After nearly three days together, the Democracy Summer 2009 class is really coming together as a team. This was evident in Friday’s team-building exercises and the Family Feud style game show interns played at the retreat’s end to test their knowledge of what they had learned.

Before that, however, Friday was full of more background training on Democracy NC, including a session on fundraising conducted by our Development Director, Molly Beacham. Student organizers shared their own fundraising success stories and ideas and, in turn, Molly urged them to incorporate at least one fundraising project into their Democracy Summer plans so that they could gain hands-on experience in planning such events and have that experience to put on their resumes. (With so many of our student organizers going on to permanent careers in nonprofit fields, we make an effort to give them training in as many relevant areas as possible as part of Democracy Summer.)

In addition, Chase Foster of NCVCE shared his experiences lobbying the General Assembly and gave the interns a preview of what to expect once they visited Raleigh on policy advocacy trips of their own. They’ll be putting this advice to good use on June 17^th when we head over to Raleigh for our annual clean elections Lobby Day. Join us!

Student organizers wrapped things up by sharing their plans for their host communities when they got to work on Monday. By now, our ten interns have settled into their new offices and are finally on the frontline. Check back here later in the week for stories of how they are faring!

Day Two of our Democracy Summer retreat was a long day of learning more about the fundamentals of what we do, the nuances of communicating our mission to the public and more. The day included training in such areas as phone banking, coalition building, conducting one-on-one meetings and understanding our nonpartisan focus.

Student organizers also met our exec and research director, Bob Hall, who spoke about Democracy NC’s research and policy advocacy activities and how they underpin virtually everything we do.

A media training session featured a mock talk show hosted by Democracy NC’s Greenville organizer, Tia Stanley, who interviewed student organizers in pairs about what they liked best about last year’s election season, what their hopes were for the summer, what they were most excited about with Democracy Summer, why they liked their assigned communities and their career plans.

Our 2009 organizers turned out to be an enthusiastic and passionate group — it was great to hear them speak about the things that matter to them.

The interviews were filmed by Bryan Warner of the N.C. Center for Voter Education and we look forward to posting excerpts on-line.

Team building, ice breaker and public speaking exercises rounded out the day.

Another evening of socializing followed as organizers learned more about the peers who will be working with them in their cities or in other areas.

We have divided the 10 student organizers into more teams this year, a new feature for our 10^th anniversary.  Students will be working in teams of two in five cities: Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro and Greenville. Check out our teams here.

Democracy Summer officially began on Wednesday, May 27th when ten outstanding college students chosen from colleges across North Carolina arrived at Chestnut Ridge Camp & Retreat Center near Efland for a 3-day training retreat with Democracy North Carolina staff.

Democracy Summer training

By 10:00 AM,  with everyone unpacked and moved into their cabins, student organizers introduced themselves to their colleagues and the training began. Student organizers were thoroughly grounded in Democracy NC’s mission and activities, then given an overview of NC politics. This was followed by intensive training in three of our most important program areas: Voter-Owned Elections, Voter Rights and the Voting Process and Grassroots Organizing. In between these modules, icebreaker exercises and public speaking challenges helped keep everyone energized.

After a group dinner and an evening of getting to know one another, the Class of 2009 headed to bed with lots of learning and lots of new opportunities ahead.