AAMU to Be Represented at National Summit

Representatives from Alabama A&M University will be among attendees of the virtual Andrew Goodman Foundation’s eighth annual National Civic Leadership Training Summit (NCLTS) August 11-12. The two-day event will attract student, faculty, and staff civic and voter engagement leaders from the Andrew Goodman Network of college and university campuses across the nation, as well as young activists from partner organizations, supporters, and other community members.

AAMU will be represented by Austin Smith, former executive president of the Student Government Association, and Monica Clarke, a service and learning coordinator who is also AGF’s 2022 Campus Team of the Year Hidden Heroes Award.  Both will be featured speakers at the Summit.

Themed “Legacy Summer 2022,” the summit draws inspiration from Freedom Summer 1964, a pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement and the inception story for the organization. AGF was established in memory of Andrew Goodman, a civil rights worker who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, alongside activists James Earl Chaney and Michael Schwerner, for registering Black Americans to vote in Mississippi’s Freedom Summer.

Legacy Summer 2022 imagines that the movement during Freedom Summer 1964 continues on today and will tomorrow through the spirit of young people who are changemakers in every era and who are still fighting for equitable voting rights today. Event participants will gather to connect, learn, and activate, just as young organizers did ahead of Freedom Summer, and leave prepared to lead a movement of young voters to the 2022 Midterm Elections.

The event will begin on the evening of August 11 with an intergenerational panel, featuring David Dennis, Sr., a Freedom Rider and member of AGF’s Advisory Board, as well as current Andrew Goodman Ambassadors and an Andrew Goodman Campus Champion. The morning of August 12 will kick off with a keynote address, delivered by David Dennis, Jr., author of The Movement That Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride.

“We are honored to hear from both father and son about their activism, past and present. The goal of Legacy Summer 2022 is to provide not only concrete training for today’s young organizers, but also context for the movement they are now carrying forward for future generations. The Dennises’ intergenerational perspectives will offer our participants a front row seat for hearing about the movement for voting rights in our country, its deep ties to racial justice, and the legacy we’re all a part of,” says Wambui Gatheru, Director of Programs at The Andrew Goodman Foundation.

Educational sessions on the topics of equity, organizing, institutionalization, and campus case studies will follow and be presented by a mix of Andrew Goodman Ambassadors and Campus Champions and other expert speakers from partner organizations. Through the sessions, participants will learn about voter ID, mobilizing the AAPI youth vote, writing op-eds and letters to the editor, contacting elected officials, engaging athletes in voting, voting rights restoration, and more. Featured speakers include:

Erin Baranko, All In Together;

Samuel Beskind, #AllVoteNoPlay;

Dr. Will Bowlin, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge;

Marina Castro-Meirelles, Day On Democracy;

Monica Clarke, Alabama A&M University Andrew Goodman Campus Champion;

Pete Davis, Democracy Policy Network;

David Dennis, Sr., Freedom Rider and AGF Advisory Board Member;

David Dennis, Jr., Author of The Movement That Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride;

Sarah deVeer, Bard College Andrew Goodman Campus Champion;

Joshua Dineros, University of San Francisco Andrew Goodman Ambassador;

Ryan Drysdale, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge;

Priya Elangovan, All In Together;

Dr. Richard Fording, University of Alabama Andrew Goodman Campus Champion;

Prabhat Gautam, M.P.A., Institute for Democracy and Higher Education;

Guadalupe González, All In Together;

Isabel González Whitaker, All In Together;

Dr. Jessica Hare, American Promise;

Grace Kelley, Miami University Andrew Goodman Ambassador;

Evan Malbrough, ACLU of Georgia and AGF Board Member;

Mike Monetta, American Promise;

Erin Mysogland, MA, MSC, Pace University Andrew Goodman Campus Champion;

Linh Nguyen, RUN AAPI;

Hayley Piazza, Pace University Andrew Goodman Ambassador;

Henry Pitts, Unify America;

Dr. Teri Platt, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge and Clark Atlanta University Andrew Goodman Campus Champion;

Amanda Pohl, Delivery My Vote Education Fund;

Nick Ramos, VoteRiders;

Coach Eric Reveno, #AllVoteNoPlay;

Sam Robson, University of Alabama Andrew Goodman Ambassador;

Austin Smith, Alabama A&M University Andrew Goodman Ambassador;

Dr. Nancy L. Thomas, Institute for Democracy and Higher Education and AGF Advisory Board Member;

and Maddie Wolf, SLSV Coalition.

More speakers are subject to be announced.

The summit is made possible by the Puffin Foundation, with additional generous in-kind support from Helix Sleep and Patagonia. The Andrew Goodman Foundation will be accepting submissions for a sponsored contest, “TikTok to Legacy Summer,” until July 31st. Five winners will be announced on Friday, August 5th and will be notified via TikTok direct message. All winners will receive one Patagonia Nano Puff® Jacket (valued at $199) in their preferred size, style, and color, and first, second, and third place will also receive one Helix Sleep mattress of their choice (valued at up to $2,499 each, with first place receiving a Luxe mattress). Visit The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Instagram to enter.

To learn more about or register to attend the The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s 2022 National Civic Leadership Training Summit, visit www.LegacySummer2022.org.

About The Andrew Goodman Foundation

The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s mission is to make young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy by training the next generation of leaders, engaging young voters, and challenging restrictive voter suppression laws. The organization is named after Andrew Goodman, a Freedom Summer volunteer and champion of equality and voting rights who was murdered, alongside James Earl Chaney and Michael Schwerner, by the KKK in 1964 while registering Black Americans to vote in Mississippi. To learn more, visit www.andrewgoodman.org.