Our liberation is tied to one another. Coalition building strategies can be vital in weaving the strengths and resources of our fellow community groups into our long-term movement work.

Skills Distribution Workshop:

Purpose: Put all the available resources and connections out on the table so that as time goes by, people know who to reach to work on projects.

Instructions:

• As a silent journaling activity, ask the following questions:
  • Name/Organization
  • What do you/your organization do?
  • What specific resources does your organization have that other orgs don’t?
  • Where does my organization need help?
  • Who does your organization mostly serve? Students? Adults? Specialists? Community members?
  • Where do you/your organization have the most reach? (ie: community organizers, labor leaders, etc)
  • What does [coalition mission statement] mean to me?
• Discuss the answers as a group.
• Put all of the information of name, organization, resources, reach, and contact information onto a spreadsheet or google document. Make sure everyone has access to this document!

Worldbuilding Exercise:

Purpose: This can act as a longer ice breaker or a team-building exercise. It is generally light-hearted way for people to get to know each other and the organizations they represent

Materials:

• scrap paper (ie: colored paper, scratch papers, scrap magazines, etc)
• larger poster paper
• pens, markers, colored pencil, crayons (other art supplies)
• tape or glue

Instructions:

• Tell everyone to think of parts of the world they hope to have. (For example: an eco community wanted community gardens, public transportation, renewable energy sources, etc.)
• Give them the art supplies to construct what is most important to them.
• Have everyone discuss to make sure this world is cohesive.
• Once the pieces have been constructed, the members should work together to put it into a cohesive city onto the larger poster board.