Dozens of Brooklyn educators, parents and community members came to the UFT’s Brooklyn borough office on three consecutive Saturdays in January to learn the steps to create a grassroots organizing campaign at a school. The series, organized by Betty Zohar, the UFT Brooklyn parent-community liaison and the parent-community outreach committee, covered topics including communicating effectively, creating surveys and designing fliers. Parent Rashida Lawrence said she wanted to know how to get other parents involved in school-based activism. “I definitely want to try to engage more and get those personal stories” from other parents, she said. The diverse group of participants proposed a range of potential campaign topics including nutrition, bullying and charter schools. Katrina Gopaul, a family assistant in the Brooklyn shelter system, hoped to learn “how we can help each other and be advocates for the children.” She was impressed by her fellow participants, who offered kind and respectful feedback to each other even when they disagreed. Education activists, she said, have “so much compassion and passion.”