Wellstone Action!

 Wellstone Action was featured in the Women's Campaign Forum newsletter, She Should Run. 

Spotlight on Training Organizations: Wellstone Action!

Wellstone Action! is a national non-partisan organization that provides progressive training and leadership development. Their signature training program is the weekend-long Camp Wellstone, which Training Manager Jennifer Haut oversees from start to finish.

"The candidates are people who are determining if they want to run, are currently running within a couple of months or a year, sometimes they might not want to run for another 5, 10, 20 years," Jen said. She sees candidates running for all levels of government, from all walks of life. Wellstone also offers trainings geared towards student activists, advanced campaigners, campaign workers, community organizers, and more. Jen is very proud of Wellstone's diverse alumni community; however, she has noticed some troubling trends.

"We don't see as many women in the candidate track. As is typical of the rest of society; women are not stepping up to those head leadership roles," Jen said. She hopes to see more women in candidate and campaign manager positions. "It is important to have women's voices because women belong in politics, just as much as men do," Jen said.Wellstone sets itself apart in the world of political training organizations by being especially responsive to the communities in which it operates.

"We pride ourselves on going to places that are lesser visited, not big population centers, and we find that those are the best trainings because those are the people who are really hungry for it," Jen said. Wellstone also strives to offer locally based trainers who can serve as a resource after the training.

Wellstone trainings cover all the nuts and bolts of campaigning, from crafting a message, to fundraising strategy, to press relations. Wellstone's grassroots touch and interactive training curriculum is centered around "the Wellstone Triangle," a set of key organizing principles set forth by the late Senator Paul Wellstone. The three components are progressive public policy, grassroots electoral politics, and community and labor organizing. "The Wellstone Triangle is at the very center of all of our work," Jen said.

The next Camp Wellstone session will take place in Columbia, SC from February 12-14th. To register and see more upcoming trainings in Los Angeles, Kentucky, Montana, and Minnesota, visit http://wellstone.org/training-calendar. Trainings are priced on a sliding scale from $50-$200 based on the trainees' ability to pay.

To learn more about Camp Wellstone and Wellstone Action's Organizing Tools visit
www.Wellstone.org.