We hope you will consider running for local office or helping someone you respect run. We also encourage you attend your local school and library board meetings and your city council meetings and to make comments when they are called for.
We are working on our training offerings! Please check back.
We are working to revive the energy and spirit of the Artist Campaign School from 2017-2019!
Here are some organizations that offer canidate training experiences:
- The Campaign School – “The Campaign School exists to provide candidates with the knowledge and skills needed to run a serious political campaign that can win on Election Day. The advice and expertise you’ll find here focus on the fundamentals of running for office.”
- Run For Something – “You don’t have to wait your turn. We’ve got the tools, trainings, and real-world support to help you run — and win. Sign up now to get everything you need to start your journey: How to choose the right seat, Campaign strategy and messaging tips, Insider advice from real candidates who’ve been there. Your community is ready for new leadership. Is it you?”
- Vote Run Lead – “Vote Run Lead trains women to run for office and win, reaching over 55,000 women across America. Our alumni serve on city councils, county boards, state houses, supreme courts, and Congress. We unleash the political power of women as voters, candidates, and leaders to create and sustain an equitable democracy. Launched in 2014, today, Vote Run Lead is four times the size of our start, reaching tens of thousands of women—nearly 60% of whom are women of color and 20% of whom are from rural America.”
- Emerge America – “We are the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. We are the only political organization that focuses on effective state and national programming that gives women the tools they need to run and win, as well as building an inclusive sisterhood of alums and a network of alumnae, staff, boards, and volunteers who are on-the-ground 365 days a year to support women through their candidacies at every level and once they are elected.”
- The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund – “We are the only national organization devoted to electing pro-equality, pro-choice LGBTQ+ leaders to public office at every level. These officials fight for equality in the halls of power, ensuring our community’s voice is heard.”
- Campaign School for Social Workers at the University of Connecticut – “The Campaign School for Social Workers is a two-day workshop for anyone who wants to be more politically knowledgeable and active as a candidate, staff member, nonprofit leader, volunteer, and/or advocate for social change. Attendees learn from political social workers and national experts why we all belong in politics, how to use the NASW Code of Ethics as a guide, and how supporting a more inclusive democracy is central to social work’s mission, impact, and a more just society. Now in its 29th year, the Campaign School for Social Workers has a strong network of over 2,900 alumni from across the country and world, many of whom have gone on to serve as elected officials, leaders, advocates, and organizers.”
Our Lead Organizer, Tom Tresser, has been training cultural and nonprofit workers to lead in public life, including running for local office since 1991. The statement below was issued in 1997 and revised in May of 2025.
Cleck here to review some of this work.