Calling Southern LGBTQ+ freedom fighters committed to meeting wretched times with bold and visionary campaign organizing to build power and transform our communities. 

This year, SONG is re-igniting our Free From Fear campaigns across the region. We are building on nearly a decade of waging campaigns that address life and death issues for LGBTQ+ people in Southern towns and cities and that move to attack, weaken, and transform sites of fear and violence named by our people, from police departments to detention centers and jails to state legislatures and more. 

After a period of evaluation, strategic planning, and mapping our current terrain, SONG is ready to re-ignite Free From Fear under a broadened banner that includes: 

  1. Campaigns that fight for local housing + land liberation 
  2. Campaigns that fight to protect and defend our Queer & Trans kindred who are under attack and 
  3. Campaigns that confront militarization in our communities 

The Program

The Free From Fear cohort is our answer to the call for more Southern LGBTQ+ freedom fighters with the bold and visionary campaign organizing skills needed to build power and transform our communities. Over 8 months, at 9 sites across the South, cohort members will be supported by OG SONG campaign heads and will give themselves over to rigorous political education and training. From May through December, the F3 team will take up the mantle of 10+ years of waging campaigns that address the death-dealing issues targeting Southern LGBTQ+ people.

Meet our 2024 Free From Fear Cohort Here!

Program Expectations and Leadership Development

Grassroots Organizing & Campaign Development

  • Develop and run local campaigns in alignment with SONG’s Free From Fear campaign vision
  • Conduct outreach  and base-building with local members, partners, community members, and organizations
  • Hold a local event and/or action in support of campaign development
  • Support with synthesis and development of recommendations for the 2025 campaign scope
  • Support regional Free From Fear calls and gatherings as appropriate

Leadership Development & Training

  • Adherence to SONG’s Leadership Agreements and Code of Conduct
  • Complete orientation and onboarding
  • Complete political education programming (ex. SONG’s history and organizing methodology, PIC Abolition, Capitalism, Organizing, Global Solidarity, etc.)
  • Complete training programming (ex. base-building, campaign and community  organizing, safety and security, conflict resolution, database, etc.)
  • Biweekly meetings with SONG OG coach beginning in July
  • Biweekly supervision meetings beginning in July

Administrative Responsibilities

  • Cohort team meetings and calls
  • Operational systems and communications
  • Managing local organizing site budget
  • Work planning and adherence
  • Evaluation and documentation
  • Database Management

Timeline

  • Start date: May 1, 2024
  • Onboarding and Political Education: May 2024
  • Training and Local Campaign Planning: June-July
    • Organizational break: June 17-June 30th
  • Running Local Campaigns and Base-building: July – November
  • Evaluation and Reportbacks: November – December
  • End Date: January 3, 2024
    • Organizational break begins December 16th