The reason Fandom Forward has been so successful is because of our exceptional programs and the dedicated community that supports and utilizes them. Fan organizers want training and resources that help them become empowered activists and we are uniquely positioned to provide exemplary leadership and skills trainings. All of our training programs boost skills, confidence, and community among fans who then work to make the world a more loving, just, and magical place. These far-reaching, impactful programs are possible only thanks to the kind donations of wizard activists and their supporters.

Read on to learn more about all the specific ways our training programs have changed the world.

The Granger Leadership Academy

GLA is our one-of-a-kind conference where fans come together with professional activists to swap skills, meet friends and mentors, and take real action to change the world. Since 2014, the Granger Leadership Academy (GLA) has been a cornerstone of our community. One of our most beloved programs ever, GLA is a powerful weekend of learning and action - but more importantly, it's a community that persists beyond the walls of the conference. Learn more about GLA here. Here are the most recent impacts of Granger Leadership Academy:

In 2021, we hosted our second Camp GLA (the virtual version of our cornerstone leadership conference, Granger Leadership Academy) to roaring success! 115 Campers — ages 10 to 64 — attended Camp GLA this year and together completed over 475 actions advocating for trans people. After attending Camp, 97% of attendees felt confident, 97% felt inspired, 84% felt like a leader, 88% felt like an activist, 94% felt joyful, 94% felt creative, and 94% felt supported.

In 2020, we rose to meet the pandemic with 3 new fan activist conventions: Small Things Con, Camp GLA, and Fall into Democracy, serving over 1,400 trainees. Combined with our other training programs, we trained more emerging activists than ever — 1,766 trainees — nearly doubling our impact from 2019. At Camp GLA we took over 665 actions to protect immigrants, from advocating for legislation to disrupting I.C.E. recruitment and 84% of Camper left the weekend feeling like an activist. During Fall into Democracy we spoke with 110,000+ young people about where and how to find candidate info, vote, and make their voices heard!

In total, we provided our community with 90 hours of high quality virtual programs in 2020, serving schools, libraries, and community organizations looking to inspire students. Additional examples of free training programs in 2020 include livestreams such as Wands Up: Black Lives Matter in partnership with Black Girls Create in which 772 viewers helped us raise $3,000 for cash bail funds, or our Fan Activists #FloodIce livestream in which 162 viewers took 229 actions to protect immigrants in a single hour.

At our last in-person convention in Philadelphia in 2019, 200 wizard activists built community as they built their skills in unique workshops about prison abolition (A World Without Azkaban), media literacy and news bias (Unpacking The Daily Prophet), fighting white supremacy (Revelio Whiteness: Unraveling The White Nationalist Fandom), and much more. At the end of the weekend, we partnered with Sunrise to make hundreds of calls protesting the building of a new fossil fuel-burning power plant in one of Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhoods.

chapters

Thanks to training from Fandom Forward staff, fan activists all over the world are making real impact in their own communities through our Chapters program. In 2021, Chapter Organizers overwhelmingly agree that the program has helped them identify as a leader and an activist.

In 2018, a survey of our Chapter Organizers found that:

• 93% understand how systems of oppression function in our society.

• Before joining our Chapters program, 47% had never participated in activism. After joining, 99% had participated in activism in the last year.

• The top 5 social issues our Chapter Organizers focus on are racial justice, climate change, gender equity, LGBTQIA+ equality, and education and libraries.

You can learn more about the specific accomplishments our our Chapters here.

community workshops

Fandom Forward regularly brings our exemplary programming into local communities across the U.S. Here are some of our favorite examples:

From the pandemic to politics, teaching civics in 2021 can be incredibly complex - and yet incredibly important. In September, we joined Donnalie Jamnah (Pulitzer Center, Black Girls Create) and Anna Casalme (Novelly) for a conversation about approaching civic education with creativity and empathy in order to prepare the next generation to shape their communities.

At LeakyCon Dallas and LeakyCon Boston in 2019, we rolled out a new workshop: Stop the Snatchers, where we brought activists from RAICES, Never Again Action, and the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network to help fans learn how to take action and join the fight for immigrant rights and safety in their community. Nearly 200 fans attended these hour-long workshops. Get a taste of the magic with the audio recording of our conversation with RAICES.

Also in 2019, we led training sessions in New York, Baltimore, and Tucson, reaching more than 400 trainees!