Community Organizing Training Program

Apply for the 2025 Community Organizing Training Program Cohort

Launched in 2014, the Community Organizer Training Program (COTP) is a national, six-month, cohort-based training program designed for emerging and developing organizers in education organizing and grassroots advocacy.

COTP has trained 235 community organizers across more than 20 cities through 10 cohorts. Many alumni have advanced to leadership roles in community organizations across the US, establishing COTP as a crucial platform for the training of community organizers and community based researchers.

COTP enhances the skills of organizers and researchers dedicated to education justice by providing a comprehensive curriculum rooted in the Institution-Based Community Organizing model. We offer essential tools and accountability structures for those committed to building authentic grassroots political power and leadership in local communities. Our program emphasizes relational organizing, including building organizations, establishing a political presence through grassroots parent-led public meetings, civic engagement, and pushing for world-class public schools.

Participants are challenged and mentored to take on relational power, effective leadership development practices, and growing the mindsets of professional organizers, who can use the skills they acquire to drive lasting change in local communities.

Building a Pipeline of OrganizingTalent

While many education organizations are doing advocacy work, very few develop parents as leaders to build influential parent-led organizations capable of advancing their interests in the public arena. What separates successful and sustainable parent organizing from periodic mobilization efforts is the grounding and ongoing development of parent leaders in the principles and practices of community organizing.

Education organizations often lack the in-house expertise to train, manage and develop parent organizing talent. As a result, the parent-facing staff is usually assigned to other important work or find themselves alone, overwhelmed, and on the verge of burnout.

Each of Innovate Public Schools’ organizing faculty brings decades of professional experience in grassroots community organizing. All of our trainers and coaches have demonstrated success in building long-term reform efforts led by low-income parent leaders.

Innovate Public Schools regularly receives requests to provide training and ongoing consulting to help organizations build their parent organizing capacity.

“COTP was a huge boost for our organization’s family engagement strategy. It created the foundation for building true parent power in a way that our organization had not been operating with previously…I came to my organization two years ago with no experience in how to organize parents and COTP helped me create a solid plan and strategy for organizing in our community. COTP helped me build a network…build some really strong relationships with other folks [doing this work].”

Patricia Hadad

Opportunity 180

COTP Program Highlights

Our program is designed to provide new organizers with a foundational understanding of community organizing theory and practice.

Professional Development: Gain a deep understanding of the principles, practices, and mindsets behind community organizing.

No Shortcuts Organizing Training:

- 1-1s, house meetings, listening campaigns
- Research Meetings, cutting issues
- Power, self interest, values, action, transformation, & strategic questioning

Organizational Coaching: Organizations benefit from expert support in power building, issue campaigns, political strategy, grassroots leadership development, from a master community organizer.

Leadership Development: Organizers come into their power, identity, and calling.

Research and Data Collection: Organizers learn about using comprehensive research and data to inform and support organizing and parent leadership efforts.

Build Organizing Talent at your Organization: Organizations or schools seeking to take community action, change policies or strengthen community engagement learn build grassroots power through an institution-based model of community organizing.