy Days as a call for change, and talks about Isaiah 58 ("Is this the fast that I have chosen?..."), and how on Yom Kippur we read that our rituals are empty and meaningless if we neglect to care for the most vulnerable of God's children. It isn't enough to fast with our bodies, we must also clothe the naked and feed the hungry, let the rituals transform us into the kind of people who know that serving God includes serving each other. The Jewish leader closes by explaining that the shofar is a symbolic wake up call and a call for change, and that s/he will now blow it as a wake up call to our country and our decision makers that they need to create change. Then the Jewish leader or a surrogate blows the shofar (7 minutes)
8. Closing song
9. Q and A: MC identifies media spokes people for Q and A to press.
4 Steps to Success
1. Opening Meeting: Creating Your Planning Team
a. Opening meeting: Bring together 3-10 key stakeholders from the religious community, such as representatives of faith and justice organizations or activist congregations for an initial meeting
b. At that meeting, determine whether there are any key local campaigns this event could highlight, such as affordable housing, immigration, healthcare, etc.
c. Once you pick an issue, identify grassroots organizations working on that issue who would be able to help with planning, speaker recruitment, and volunteer turnout, and identify people to invite them to the program planning meeting.
d. Also discuss what faith partners should be at the table who aren't yet, and assign people to reach out to them and invite them to the program planning meeting.
e. Set up a second program planning meeting, and bring the potential partner to the second meeting.
2. Program planning meeting
a. Create/approve an overall structure for the event. See above for recommended structure.
b. Pick a date for the event
c. Assign the following roles, or assign people at the meeting to recruit for the following roles:
i. MC - identify a charismatic speaker who knows the issues well, possibly from an interfaith organization
ii. Song leader
iii. Representative of organization working on highlighted campaign
iv. 1-2 poor people involved with the highlighted campaign, with powerful stories that highlight the problem described
v. Christian speaker
vi. Muslim speaker
vii. Jewish speaker
viii. Shofar blower (can be same as Jewish leader, or different)
ix. 2 media captains
x. Event photographer
xi. Visuals organizer, who makes sure there is a banner and/or other signs, and makes sure that the crowd in attendance is clumped together at the event
d. Recruitment - Have the representative of each group commit to turning out a certain number of people. This number should be conservative, and should be based on how many confirmations they can get by phone, email, or in person, but doesn't include approximations based on a general email list.
e. Set a date for the program finalizing meeting.
3. Program finalizing meeting
a. Leader goes over the goals and structure of the event
b. Each speaker shares what they will talk about, and group gives positive feedback, as well as suggestions. Speakers may choose to each talk about a different aspect of the problem of poverty generally or the highlighted issue specifically, and can decide whether they should each make the "ask" of the candidates to make a major anti-poverty commitment in the first 100 days, or whether one of them should make an ask about the highlighted issue instead.
c. Song leader gets approval of songs.
d. Group representatives give recruitment updates
e. Media captains discuss talking points (sent out in advance) and media outreach, and invite groups to give them materials to put in the press packets. Media captains also identify press spokespeople, ideally the speakers. (See below).
f. Visuals coordinator updates on visuals for the event, and asks for help making them if needed.
4. Media
a. Media captains hold a separate meeting to personalize national templates (coming soon) for the press advisory (heads up with who, what, where, when), the press release (a sample version of the story, as we want it to be printed), and a script for pitch calls to media outlets with specific event and speaker details.
b. Media captains approve national talking points (coming soon), and localize where necessary.
c. Media captains send out press materials to coalition for discussion at the program finalizing meeting, and then final editing.
d. 3 weeks before the event, media captains compile media list, and ask coalition whether they have any special relationships with reporters or editors.
e. 5 days before the event, media captains email or fax the press advisory to key media outlets, and make follow up calls using the pitch call script to reporters/editors encouraging them to cover the event.
f. 1-2 days before event, media captains call all the media outlets (except those who have given a definite "no" and encourage them to cover the event.
g. Media captains make press packets with press release and any other organizational materials they receive.
h. At the event, media captains serve as press greeters, and direct the reporters to the spokespeople.
i. After the event, email the press release and pictures to any media outlets that couldn't come, or if possible, deliver it to their office.
j. Gather any press and send it to local and national candidates.
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