If I have to pick a theme for my day today, it would be “grass roots” day. Today I was involved in two different conversations with two different groups of people, proposing two different advocacy efforts. The interesting thing is both situations is that both were trying to get the ball rolling on some basic grass roots efforts. So that left me thinking about the commonalities of the two discussions, which is really a good place to start thinking about how to form a grass roots effort.

1. Connect like-minded folks. The first step is to connect a group of like-minded folks. These are all people who have a vested interest (and a passion) for the issue involved, and are in basic agreement about the need to enact a change.
2. Document what your mission and goals are. Articulate and then document why you are all passionate about the issue you’ve been connected on and what are the specific ways that things need to change.
3. Collect the information and resources you need. Grass roots efforts are notoriously short of resources (staff and finances, just to name a couple). But because there is not yet an existing organization or mechanism for collecting information, it is hard to build a concerted effort. So reaching out to as many people as you can with your goals and then collecting information from those willing to participate will go a long way. As I had one advocate say today that we’re just documenting everything anyone knows, because you never know which piece of the puzzle you’ll need next.
4. Develop some action items. In order to truly get the ball rolling, you have to get folks to commit to do something within a certain time frame. Otherwise all that initial legwork to get the group to that point is lost.
5. Stay connected. The biggest thing is to continue to network and to tell everyone you know about your grass roots efforts. And stay in contact with the others who have joined forces with you.

All the grass roots talks of today have left me invigorated and enthused about what might become of these early thoughts and passions. But part of me recognizes how much there is “to do” to make the connections, plan and document the goals, and get the action items rolling.