Overview

Overview:

“Think of the Arena Summit as equal parts spring training, group therapy, summer camp, and speed dating for progressives…The goal: to train a field team of inexperienced candidates, face hard truths about the past, forge lasting bonds between local communities, and help disparate organizations find their perfect match.” — WIRED Magazine

Join our community of current and future political and civic leaders for a day and a half of motivation, training, and action planning. Our programming will include speeches and trainings from national, state, and local elected officials, political operatives, policy nerds, and activists.

We are in the midst of an unprecedented wave of civic enthusiasm and activism that, if channeled strategically and organized logically, can overwhelm the anti-democratic forces that have captured our country. But we must take the time to organize our community. That’s what The Arena does.

We are the sherpas for these new civic entrepreneurs. We visit them in the field, provide them with a community of like-minded enthusiasts, and we give them the tools and support to take their ideas and ambitions to viability.

We do this in three main ways: through in-person and collaborative summits, by spotlighting promising work throughout our community, and through an accelerator for promising new organizations and candidacies.

BY 2022, the Arena will:

  1. Establish an enduring and welcoming community for over 15,000 future and current civic and political entrepreneurs to collaborate, face-to-face, on an ongoing basis
  2. Support over 30 new organizations to viability that reflect our values and address the needs outlined in our ecosystem blueprint
  3. Support over 100 new entrants to elected or appointed public office who are authentic and govern in line with our values

Details:

    • Length: 2 days, check site for specific dates
    • Apply: Varies depending on gathering

Spud’s Thoughts:

For all of those trying to get more connected to public policy and social justice, here’s a gathering for you! They have an accelerator as well for folks who attend their summit and need additional support to get their work off the ground.