Sustained Advocacy Training Day

Saturday, October 13, 2018

9:00 AM to 4:00 PM EDT

We invite newbies and old hands alike to join us for a workshop to develop clear, faith-soaked messages and build relationships with policymakers to share the need for urgent actions on social justice issues. 

How do we build relationships with elected leaders and address them on the basis of shared morality and integrity? Join St. Martin's for a day long training led by the Rev. Alison Cornish, executive director of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light (PA IPL), a nonprofit dedicated to creation care, and Justin Wright, mediator and negotiation trainer for Active Neutrals. Our goal is to equip you for sustained advocacy across time, in relationships of mutual respect and influence.

While we will use the specific case of climate change for this training, the lessons will translate to other social justice issues.

In keeping with the commitment of St. Martin's community engagement ministry to mutual ministry with our partners, we will be inviting many of our ministry partners to learn along with us. We believe this will enrich the conversation and create a wider network of affective advocates!

Join us starting at 8:30 a.m. for coffee and registration. The program will begin at 9:00 a.m. and run until 4:00 p.m. with a break for a zero-waste lunch.

Tickets are $10 each. Scholarships are available.

If you need financial assistance, before you register please contact Natalee Hill at nhill@stmartinec.org or 215.247.7466. We will leave no one out!

Alison Cornish

Executive Director,

Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light

The Reverend Alison Cornish is a Unitarian Universalist minister, and comes to PA IPL with a background in parish ministry, nonprofit management, multifaith work, advocacy for the marginalized — and a passion and commitment to care about, and for, the Earth, which has shaped her theology and activism over the past two decades.

A graduate of Wellesley College, the University of York (UK), and Andover Newton Theological School, Alison has also engaged in ongoing study with Gaian teacher Joanna Macy, and is a graduate of the GreenFaith Fellowship program, which is dedicated to preparing clergy and lay leaders for the challenges of ministry in a time of climate change.  Before coming to PA IPL, Alison served as Senior Director of Programs for Partners for Sacred Places, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia working with congregations of all denominations, their historic buildings, community ministries and development of resources.  Serving PA IPL half-time, Alison is also the Director of Congregational and Seminary Initiatives for the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia.

Alison lives in Philadelphia, and is married to Pat Moran, an artist and art installer. She is amazed and delighted to be living alongside the Schuylkill River, and in her spare time, volunteers at the Fairmount Water Works, the country’s first municipal water system; and has just started learning to row as well!

Justin Wright

Mediator and Negotiation Trainer,

Active Neutrals

Justin Wright is an experienced ADR practitioner and consultant. He has expertise providing transactional assistance, behavioral change, facilitations and both

mediation and negotiation training and coaching. In addition to his work with Habitus and Active Neutrals, he serves on the training team at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation and at Northeastern University Business School. His teaching experience includes a college seminar course on Negotiation at Yale University and six weeks terms in Shanghai for legal professionals. He has extensive practice in mediation including business, interpersonal, contract, housing and harassment prevention order matters referred by the Massachusetts Trial Court. Justin brings this wealth of hands-on experience and application to his negotiation training and coaching practice.     

Justin has designed and led trainings for corporate, educational and non-profit institutions in the US and abroad. More specifically, he has trained individuals at companies such as, Eastman Chemical, Bank of America, Anika Therapeutics Inc, Commonwealth Financial, NeighborWorks, Bavaria, FINCA, Funcación SIGNUM - Colegio de Notarios, IBM Europe, IFC Cantabria, Better Future Project and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

Wright is also the co author of the forth coming book End the Job Hunt, which focuses on the use of negotiation, collaboration and influence instead of typical networking and job searching to attain a meaningful career.

Because of his focus on ethics and resource economics while at Yale University, Justin is particularly interested in improving the productiveness of conversation or negotiation between activist groups and decision makers around resource management. Most recently, he has been working to facilitate conversations within various communities about how to respond to climate change and with student activists at a wide range of colleges and universities.

Before entering the field of conflict management, Justin co-founded NextGEN, an international NGO that works to inspire and support youth to take action toward creating a sustainable world. In 2010, he worked with the Transition Town Movement in Media, Pennsylvania to assess the town's ecological footprint and create a vision of a sustainable future. Justin graduated from Yale with a BA in Ethics, Politics and Economics.