The Midwest Academy offers a five day, residential, comprehensive "Organizing for Social Change" training throughout the country. Participants come from a wide variety of organizations. Most are working on specific issue campaigns and building powerful, progressive organizations. The training helps them to be more strategic in their fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice.

There are different methods of organizing or ways of making social change, and all have their uses. Midwest Academy uses and teaches the "Direct Action Organizing" concept. Direct Action Organizing is based on the power of people to take collective action on their own behalf. The point is not that one approach is better than others. In fact, often many kinds of organizing are needed, but the Midwest Academy focuses on Direct Action Organizing.