Advocacy Institute
for High School Students

• Workshops led by movement leaders
• Discussions about weekly readings
• Elective hours on a wide variety of topics
• Mentorship by an Institute college student
• One-to-one support from FFAC staff mentors 
• An advocacy project of your choice
• Opportunities to connect with like-minded peers
• Internships, job opportunities, and introductions
• Lifelong membership in the Leadership Collective

• Students meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9-1pm PT / 12-4pm ET
• Time commitment: 14 hours per week for 7 weeks, which includes:
  • Initial orientation
  • Workshops
  • Discussion hours
  • Elective hours
  • Two practical hours per week

Students also have the option to pursue further Institute training as a continuing student advocate. After completing one term at the Institute, students become members of the Leadership Collective. The Advocacy Institute program for high school students is offered every summer.

• 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. 

• High school students 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.

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 Friends of the Earth or Balanced 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