What is the Community Action Fellowship? 

The Community Action Fellowship is a ten-session experience focusing on amplifying community-driven advocacy.  Fellows learn how to harness their own strengths and skills to advocate for improving our K-12 education systems in Alabama.

Who can participate? 

The CAF is for any Birmingham student, parent, family member, educator, or community member that believes all students deserve an excellent education and wants to take action on that belief.  

What are the goals of the Community Action Fellowship?

We hope that at the end of the CAF experience:

• Community Leaders have more knowledge about K-12 education systems and policies and how to influence them.

• Community Leaders have a plan for their own leadership trajectory and go on to formal leadership roles in future campaigns or advocacy work at the school, district, or state level.  

• Community Leaders go on to influence education policy.

What will I learn about?

Fellows will learn about the foundations of education policy and advocacy-- including school governance, school funding, education data, evidence-based levers for system change, political advocacy, and community organizing.  The session topics are subject to change.

Session 1- CAF Orientation 

Session 2- School Governance: Who makes the decisions about what happens in schools in Alabama? 

Session 3- School Funding: How do we fund schools in Alabama?

Session 4- Education Data: How can we use data to improve schools in Alabama?

Session 5- Racial Equity & Policy: How can we bring a racial equity lens to policy & advocacy?  Facilitated by T. Marie King

Session 6- Evidence-Based Levers for Systems Change: What are evidence-based policy levers that could improve schools in Alabama?

Session 7- Advocacy, Part 1: How do you advocate to change a policy? 

Session 8- Advocacy, Part 2: How do you build and run an advocacy campaign with the goal of effecting real change?Session 9- Organizing 101: How do you get others to support your cause or campaign?

Session 10- Communications 101: What are the best practices of public speaking & social media?

Graduation

What are the commitments?

• For Cohort 5, the program will be hosted in a hybrid setting- some sessions on Zoom and some sessions in person, depending on the comfort level of participants.

• Fellows will get the most out of the CAF experience if they commit to attending all 10 sessions.  

• Each session is two-hours long and will require at least 1 hour of pre-work, which includes reading articles, watching videos, and reflecting on questions.  

• Each Fellow will also be required to dedicate 3-5 hours outside of sessions to work on a campaign plan with their team.

• In order to successfully complete the CAF, each Fellow will be required to attend 90% of all sessions and complete a CAF Graduation Capstone Project.

When will the next cohort launch?

• Cohort 5 will launch the week of August 9, 2021 and meet on a bi-weekly basis through December 2021.

How can I sign up to participate?

• Complete the Cohort 5 application. The application is open now and will close on Wednesday, June 30 2020.

• Once your application is submitted, we will reach out within 3-5 business days with information on the next steps.

• If you are interested in joining but are in need of a device or wifi, please reach out to Corinn O’Brien at cobrien@edbirmingham.org.

What do CAF graduates say about the experience?

“This experience took my policy knowledge from a 1 to 7 within the first few meetings… If you’re looking for a way to get involved that is actually student-centered and committed to “GETTING THINGS DONE” then this is the opportunity for you.”

“Very few people in this region get to “play with power” and I believe that is why we have had the incidents that we have in the last few days. This is an opportunity to experience agency and involvement that has a lasting impact on your community and on you as an individual.”

“Invaluable experience! Excellent leadership, extremely organized and wise use of time, valuable sharing of information, and overall, great opportunity to engage and advocate for a worthwhile cause, BCS students and families.”