The Divestment Training Roadshow

Last week, I teamed up with climate justice educator Johanna DeGraffenreid and social media storyteller Joe Solomon for the Divestment Training Roadshow, a traveling set of workshops held at 8 East Coast colleges with fossil fuel divestment campaigns. As an alumni member of the Divestment Student Network, I led a workshop explaining the Network– how students are self-organizing a movement of passionate student and youth leaders, learning how to be effective activists, building power on campus, and creating momentum behind climate justice even beyond divestment and beyond graduation.

The Roadshow kicked off in Washington, D.C. with American University and Georgetown. In the first few presentations, I gave an in-depth explanation of the Network’s structures and how to get involved. But as time went on, and we visited NYU, Tufts, Smith, and Northeastern, I wanted to share something more real and more raw—I began to delve into the story of how I became involved with divestment and the Network, and my deep dreams and excitements for what the Network can be. The biggest excitement for me is the chance to grow and support one another as a community of youth across the country, which is one reason I’m so excited about the second Fossil Fuel Divestment Convergence, being held this year at San Francisco State University, April 4th-6th.

When I was preparing for this roadshow, and the thought of “pitching” the Network to dozens of students loomed like an existential threat, my friend and fellow Maypop member Will really helped calm me. “This isn’t about what you say. It’s about building relationships. If you get even 3 students fired up and committed to working with the Network, the Roadshow will be a roaring success.”

I don’t know how many students became committed to the Network, but by the time we completed the Roadshow at Brown, I had become 10 times as committed to working beside students. Check out the “Divestment Training Dispatches” to read the story of how.