Welcome Campaign Organizing and Leadership Institute participants! You will find all that you need to effectively participate in the Institute, November 19-20, 2024. First thing, bookmark this page now since it is not accessible via the Center’s homepage.
Pre-Institute Action Items
- All participants must be registered on Zoom. Make sure to register here.
- Review the Agenda and Institute Materials below. You have a bit of homework to do!
Please send any questions to Lindsay Cunningham, at [email protected].
- Institute Agenda
- Master Slide Deck Coming Soon
Prep Materials and Homework
What’s Your Story, Know Your Why?
Personal stories are an important tool for community organizing and for connecting with decision makers. Please come with a 1-minute personal story prepared and ready to share. This story should focus on your “Why” relating to Tobacco Prevention. We are not interested in what you do, your specific job role, but rather we’re curious about who you are. You don’t have to share your story if you’re not comfortable, but we hope that you will!
Guidance to writing a personal story: While not exhaustive, the following questions can help prompt you to tell your story.
- What experiences have most shaped your life?
- What do others need to know and understand about you?
- What do you really get excited about?
- Where are you headed?
- What are you trying to create in the world?
- What legacy would you like to leave behind?
Introduction to the Tobacco Endgame Center
Advancing Social Justice and Health Equity
- Read “How to Promote Racial Equity in the Workplace” by Robert Livingston published in Harvard Business Review (Sept-Oct 2020).
- Watch “Black Lives/Black Lungs”, a short film investigating the tobacco industry’s successful infiltration into the black community. Created by filmmaker and progressive communications strategist, Lincoln Mondy. Released August 2017.
Organizing and Building Communities
- Watch the One on One Video
Developing Your Action Plan
- Download Developing Your Action Plan for the last day of the Institute.
Effective Engagement and Communication for Campaign Success
- Read Spokesperson Training Guide
- Read How to Use Stories to Win Your Campaign
- Watch the following 3 videos.
Speaking to Policy Makers
Speaking to the Press
Speaking to the Public
Guest Speakers
Ryan Oda, (he/they)
We Breathe Program Coordinator
California LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network
Ryan Oda (he/they) is the We Breathe Program Coordinator at the CA LGBTQ+ HHS Network, where they work to empower CTPP-funded projects to engage the LGBTQ+ Community in statewide and local tobacco prevention efforts. Ryan previously worked at OUT Against Big Tobacco Los Angeles advocating for LGBTQ+ Communities and tobacco retail licenses in Los Angeles County. He has expertise in tobacco policy, and LGBTQ+ tobacco prevention education. Ryan earned their Bachelor in Political Science from Cal State Long Beach in 2019.
Madison Bible
Program Coordinator
Shasta County Public Health
Madison Bible started in the Tobacco Education Program three years ago. The only knowledge she had of tobacco prevention before starting, came from her time overseeing the local household hazardous waste program. During her time as the Tobacco Education Program Coordinator, she has worked with the Shasta County Tobacco Education Coalition to collect over, her team collected over 285 signatures of support and letters of support from the local high school district, numerous high schools, doctors, and local non-profit organizations. Her Coalition hosted a “Vaping and Our Youth-An Educational Summit” where local school and elected officials were in attendance. Members of the Coalition conducted an educational presentation for City Council members in October of 2023. The Coalition has been back three different times since then to provide public comment. In November, the City will hear samples of what it can do regarding passing a policy to help protect the youth in their community.”.
Helen Tran
The Honorable Mayor, San Bernadino, CA
San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran made history in 2022 when she became the city’s first Asian American mayor. Tran is also the first Vietnamese American woman to hold that title in any U.S. city.
The daughter of Vietnamese refugees in search of the American Dream, Helen was born in San Diego, CA and has lived in San Bernardino, CA since age 6. She graduated from Cajon High School in 2000. Helen is the first person in her family to graduate from college and received a Bachelor’s degree in American Studies with a minor in Education from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
With a lifelong passion for civic engagement, Helen began her career as an organizer for candidates for local, statewide, and Congressional offices. As a teenager at Cajon High School in 1999, Helen walked into a campaign office with her fellow Key Club members to volunteer. By the time she left for college, Helen had become a canvass director.
After working throughout Southern California as an organizer, Helen moved back to San Bernardino in 2006 to be closer to her family. In 2006, Helen began working for the City of San Bernardino as the Executive Assistant to the Director of Human Resources.
Ten years later, Helen became the youngest Director of Human Resources for the City of San Bernardino. She persevered through challenging political climates in City Hall, the financial crash in 2008, the dissolution of the City’s redevelopment agency, a newly adopted City Charter in 2016, and bankruptcy.
Helen faced the City’s challenges head-on, and never stopped looking forward to what San Bernardino could be, while so many others focused on what it had been.
Lu Orona
Network Organizer
California LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network
Lu Lukah Orona (he/they) is the Network Organizer for The LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network, a role they stepped into in August 2024 after previously serving as the Communications Intern under We Breathe. Since joining the team, Lu has contributed to educational materials, written content such as Op-Eds, and the development of panel discussions for community forums, all focusing on reducing healthcare disparities for LGBTQIA+ individuals. As a trans person of color, Lu is committed to advocating for those who are negatively targeted and systemically erased. Outside of advocacy, Lu enjoys exploring nature, watching anime, and sharing their life with their partner and their beloved family of 40 pets.
Raider Fowler
Public Health Educator
Mariposa County Health & Human Services Agency
Hi, my name is Raider Fowler and I’m originally from Kansas. I have a passion for youth development which led me to work at Boys and Girls Club, as a paraeducator at an elementary school, and later as an English teacher through the Peace Corps. After COVID kicked us out early, I decided to get my Masters in Monterey. I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to work on a counter radicalization project which led me to apply for a violence prevention program at Monterey Public Health. While there, Monterey also needed a tobacco intern and convinced me to work part time under Gonzalo Coronado. I eventually was able to use my experience there to apply for the tobacco supervisor position in Mariposa County where I’m working today.