Grow your Capacity: Brush up on Tech Skills, Get Free Legal Help, Use Hashtags Well, and more.

APACC is here to help you grow your career and your organization, so that we can all be better advocates for our river, parks and environments. Below are some resources we've identified this week that you might find useful: 

Local Events

  • Digital Organizer School: Washington, D.C. is coming this June, apply now: Wellstone’s Digital Organizer School is accepting applications from progressive organizers, digital practitioners, and communicators who want to build their technical skills along and bolster their strategic savviness and leadership within the movement. The application deadline is in May, with specific deadline and school dates TBA. Learn more and apply.
Photo: Wellstone

Photo: Wellstone

  • The Three Common Ways Social Justice Organizations Are Unintentionally Oppressive… And how you can transform them! March 13: Some of the things you will learn include how to build a social justice organization that doesn't just replicate the very oppression that you're working to dismantle in society; why group consensus can leave you feeling frustrated and confused about how it's being decided and even what's been decided; and why asking for feedback can result in you feeling criticized and disempowered when you receive it and silenced when other people disagree or are upset when you try to give it. Free. More information and to register: https://sandrakim.com/programs/lo-webinar/.
  • Small Claims Resource Center, “Free Help for People Without Lawyers”: The Small Claims Resource Center provides free legal and court information to individuals who are suing and individuals being sued in small claims court in DC. In addition, the resource center makes referrals to lawyers for free representation to those who qualify. The resource center is open Thursdays from 9:15 am to Noon at DC Superior Court (Building B, 510 4th St, NW , Room 208). The resource center is made possible by Neighborhood Legal Service Program and the David A. Clarke School of Law at UDC. 
     
  • Consumer Law Resource Center: This resource center provides free one-on-one legal information to those representing themselves in consumer issues such as debt collection, home improvement/independent contractor disputes, security deposit refunds, and used car or car repair disputes. The resource center is open Wednesdays from 9:15 am to Noon at DC Superior Court (Building B, 510 4th St, NW , Room 208). The resource center is made possible by the DC Bar Pro Bono Program. 
     
  • Anacostia River Use Survey: The Department of Energy and Environment is conducting a survey to measure the Anacostia River’s recreational use. This survey is apart of the Anacostia River Sediment Project and will help determine the current recreational use of the river and for how people would like for it to be used. If you would like to participate in the survey, you can take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ANACOSTIA-RIVER-USE.
     
  • The Anacostia Library has partnered with Community Connections who will provide services every Tuesday and Thursday to provide services for homelessness and housing stability. Some of the services included will be obtaining ID’s and completing applications. The Anacostia Library also hosts many other events: https://www.dclibrary.org/anacostia

Tools and Resources

  • How Brands Use Hashtag Marketing to Increase Brand Awareness:
    Did you know that using more than two hashtags in a tweet can negatively affect your engagement? But on Instagram, you can use up to 10 hashtags before you see a dip in engagement. Small details like that can mean all the difference in building brand awareness on social.
  • Nonprofit Toolkit has some great tutorials including Using Your Brand Colors in Online Design Programs and Creating Donation Forms in Microsoft Word.

At work

  • Why Timing is - Almost - Everything highlights the recent Knowledge@Wharton radio program featuring author Daniel Pink. Pink discussed his new book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing which considers ways to accommodate our up and down times.
  • Adam Grant's podcast Dear Billionaire, I Give You a D-minus is an interesting look into criticism. Writes Grant about the episode:
    In work and life, defensiveness is one of the biggest barriers to growth. But there's one workplace where people don’t just listen to negative feedback; they actually crave it. I went to Bridgewater Associates to grill founder Ray Dalio and a number of others on how we can all get better at taking criticism—and dishing it out.
    Is there anything we can learn from this podcast if our organization does not plan to adopt radical honesty?
  • Turning #MeToo into #NotHere - Handling Sexual Misconduct in the Workplace in 2018, March 28. Free from Independent Sector.

Learn something

Good reads

This

Capacity Building, Building CapacityAnacostia Park and Community Collaborative