Reproductive Justice Organizing Academy

Choice USA wants students and young activists to have access to the tools and skills they need to organize others and fight for reproductive freedom.

The Reproductive Justice Organizing Academy is a set of trainings and programs developed by Choice USA to inspire, develop and support emerging pro-choice leaders.

Choice USA is dedicated to ensuring that youth, people of color, and other under served communities are involved in setting goals and developing strategy for the pro-choice movement. We work to minimize barriers to participation by providing fellowship opportunities for young people of color, and through fundraising, which allows participants to attend our national institutes free of cost.

Choice USA individual members and members of affiliated organizations have priority access to all of these programs and trainings:

Skills-Based Workshops and Seminars
Issue-Based Workshops and Seminars

Skills-Based Workshops and Seminars:

Choice USA/Campus Camp Wellstone Training: Campus Camp Wellstone is a 1.5 day training program available to Choice USA members, to be hosted on their campus. Centered in reproductive justice organizing, it focuses on very concrete skills like the nitty-gritty of campaign planning, grassroots organizing, and message development. It also teaches students how to successfully recruit and retain volunteers and develop new leadership. The training is participatory, vibrant, and led by young trainers and you'll walk away with skills and tools for real-world campaigns.

Voter Action Strategy Trainings (VAST):

The Voter Action Strategy Training (VAST) teaches you to run voter registration, voter education, and get-out-the-vote efforts that build electoral power to pressure decision-makers and win policy changes. VASTs are held by request for youth and student organizations, and last an afternoon.

Communicating your Message Effectively:

Learn how to get your message out and be heard loud and clear. Whether it's getting your story out, blogging, or maintaining your message when interviewed, learn some skills to keep your composure and hone your talking points.

Request to host Communicating your Message Effectively on your campus!

Campaign Strategy Session(CSS):

CSS' provide individualized assistance for your local campaigns. Choice USA field staff will come visit you at schools or in your community to help you strategize ways to win concrete goals in your campaigns.

Host a Campaign Strategy Session on your campus!

Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute:

Choice USA's Regional Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute (RJLI) is an intense, weekend-long training in leadership and grassroots activism that helps you develop the skills necessary to mobilize your community, state, and region for reproductive freedom. Each year, Choice USA holds several Institutes in communities across the country. This program is not available by request.

New Media and Effective Organizing:

New Media In an ever moving world it is important that we adapt our organizing tactics to include the new technology available to us. With websites like Facebook and You Tube popping up everyday Choice USA takes you through how to use web 2.0 to maximize your outreach and build your organization.

Request to host New Media and Effective Organizing on your campus!

Issue-Based Workshops and Seminars:

Reproductive Justice 101:

Young women, people of color and low-income women represent the majority in this nation, and have long called for a movement that bridges health, rights and social justice. It is for this reason that Choice USA is committed to creating a comprehensive and inclusive youth movement for Reproductive Justice. This session will introduce students to the reproductive justice framework and will delve into the lesser known history of the reproductive rights movement.

Request to host Reproductive Justice 101 on your campus!

Sex, Lies, and Crisis Pregnancy Centers:

Find out the 411 on Crisis Pregnancy Centers. These centers are working hard at undoing a legacy of education and outreach to women of all ages, ethnicities, and sexualities by spreading misinformation about the “repercussions of abortion” and how STI’s like HIV/AIDS are transmitted. We’ve got to know where they come from to know how to put an end to it. This workshop reveals the players, the funding, the tactics of Crisis Pregnancy Centers and the impacts on young women.

Request to host Sex, Lies, and CPCs on your campus!

Youth Under Attack

In this workshop we will discuss how young people are affected by reproductive oppression. We will discuss current legislation that affects students and young people across the country and explore how students have countered these issues, and victories that young people have won. Participants will come away from the session with an understanding of why particular barriers exist for young people and how they can get involved.

Request Youth Under Attack at your school.

A Tisket, A Tasket: Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket:

"If you're a healthy woman in your twenties and you're in college, your eggs are in high demand." Headlines like this are popping up in newspapers nationally. Young women are being asked to "donate" their eggs on college campuses through advertisements found in campus and local papers. Advertisements often recruit donors based on race, ethnicity, hair and eye colors, and even SAT scores. College-aged women are perfect targets because their fertility is at its optimum and they are economically vulnerable (with college loans and debt piling up). So what does this mean? It means there are a whole lot of questions about social and political implications, ethics and long term physical health, and way too few answers. Come join in a dialogue and together let’s start filling in the blanks. Developed by Choice USA and Generations Ahead.