Take action to impact the things that matter to you and your community. Learn about the key forms of civic engagement, the impact of civic engagement, and ways to be more civically involved in your community - no matter where you live!
The content of this program does not meet requirements for continuing legal education (CLE) accreditation. You will not receive CLE credit for participating.
ABA Civic Engagement Opportunities
- ABA Grassroots Action Team: The Grassroots Action Team is a network of ABA members who feel strongly about what is going on in Washington and want to make an impact on the justice system. Access tools to get up to speed quickly on the issues and quickly communicate your expert perspective. Coordinate with other legal professionals who feel the same way as you, so you can move as one, solid voice.
- ABA Election Center: Find tools to help you register to vote, update your existing registration, locate your nearest polling place, check your dates and deadlines, learn local mail-in-voting requirements, and more.
- Poll Worker Esq.: Poll workers are the unsung heroes of elections. Please join the effort by volunteering to serve as a poll worker in your community’s next election using the ABA’s Poll Worker Esq. program.
- All Politics Is Local: Free E-book on organizing and action created by the ABA Government Affairs Office
Books
Beginner
- "The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters" by Priya Parker | Amazon
- "The Little Book of Restorative Justice" by Howard Zehr | Amazon
Intermediate
- "Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups..." by Michael Jacoby Brown | Amazon
- "Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything" by Becky Bond and Zack Exley | Amazon
- "The Civic Power Handbook: A Guide to (Re)Building Our Democracy" by Hollie Russon Gilman | Amazon
Advanced
- "The Activist's Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century" by Randy Shaw | Amazon
- "Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening..." John M. Bryson | Amazon
- "Civic Engagement in American Democracy" by Theda Skocpol and Morris P. Fiorina | Amazon
Specialized
- "Digital Citizenship in Action: Empowering Students to Engage in Online Communities" by Kristen Mattson | Amazon
- "The Community Land Trust Reader" by John Emmeus Davis and Mariarosa Dalla Costa | Amazon
- "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" by Marshall B. Rosenberg | Amazon
Organizing and Action Resources
- Manage Social Media Engagement and Metrics:
- Content Creation:
- Canva – Free image creator - best for producing any type of creative; from social media images to infographics, to presentations, toone-pagers; this image creator is an amazingly easy to use, free tool that anyone can use.
- Use this to make social media images, videos, and content with advocacy messages or contact info.
- Make your one-pagers visually appealing to stand out.
- Create infographics in minutes.
- Unsplash – Free stock photos
- Pixabay – Free stock videos
- iMovie (iOS) or Power Director (android) – Free video editing software that will make an amateur look professional.
- Use these to make simple intro and outro graphics that will make your sessions look much more professional.
- Add post elements to pre-recorded content.
- SlidesGo – Free PowerPoint templates.
- Use these to create a branded presentation set so all your conference slides can be uniform
- Canva – Free image creator - best for producing any type of creative; from social media images to infographics, to presentations, toone-pagers; this image creator is an amazingly easy to use, free tool that anyone can use.
- Need Paid Professional Assistance?
- Fiverr – hire freelance graphic designers to create anything from one-pagers, to infographics, to videos; all for around $30
- Online Project Management Software
- Trello – Use these Trello boards to keep everyone on the same page with many moving parts.
- Planning for every aspect can be kept in one place.
- Trello – Use these Trello boards to keep everyone on the same page with many moving parts.
- Advocacy Software
- Quorum – Use this software to let your advocates edit and send emails directly to the Hill, make patch-through phone calls, and have pre-written social media posts, all directed to the individual’s elected officials and their offices.
- This will be your main form of digital advocacy for those not meeting over teleconference.
- The idea is to have as many people send letters as possible with your top advocates opting to call using your script posted in the form.
- Social media posts should be used to support actions over email and phone
- Quorum – Use this software to let your advocates edit and send emails directly to the Hill, make patch-through phone calls, and have pre-written social media posts, all directed to the individual’s elected officials and their offices.