ACTIVIST SAN DIEGO

So you're ready to get involved!

The easiest way to give involved in activism is to join a group already in existence. With the wonder of the internet, you can find out about many groups in your home, and decide which is right for you. If there is no group, start one.
Once you've chosen a group, you can start by going to a meeting or an event. Offer to help out with something small - there's always something to be done, and no amount of help is too little.
Since this site can be accessd by anyone, I have listed several national and international organizations. You can contact them to see if they have a local chapter or if there is a similar organization which is in your area. As this is officially a Penn site, I have also listed some Penn groups. This is certainly not a complete list. It's just something to show you the types of organizations you can join. If you're looking for something specific, go to a search engine, such as AltaVista. If you'd like any groups to be added, PLEASE e-mail them to me.

National groups

American Civil Liberties Union
Compassion over Killing (Animal Rights) - P.O. Box 9773, Washington D.C. 20016
Greenpeace International
Greenpeace USA - (800) 326-0959
National Coalition for the Homeless - 1612 K Street, NW, #1004, Washington D.C. 20006 - (202) 775-1322 nch@ari.net
National Council of Senior Citizens - 8403 Colesville Road, Suite 1200, Silver Spring, MD 20910 - (301) 578-8800 comments@ncsinc.org
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - 2320 Seventeenth St, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009-2702 - (202) 332-6483 ngltf@ngltf.org
National Organization for Women
National People's Campaign - 813 S. 48th St., Philadelphia, PA 19143 - philnpc@op.net
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - 50 Front St, Norfolk, VA 23510 - (757) 622-PETA peta@norfolk.infi.net
Rainforest Action Network - 450 Sansome St, Suite 700, San Fransisco, CA 94111 rainforest@ran.org
Rock Out Censorship
We The People (social justice) - 200 Harrison St, Oakland, CA 94607 - (510) 836-DARE wtp@wtp.org
Worldwatch Institute (environmental) - 1776 Massachusets Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-1904 - (202)452-1999 worldwatch@worldwatch.org

Penn/Philly groups

Amnesty International - E-mail amnesty@dolphin.upenn.edu
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Penn Environmental Group - E-mail pennenv@dolphin.upenn.edu
National Organization for Women (Penn Chapter) - E-mail now@dolphin.upennn.edu
Progressive Activist Network - E-mail pennpan@dolphin.upenn.edu
Queers Invading Penn - E-mail quip@dolphin.upenn.edu

There are also books you can use to give you ideas for how to help you chosen cause. They tend not to be very heavy in terms of why you should become involved with an issue, but if you are already interested and are looking for ways to help, these books can be quite useful. Not every idea in every book is suitable for every person, but by looking through these books, you can get an idea of how to help and can choose for yourself what among these ideas works well for your situation and with your amount of free time. Some books of this sort are:

Fight Global Warming : 29 Things You Can Do by Sarah L. Clark.
50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth by the EarthWorks Group.
50 Things You Can Do To Save the Earth by the EarthWorks Group.
54 Ways You Can Help the Homeless by Charles Kroloff.
50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save Hawaii by Jerry Hopkins and Susan Manuel.(environmental)
50 Things You Can Do To Promote World Peace by Julianne H. Lira-Powell.
100 Ways of Empowering Women by Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ngcobo.
Save the animals! : 101 Easy Things You Can Do by Ingrid Newkirk.
50 Ways to Fight Censorship by Dave Marsh.
50 Things You Can Do About Guns by James Murray.

The problem is, sometimes these books can be hard to find. Go to your local bookstore and ask them to order one or two for you - bring the names and authors. They're usually quite willing to help, but they can't help if they don't know to.
You may also be interested in calls to action, which are generally shorter, give more background information and give several ideas about how to solve the problem. A good collection of 18 is entitled Call to Action: Handbook for Ecology, Peace and Justice, edited by Brad Erickson.
Good luck! If you're interested in a problem which is not already being addressed, (usually a local problem), you may want to start a movement of your own.