Grassroots Gathering 2026

Mark your calendars for August 14-16, 2026 to join us at the Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake in Wirtz, VA. We are excited for a weekend full of workshops, chapter recognitions, and powerful guest speakers!

Grassroots Gathering 2026 Workshops!

• Organizing 101 - A brief introduction on organizing, tips to improve your organizing, and fun ways to engage your community using popular education.
• Dismantling Racism in Schools/Fund our Schools - A lot of national attention is being given to racist systems in our society. With heightened attention to the opening of schools this fall, this will be an opportunity to learn more about the "school-to-prison pipeline," a process of criminalizing youth that is carried out by disciplinary policies and practices. Participants will also explore the critical importance of accessible childcare, its impacts on families and communities, and explore ways to support and advocate for better childcare systems locally and nationally.
• Resiliency/Self Care - Gandhi said we need to be the change we want to see. Let's talk together about ways we can sustain ourselves as we work to bring healing and justice to the world without draining ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.
• Gender Justice 101 - Gender is part of all our identities - but what is it? In this workshop, participants will share and reflect on our own experiences with gender, its impact in our lives and our institutions and policy.
• Building Power - We will learn about the essentiality of organizing, building grassroots, and strategic thinking to gain a better understanding of power and strengthen our understanding of building power in community organizing. This will happen through power analysis after brainstorming, strategic research, and issue selection. 
• Housing & Anti-Rent Gouging - This workshop will explore the actions the General Assembly took this year to address Virginia's housing crisis, including new bills and budget items, and open a conversation about what tenant protections are still missing. We will discuss anti-rent gouging as a prime example and strategize around how we can organize to limit rent hikes statewide.
• Disability Rights/Health Care Challenges - Learn about disabilities – some hidden; some more visible. Learn how you and your community can participate in the fight for disability rights locally and statewide.
• 400 Years of Racism in VA - This session will show participants that racism is shaped by contending forces vying for power and will give people a sense of the power of resistance. It will also help people begin to envision a racial justice future.
• Taking Back Our Power and Fighting High Energy Bills - Today, we are fighting locally against data centers, transmission lines, pipelines, and power plants. Not only do we suffer the polluting impact of new data centers and energy infrastructure in our communities, but we also have to pay for it through higher energy bills. Meanwhile, Big Tech and monopoly investor-owned utilities profit. Now, a Florida energy company, NextEra, with a history of utility shutoffs, rate increases, and big profits, wants to buy Dominion Energy, taking control of Virginia’s energy further out of our hands. Come and learn more about this proposed acquisition, how existing Virginia energy and campaign finance policy encourages this takeover, and what we can do to push back.
• The Power of Organizing: One-to-Ones/Canvassing/Taking Action - Participants will learn what a 1:1 conversation is, why it matters, how to conduct one effectively, and practicing their skills through role-play and planning.
• Restoration of Rights/Civic Engagement - Learn how to engage your community through barbershop outreach to increase voter participation and restoration of rights.
• Immigrant Rights/Language Justice - This workshop will highlight the anti-immigrant legislation and actions that are being taken locally, statewide, and federally. We will talk about what localities are doing to fight back and how folks can get involved in the immigrant rights movement. 
• Once Upon a Time: The Power of Storytelling/How to write an LTE - This workshop provides a hands-on overview of the Marshall Ganz Public Narrative framework for storytelling, equipping participants with tools to construct stories that motivate community action. The workshop will also cover the basics of writing a letter-to-the-editor of a newspaper, including the value of writing letters-to-the-editor, the main components of the letter, and best practices for getting published. Participants will get hands-on experience sharing stories and developing letters about relevant topics that can be submitted to news publications.
• Tax the Rich/Tax Reform/State Budget - In this workshop, we will recognize how rich power operates and the influence of wealth in politics by the essential influence of billionaires and high-level CEO on state elections. We will also address how Virginia struggles to pass policies and legislation for a just and progressive tax reform that guarantees tax the rich and ensure funds to budget related to housing, healthcare, climate, and lending protections, largely due to legislative leaders receiving substantial funding from wealthy individuals and corporate interests without taxing them.
• Planning an Action and Meeting with Decision-Makers - There is not a big or a small action: any action counts, any action helps to build power. In this workshop, we will focus in planning and carry out chapter actions to build community power. We do this by winning local or statewide campaigns, building infrastructure, and changing how people think about building public relationships and having accountable local elected officials, decision-makers, local and state governments, and state legislators, moving them to give us the change we need to see in our communities.
• Fundraising: Raising Independent, Grassroots money - Raising funds for Virginia Organizing is needed to bringing resources and carry out its work. The time invested by members and volunteers is usually our greatest resource. Members and volunteers also support our organization financially, but expanding its base is key to our long-term effectiveness. In this workshop, we will learn to get past barriers to asking people for money to support social change work they care about and learn practical skills for becoming an effective fundraiser.
• Organizing Core Principles and Meeting Facilitation - In this workshop we will understand and learn organizing practices, recognizing that Virginia Organizing has a distinctive approach to building power for justice through organizing and taking actions, which is different from approaches that center on mobilization or advocacy. We also will learn that the most important discussions, plans, and decisions made by community groups take place at meetings, where the ability to effectively lead a meeting usually makes the difference to move the group forward toward its goals. Anyone in the group can chair a meeting.
• Art as Protest (Artivism) - To protest means to object to something - whether it's a policy, action, or cultural ideal. Protest art is a visual way to communicate and inform others about social issues, movements, or a campaign's demand. While protest art has many mediums, this workshop will explore these themes through collage and typography.

Event Location

Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center
775 Hermitage Rd.
Wirtz, VA 24184