Grow your capacity: Write More Powerfully workshop, public bank meeting, advocacy tools, more

Local events and resources

Write More Powerfully & Strategically for Public Relations & Public Affairs Purposes in Traditional and Social Media, August 21: This intensive all-day workshop will empower your writing and editing of news releases, pitches, blog posts and other PR/PA documents for print, broadcast and social media, as well as for other purposes. And using how-to and why-to guidelines, you will look at 'tried n' true' and 'tried n' new' approaches for writing simple, direct, action-focused headlines, leads, quotes, captions, blogs, social media posts, other PR/PA forms. What you'll take home at the end: Instructor's slides, writing guides, time-saver templates, how-to advisories, more.

CM Trayon White’s Constituent Services Office has summer hours: Between July 16 and September 16, summer recess hours are Monday-Friday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.

Six-Week Compost Certificate Series, starts July 24: This is a six-week compost certificate series. Each class will consist of an one hour lecture and one and a half hours of hands-on learning. Free.

Public Bank Meeting, July 25: DC government (via a consultant, naturally) is researching what a DC public bank would look like. Participate in the last meeting sponsored by the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking on the subject at the R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center. Learn more about the meeting.

What an amazing ride. After 16 years at Fox5, I’m about to do my last show here. I’m excited to take on some new opportunities here in the DC region. I’m leaving with a smile and so many wonderful memories. pic.twitter.com/CdqXAV1evF
— Matt Ackland (@mattacklandfox5) July 15, 2018

Tools and resources

A Few Good Tools for e-Advocacy covers tools for social media advocacy, dedicated e-advocacy platforms, and e-advocacy tools built into CRMs.
Considering peer-to-peer texting? Start here. does a solid job covering the topic.
Lumen5 transforms articles, blog posts, and other online written content into videos in minutes. Add still images and music to make your informative article a thing of social beauty. Free and paid plans.
Upload your slide deck (and other document types) on SlideShare for the world to see! Or, peruse what's there to learn from others. Part of LinkedIn.
If you need to add a simple social media feed to your blog or website, try Juicer.io. The (forever) free plan allows users two accounts/hashtags and pulls content every 24 hours, among other things.
Looking for an advocacy toolkit? Check out the New Tactics in Human Rights' guide. Here's a little something about what you will find:

At work

15 Vital Leadership Lessons For Anyone (Who Wants To Be A Great Leader)
Do Your Employees Feel Respected?: Nothing short of a must-read. (HBR)
Your company’s culture is not unique, psychologist Adam Grant says (Recode)
Finally, a smarter alternative to lorem ipsum. . . "if you've ever had to squint past the weird Latin to really focus on the layout of a design, you'll appreciate the improved topical context." (Fast Company)

Learn something

Coursera has a number of specializations which might be of interest to you and your colleagues: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialization, Excel Skills for Business Specialization, and Social Media Marketing Specialization. There's a free seven day trial. After that, it's $49 a month, though some of the courses can be audited for free.
The best of 54 Free Nonprofit Webinars for July 2018 faves through the end of the month: Managing an Aging Volunteer Corps, July 19; Social Media 101 for Nonprofits, July 24; Telling the Story of Volunteer Impact, July 25
Do Politics Influence Volunteerism?, July 26