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Advocacy Institute
for College Students

As a college student in the Advocacy Institute, you will gain the skills, knowledge, and lifelong support to lead in the movement to end factory farming.

Overview

Program elements include:
  • Workshops led by movement leaders
  • Discussions about weekly readings
  • Elective hours on a wide variety of topics
  • The opportunity to serve as a mentor to an Institute high school student
  • One-to-one support from FFAC staff mentors
  • An advocacy project of your choice
  • Connections with like-minded peers
  • Internships, job opportunities, and introductions
  • Lifelong membership in the Leadership Collective

Schedule

Summer College Institute: June 14th through August 5th 2022

  • Students meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9-1pm PT / 12-4pm ET
  • Time commitment: 16 hours per week for 8 weeks, which includes:
    • Initial orientation
    • Workshops
    • Discussion hours
    • Elective hours
    • Four practical hours per week
    • End of term celebration

Spring College Academic Institute: Mid-January through May

  • Students meet on Fridays from 10am-1pm PT / 1-4pm ET
  • Time commitment: Six hours per week for 16 weeks, which includes:
    • Initial orientation
    • Workshops
    • Discussion hours
    • Elective hours
    • Two practical hours per week
    • End of term celebration

Students also have the option to pursue further Institute training as an continuing student advocate or as an Institute Fellow. After completing one term at the Institute, students become members of the Leadership Collective.

The Advocacy Institute program for college students offers two terms each year. Students can choose whichever term fits their schedules best.

Student Learning Objectives

  • Learn about the socioeconomic and scientific developments that gave rise to and continue to support industrial agriculture. 
  • Develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of factory farming on animal welfare, the environment and climate change, public health, and social justice. 
  • Improve verbal and written communication strategies.
  • Learn fundamental institutional and political advocacy skills.

Benefits

  • College advocates who complete all program requirements are eligible for letters of recommendation.
  • Obtain a broader understanding of available career paths and be exposed to job and networking opportunities.
  • Gain long-lasting friendships and mentors through immersion in a like-minded, supportive community.

Sample Activities & Curriculum

Readings and Analytical Discussion Topics

  • Environmental impacts of animal agriculture
  • Environmental justice
  • Meat workers
  • Animal health
  • Animal ethics
  • Plant-based nutrition and human health
  • Food racism/food justice
  • Connections with racial justice
  • Indigenous perspectives
  • Connections with feminist theory
  • Connections with disability rights
  • Future of food (biotech)
  • Policy
  • Effective activism: communication
  • Effective activism: strategies to end factory farming
  • Effective activism: careers and sustainable advocacy

Workshops

  • Animal ethics
  • Climate change and animal agriculture
  • Food sovereignty
  • Media, animal advocacy, and the principles of persuasion
  • Indigenous perspectives and factory farming
  • Institutional campaigns: shifting culture in your community
  • Lobbying 101: How to lobby your local representatives
  • Open Sanctuary Project, LGBTQ+ perspectives
  • Plant-based nutrition panel
  • Public health: pandemics
  • Public speaking for activists
  • Self-care strategies for activists
  • Virtual farmed animal sanctuary tour: Charlie's Acres
  • A Green New Meal: factory farming and environmental justice
  • Community-building and organizing strategies
  • Building an equitable movement
  • Meat & masculinity panel

Practical Hours

  • Delivering FFAC presentations: health, social justice, and environmental impacts of animal agriculture
  • Working with DefaultVeg/Greener by Default or The Humane League to establish plant-based dining options, pass legislation, and lead campaigns
  • Creating social media campaigns
  • Writing articles and op-eds for publication in various media outlets
  • Tabling/leafleting on campus to raise awareness about factory farming impacts
  • Other projects on approval

Elective Hours

  • Educational Hour: Climate Justice and Factory Farming
  • Educational Hour: Effective Altruism
  • Educational Hour: Graduate programs- PhD, MS, MA, and funding for graduate school
  • Educational Hour: How to take political action for animals
  • Skill-Building Hour: Mindfulness in advocacy
  • Skill-building hour: Writing workshop
  • Social Hour: Community building
  • Social Hour: Plant-Based Eating Support

Meet Our Cohort Leaders

Elly Ren
Atlanta, GA
Kiely Smith
New York City, NY
Noa Dalzell
Boston, MA
Rowdy Keelor
San Diego, CA
Vidisha Rai
SF Bay Area, CA

Articles by Student Advocates

How Safe is That Burger? A Look at Inspections of the Meat Industry
The meat industry is regulated by the federal government but how it is regulated affects the food you eat.
May 12, 2022
Is the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act Really Humane?
The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958 was passed with the intention of placing regulations on slaughter practices for animals in factory farms in an effort to make them more “humane.” However, over the decades it has become glaringly obvious that the HMSA is not doing what it is meant to do and between the legal loopholes and the inconsistent enforcement, the Act has become just another piece of legislation that has failed to protect animals suffering in factory farms.
Apr 28, 2022
What Does Effective Altruism Lead Us to Believe About Factory Farming?
Factory farming generates a significant measure of suffering through environmental destruction and social injustice. But of all the suffering resulting from animal agriculture, the billions […]
Apr 21, 2022

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