Take Your Comms Skills To the next level
From the full-time city council member to the part-time school board member, every local elected official uses communication tools. But not all members and staff have the same resources and knowledge at their disposal to take advantage of news cycles, viral moments, or respond to bad faith attacks. The spectrum of understanding and familiarity with communications work is broad, but there is a unifying desire to hone these skills to better communicate our network’s victories and respond appropriately to attacks. The 2025 Comms Cohort aims to bring together a diverse group of Local Progress members and staff to hone their communications skills through a ten-week course covering the basics and diving deep into the best tactics.
The cohort – which will comprise of 15 Local Progress members from across the country – will dive into the nuts and bolts of professional communications skills to learn more about what makes comms successful in today’s complex media landscape. Learning from LP staff, technical experts, and each other, this group will help members grow their skills and confidence in communications.
Who is the ideal candidate?
- LP members who are interested in communications but have consistently run into capacity problems when trying to execute communications programs.
- LP members or their staff who are not explicitly communications staffers but handle communications in their roles.
- LP members who are focused on using communications work to impact local or state politics, not national.
What topics will the training/sessions cover?
- Social Media: Emerging platforms, what content is best where, and new trends.
- Owned Media: How to manage a newsletter, best email practices, and how to communicate best with your list.
- Press: When’s the best time to host a press conference, managing realtionships with journalists, and converting your narratives into headlines
What is the time commitment?
- Applicants can expect to commit around 5 hours a month, meeting three times a month (two weeks on and one week off) tentatively at 7 PM ET on Monday nights. Please note on your application if you have a standing conflict during this time.
- The program will start in January and run through the beginning of April 2025. The final session will be a two-day in-person retreat in Washington D.C.
Other questions? Wondering if the Comms Cohort is for you?
- Reach out to the LP team to ask!
Apply For The
2025 Comms Cohort
The Comms Cohort will bring together a diverse group of Local Progress members and staff to hone their communications skills through a ten-week course covering the basics and diving deep into the best tactics.
Applications will close on November 8.
PREVIEW OF COMMS COHORT SESSIONS
Video 101
How to Use Video Strategies to Further Your Goals
As more and more people spend their time online, the majority of Americans are now spending their time on video platforms like Youtube and Tik Tok. Getting started on these platforms can be intimidating and time consuming if you don't know where to begin. In this session, LP staff will walk cohort members through the different emerging video platforms, the basics of getting started, and how to ensure your messages are reaching the right audiences.
Press 102
Learn Proactive Press Planning
You know basic press skills, now let's go deeper. For this session, LP staff will walk cohort members through the next stage of press relations. Going beyond just responding to requests and issuing statements, this session will help members understand news cycles, building good press realtionships, and how to leverage earned media for your advantage.
Newsletter Management
Best Practices For Your List
One of an elected official's best tool to get their message to their community is their email newsletter. From big cities to small rural towns, this is an essential resource for getting your message straight to your constituents. In this session, LP staff will run through best practices for email list from how to best manage it to when is the best time to send out an email. Through this session, you'll learn how to utilize your email list not just to send out periodic updates but become a valuable communications tool in your toolbox.
Winning the Moment
Understanding the Opposition and How We Beat Them
Across the country, right-wing press is furthering reactionary ideas and dividing our communities. Their wide reach and seemingly endless sums of money are an impediment to progress in localities in nearly every state. In this session, LP staff will walk members through the right-wing media ecosystem to better understand the enemy we're up against. By gaining a full understanding of this landscape, cohort members will leave with new tools to combat right-wing attacks and disinformation.
The Method Is The Message
Understanding the Method Behind the Madness
When people say they want to put out a "statement", a skilled communications professional should always ask "where". Understanding how to put out messages is just as important as the content of that message. In this session, LP staff will discuss communications theory with cohort members to understand the "why" behind the "how" of communications work. This background is an essential understanding of how the different communications tools work and how to best to use them in each unique situation.
Realpolitik
Using Your Communcations Tools in The Real World
Now that we've run through all of the communications tools at your disposal, it's time to talk about how they can be used in every day scenarios. For this session, we'll lose the 10,000 ft view and dive right into the real world work LP members engage in every day. LP staff will walk through how to use the tools built over the course to best serve constituents, defend against right-wing attacks, and communicate effectively in a media landscape where we're all competing for attention.
Looking for Other Resources?
Check out our resource library! We highlight solutions to the most pressing problems and the best practices from the network.
