Progressive Democrat Issue 124: CANDIDATE AND ACTIVIST TRAINING IN INDIAN COUNTRY

On Culture Kitchen I recently wrote about the Indigenous Democratic Network (INDN's) Prez on the Rez project trying to bring together voters from Indian Country with our Democratic candidates for President.

Another project of theirs is training of candidates and activists who want to work on campaigns. These kind of training camps have been quite successful not just for INDN but for other groups like Progressive Majority and Democracy for America. Here is a letter I got from INDN as well as a flyer for their Campaign Camp 2007:

Campaign Camp is the country's only training seminar to train American Indians in the art of political campaigning - whether as a candidate or as campaign staff. This year, Campaign Camp will be held August 20 - 25 on the reservation of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, near Palm Springs, California.

The training will include sessions on fundraising, targeting, direct mail, message, field organizing, canvassing and phone banks, using a voter file, working with tribes, local and state parties, building a political resume and GOTV, to name just some of the topics covered. Participants will be trained by the best and brightest campaign professionals in the country, and will hear speeches from political leaders and personalities throughout the week.

Our first Campaign Camp was hosted in October 2005 by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota and was hugely successful in recruiting and training winning candidates. The camp was attended by the nation's best and brightest campaign professionals to prepare 109 people from 21 states and 50 Indian Nations to work on campaigns and run for public office. Support for the conference was astounding, with presentations by DNC Chair Governor Howard Dean, radio personality Al Franken, and 3 members of Congress - Stephanie Herseth (D-SD), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Jim Oberstar (D-MN).

[Below] is a flyer that we urge you to post on your website and/or blog and to distribute to people you think might be interested. The application to attend Campaign Camp can be found on our website.

Application and registration are due by June 15. We have limited funds available to provide scholarships to some attendees, and space is limited, so we encourage you and your peers to apply early. I look forward to seeing you there!

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