SOUL Summer School is an ten-week-long intensive introduction to community organizing and social change, designed for young activists (ages 18-25) who have been involved with social justice organizing for at least one year. SOUL is dedicated to helping young women, young people of color, young working class people and queer youth step up to lead the movement, and SOUL Summer School provides a structured time when you can work full-time to develop your grassroots organizing skills and your political analysis.

SOUL Summer School has three components:

      1. ORGANIZING INTERNSHIPS with local community organizations that work with low-income people and people of color to fight for their rights. Through these internships, you'll get on-the-ground experience with the day-to-day work it takes to build community power. In the past, we've worked with Communities for a Better Environment, POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), Let’s Get Free!, and many other groups.

      2. ORGANIZING SKILLS TRAINING so you can learn the concrete tools you'll need to organize for power in our communities. The trainings provide space to build skills you will use in your internships. SOUL's summer trainings will build skills like outreach & recruitment, teamwork, action planning, and facilitation.

      3. POLITICAL EDUCATION to think more deeply about the current political context of our world and how it relates to the conditions communities of color and working-class communities live in. We will discuss how the systems of oppression: capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and heterosexism have shaped our world and impacted our people. We’ll also study the histories of freedom movements around the world to develop a strategic vision for building our movement today.


SUMMER PROGRAM INFORMATION
The summer program is ten weeks long. The program starts on June 12th and ends with a graduation ceremony on August 16th. SOUL Summer School is a full-time commitment for the whole ten weeks. You will not have time for another job or for summer classes. You'll spend at least 30 hours a week in your organizing internship and 10 hours in our twice-a-week political education & skills training sessions. SOUL provides need-based stipends — up to $2000 — for your living costs during the summer.

This year, applications are due by April 11th.  For local applicants, we will run a mandatory weekend training on Saturday April 5th, 208. For outta town applicants, we will be conducting phone interviews from April 11th to April 21st. All accepted applicants will be notified by May 10th, 2008.
If you have any questions about SOUL Summer School, call Akua at 510.451.5466 x 312 or email her at akua@schoolofunityandliberation.org.

This program would not be possible without the generous support of the Dianne Middleton Fund.