ABOUT

WHAT IS WATS?
Fight with Tools is organized into four areas: Wake Up, Activate, Transform and Step Up. We call these the WATS building blocks, as each represents an important step in getting connected to ourselves, our communities and our ability to create positive change:

• WAKE UP: Learn about challenges and issues that affect us all on both a global and individual level. Once our eyes are open, it’s hard to look at the world in the same way.
• ACTIVATE: Change takes action. Whether we join our local street team or offer our time as a volunteer, individual involvement is key to building a vibrant community.
• TRANSFORM: Our experiences are enriched by reflection and analysis. By sharing with others in real time, and posting videos and blogs online, our actions become more concrete and meaningful.
• STEP UP: When we’re ready to step up, we’re ready to get going! From learning more about a particular issue to starting a street team, stepping up is all about doing.

HOW TO USE THIS SITE
Fight with Tools is a relaxed, no pressure place. There is no “right” way to use the site, and no one type of Fight with Tools member. We are rural and urban, street smart and highly educated, a hodgepodge of thinkers and dreamers who find ourselves together on one URL.

That’s the point.

Whether you’re an explorer or a scribe, a can-do/how-to person or a quiet muser, your energy and input makes this site a diverse and unique place.

So, come on in, have a look around, get to know your neighbors and, when you’re ready, let us all hear from you.

IDEAS FOR GETTING STARTED
Create a profile.
Located on the main toolbar under “My Page,” your profile is your kingdom.
You can customize your own page with music and art, and use it as a transmission hub for blog posts and communication with special friends. Similar in function to other social networks (MySpace, Facebook), your page is equipped tools like photo, music and video hosting/uploading as well as your own powerful blogging features.
Beginners will find the easy "look and feel" point and click layouts easy to use, and more advanced users can edit their page's CSS template and add in our own module to your pages capable of hosting as many embed codes or HTML as you want.

Check out videos and photos posted by other members
The Fight with Tools video and photo galleries change all the time, and our members come up with some pretty fascinating stuff. Make some popcorn, and settle in for some interesting viewing on the Video Page. Also, the Photo Page is a good window into what’s going on out there in FWT land.

Read through the blogs and forums
It’s a crazy world we live in, but we believe that change is possible through community building, engagement, awareness and action. Our forums and blogs provide a safe and supporting space in which to share thoughts, ideas and challenges with other thinkers and problem solvers.
Fight with Tools is a dialogue-based community based on respect and civility. Please observe our Community Commitments when using Fight with Tools.

Find a Street Team in your area.

Learn Something New
Fight with Tools theme for 2009 is “sustainability.” If you’re new to this word and others you may see throughout the site, check out our glossary.
Visit the links page to find out more about organizations working to support a sustainable worldview in a variety of important ways.

Partner with Fight with Tools

Sound complicated?
It isn’t, really. You’ll get the hang of it! Check out our TOOLBOX for specific tips on using the site.
Quick links to get started:

We invite folks to post their own skills and ideas about how to use the site, too. LINK TO TOOLS FORUM

WHAT IS A STREET TEAM?

Fight with Tools Street Teams are communities of music fans who are inspired to create positive change in their relationships, themselves and their world. 

Fight with Tools Street Teams meet both online and an in real time to explore the questions and issues that matter to them as a collective -- and to engage on both a personal and group level to address those issues through awareness and action.

Street Teams follow a model that builds respect, social responsibility, leadership and communication skills among members.

Street Team members are encouraged to develop a working understanding of, and curiosity about, issues of social justice, civic responsibility and community building.

There are currently 101 Street Teams in cities across the United States, from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City, Binghampton to Kansas City.

Each Street Team completes at least one major community service project per year. Over the past year, Street Team members have planted city gardens, created music and art programs for elementary schools, and registered thousands of people to vote.

The National Street Team Council meets throughout the year to brainstorm ways to energize and engage Street Teams and support their work.

To find a Fight with Tools Street Team in your area, click here.

ABOUT FLOBOTS.ORG

For the Denver-based Flobots, activism and art have always been intertwined. Since its inception, the band has encouraged fans to engage in voter registration and other community efforts. In 2008, when Flobots achieved artistic and commercial success with the politically charged hit song “Handlebars,” they decided to take their activism to a national stage.

Flobots.org builds communities of musicians and music fans who are inspired to create positive change in their relationships, themselves and their world.

In its hometown of Denver, Flobots.org has served scores of young people through its music therapy program at Denver Children’s Home, which will expand in 2009. Flobots.org is currently developing partnerships with a number of Denver-based youth and service organizations, including Progressive Veterans, Labyrinth Arts Academy, CityWild, Seeking Common Ground, Jobs with Justice, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Argus Fest and Transitions Denver, as well as other bands and artists from Denver and across the country.

Last year, Flobots.org's founding members were awarded the Circles of Change award from Seeking Common Ground. In March, Flobots.org received the Cesar Chavez Leadership Award. Flobots.org has been featured at numerous conferences on social justice, leadership and sustainable living.

Flobots band member James Laurie (Jonny 5), Stephen Brackett (Brer Rabbit), Jesse Walker and Andy Guerrero serve on Flobots.org Board of Directors. Flobots.org is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization. Click here to contact Flobots.org.