We invite your organization to participate in a free daylong workshop to be conducted at Hofstra University’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication. Faculty experts in strategic and participatory community media, public relations, and social media will lead the workshop. Participants will learn the various ways in which grassroots organizations all over the world are using innovative techniques
and technologies to advocate for their causes. The workshops will be divided into three ninety-minute sessions, each devoted to the following topics:
Session I: Using audio/video digital media in community contexts
Session II: Using public relations tools and social media platforms to organize, sustain, and advocate community goals (free social media management software suite will be given to participating organizations)
Session III: Building capacities to sustain electronic and social media within organizations – this session is designed to announce a new longer-term partnership with Hofstra experts for select organizations who wish to build self-sustaining capacities for such work. The workshop and the partnership project are offered at no cost to participating organizations. Introduction to Project Objectives
The proposed project conceptualizes electronic media training to be a vital means to substantive community-building and citizen empowerment. Control and autonomy over media is seen here as being equal to the right to vote, the right to own one’s own home, and having the right to equality in the workplace. By creating a space for community members to capture and shape their lived experiences, community-based organizations can achieve their most fundamental objective: citizen participation and investment in the common good. Training in participatory media techniques goes above and beyond the building of capacity to create video campaigns, social media projects, and radio broadcasts. The very process of organizing such projects, the very mode of representing oneself creates an intense engagement with the community. In suburban settings where physical, close-knit communities are difficult to sustain such horizontal processes are vital to creating intra-group communication.
