Description
The starting point for many people who do justice is a personal connection to their own stories, or the stories of those around them, of being affected by an injustice. Participants in this workshop will learn how to tell their personal stories in healing ways to influence elected officials, decision makers, and public opinion. Presenters will discuss how to tell stories effectively and give time for participants to outline their stories. There will also be a section on how to get a letter to the editor or op ed published, and best practices for emailing or meeting with legislators.
Paola Fuentes Gleghorn is the immigration and women and girls campaign coordinator at Sojourners. Paola is originally from Costa Rica but grew up in Nicaragua, where her family worked alongside local churches in pastoral training, youth leadership development, and accessing medical care. She graduated from Calvin University with a degree in international development and a minor in business. Paola is passionate about equipping people of faith to pursue God’s heart for justice through advocacy and systemic change and working alongside marginalized communities to remove the systemic barriers that keep them from flourishing. Paola enjoys biking and spoiling her cats.
Sandy Ovalle is the Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing at Sojourners. Sandy leads the SojoAction team, which develops tools and training to activate and nourish communities to put faith in action for social justice. She worked in immigration advocacy and church mobilization in Southern California and worked in campus ministry among Latinx college students. She holds an M.A. in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a native of Mexico City, a city dweller, and a people-loving bailarina. She loves writing poetry, gathering people around pozole, and thinking about the complexities of living between worlds as an immigrant Latina.
