Our blog was featured on MarketWatch! Who'd have thought a financial website affiliated with the Wall Street Journal would pay attention to the grassroots energy of this election season?
"Over the last year, we've seen unprecedented people power behind this election, which is the culmination of years of grassroots organizing combined with new energy and new voters," said Gabe Gonzalez, director of the Campaign for Community Values. "On November 4th we are providing a platform for community organizers and grassroots leaders from our communities to give their perspective in an intimate way that is difficult for media to capture."
The community organizers participating in the Community Values Vote blog have deep roots in their communities and knowledge of the election process. Most are part of an effort that registered nearly 100,000 new and infrequent voters and recorded over 250,000 voter contacts in low income communities and communities of color in key states around the country. The Campaign's voter work is just the beginning of a long term strategy to strengthen the voice and power of Community Values Voters... More
Showing posts with label Cross-Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cross-Post. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
CROSS-POST: Electoral Organizing As A Means to Movement Building
Here's an excerpt from an excellent article that Xiomara Corpeno, Director of Organizing at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, wrote about for CCC's Movement Vision Lab about organizing during this election season.
In the heat of a historic Presidential race, and with expectations that November 4th will bring the highest voter turnout ever, there is a lot of energy and focus on get out the vote efforts (both partisan and non-partisan). But there are also a lot of questions from activists about what will happen to that energy on November 5th. Some fear that the throngs of new people who will vote on Election Day will just celebrate or mourn the election results and then check out of the political process and wait quietly for another four years to see what happens next.
Unfortunately, this fear is not unfounded. Traditional electoral campaign work has always been about winning or losing on Election Day and then packing up the day after. Too many times, we've seen candidates make promises to bring sweeping changes, and state ballot measures in states like Arizona and California promising “Safer Neighborhoods” and to “Protect our Homes.” But soon after the elections, people realize more often than not that there is no longer anyone who is willing to listen to their concerns, except a sympathetic but powerless intern at their elected representative's local office. In the case of ballot measures, communities are left wondering why there is no money for improvement of schools, but there are two more prison's being built in their community. This campaign pattern – parachuting into communities and inundating them with campaign propaganda a couple of weeks before Election Day and then a return to business-as-usual after the ballots are cast – has left many communities and individuals feeling used and ultimately disgusted with the voting process in general.
But for many groups and organizations around the country, there is a completely different model of electoral organizing that isn’t just about parachuting in to win votes on Election Day. Many organizations like CHIRLA are conducting electoral organizing as part of a movement-building strategy. It is clear that the fight for better jobs, affordable housing, universal healthcare, quality education, just and humane immigration reform, and other important issues does not begin or end with the current election cycle. But rather elections work is an extension of our everyday work in order to make long-lasting social change in our communities and in the United States.
Read the rest of the article on the Movement Vision Lab.
In the heat of a historic Presidential race, and with expectations that November 4th will bring the highest voter turnout ever, there is a lot of energy and focus on get out the vote efforts (both partisan and non-partisan). But there are also a lot of questions from activists about what will happen to that energy on November 5th. Some fear that the throngs of new people who will vote on Election Day will just celebrate or mourn the election results and then check out of the political process and wait quietly for another four years to see what happens next.
Unfortunately, this fear is not unfounded. Traditional electoral campaign work has always been about winning or losing on Election Day and then packing up the day after. Too many times, we've seen candidates make promises to bring sweeping changes, and state ballot measures in states like Arizona and California promising “Safer Neighborhoods” and to “Protect our Homes.” But soon after the elections, people realize more often than not that there is no longer anyone who is willing to listen to their concerns, except a sympathetic but powerless intern at their elected representative's local office. In the case of ballot measures, communities are left wondering why there is no money for improvement of schools, but there are two more prison's being built in their community. This campaign pattern – parachuting into communities and inundating them with campaign propaganda a couple of weeks before Election Day and then a return to business-as-usual after the ballots are cast – has left many communities and individuals feeling used and ultimately disgusted with the voting process in general.
But for many groups and organizations around the country, there is a completely different model of electoral organizing that isn’t just about parachuting in to win votes on Election Day. Many organizations like CHIRLA are conducting electoral organizing as part of a movement-building strategy. It is clear that the fight for better jobs, affordable housing, universal healthcare, quality education, just and humane immigration reform, and other important issues does not begin or end with the current election cycle. But rather elections work is an extension of our everyday work in order to make long-lasting social change in our communities and in the United States.
Read the rest of the article on the Movement Vision Lab.
CROSS-POST: Community Values Vote Blog on Huffington Post
Here's the text of a piece I wrote for the Huffington Post this morning about the Community Values Vote blog:
Since community organizers were front-and-center in this election -- sometimes celebrated, sometimes mocked -- why not hear from community organizers as Election Day unfolds? Check out the Community Values Vote blog, www.communitychange.org/vote, with eyewitness Election Day reports from community organizers and grassroots leaders across the country, with spin-free, on-the-ground accounts of turnout trends, voter suppression and moment-to-moment analysis.
After all, the real story of this election isn't the candidates but communities -- a movement of everyday Americans coming together for the common good. Even more so than the candidates and the enthusiasm generated for them, what is heartening about this election is the new level of enthusiasm for America and for democracy. In Washington State, Washington Community Action's phones have been ringing every 20 seconds for the last few days with new volunteers clamoring to help turnout first-time and unlikely voters. In Virginia, a grocery worker and volunteer with the Virginia Organizing Project has been stuffing non-partisan voter guides in every grocery bag and encouraging shoppers to vote. In Iowa, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement volunteered to register new immigrant voters at community soccer games.
These are the kinds of stories captured on Community Values Vote, a first-ever grassroots Election Day blog that will report up-to-the-minute, eyewitness accounts at a level of intimacy no media outlet can capture. With grassroots contributors from key electoral states and more, you'll find video reports, photographs and moment-to-moment text message updates directly from the grassroots, from the leaders that know these elections best.
The Community Values Vote blog will show why community organizing has been instrumental in getting us to this moment -- the difference that it makes when everyday people are empowered not just to pull a lever but to really have a voice in the future of our country. Hear about the election first-hand from real people in their communities -- not more of those manufactured, attention-hungry "undecideds" but actual people. Including you. Don't forget to log-on and post your own Election Day analysis, photos and more.
And continue to watch after the election, because for grassroots organizations the real fight begins on November 5th. While the Washington pundits will try to push for a middle-of-the-road, more of the same agenda for the new President, grassroots organizations will be pressing the people's demands for big solutions to the big problems we face. Once the election is over, it is these grassroots organizations that will be the vehicle for the American public to continue to press their vision, together, for change. So keep logging into Community Values Vote to join the discussion after the results are in, hear how community organizers are interpreting the results and add your voice to our shared agenda for the future.
Since community organizers were front-and-center in this election -- sometimes celebrated, sometimes mocked -- why not hear from community organizers as Election Day unfolds? Check out the Community Values Vote blog, www.communitychange.org/vote, with eyewitness Election Day reports from community organizers and grassroots leaders across the country, with spin-free, on-the-ground accounts of turnout trends, voter suppression and moment-to-moment analysis.
After all, the real story of this election isn't the candidates but communities -- a movement of everyday Americans coming together for the common good. Even more so than the candidates and the enthusiasm generated for them, what is heartening about this election is the new level of enthusiasm for America and for democracy. In Washington State, Washington Community Action's phones have been ringing every 20 seconds for the last few days with new volunteers clamoring to help turnout first-time and unlikely voters. In Virginia, a grocery worker and volunteer with the Virginia Organizing Project has been stuffing non-partisan voter guides in every grocery bag and encouraging shoppers to vote. In Iowa, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement volunteered to register new immigrant voters at community soccer games.
These are the kinds of stories captured on Community Values Vote, a first-ever grassroots Election Day blog that will report up-to-the-minute, eyewitness accounts at a level of intimacy no media outlet can capture. With grassroots contributors from key electoral states and more, you'll find video reports, photographs and moment-to-moment text message updates directly from the grassroots, from the leaders that know these elections best.
The Community Values Vote blog will show why community organizing has been instrumental in getting us to this moment -- the difference that it makes when everyday people are empowered not just to pull a lever but to really have a voice in the future of our country. Hear about the election first-hand from real people in their communities -- not more of those manufactured, attention-hungry "undecideds" but actual people. Including you. Don't forget to log-on and post your own Election Day analysis, photos and more.
And continue to watch after the election, because for grassroots organizations the real fight begins on November 5th. While the Washington pundits will try to push for a middle-of-the-road, more of the same agenda for the new President, grassroots organizations will be pressing the people's demands for big solutions to the big problems we face. Once the election is over, it is these grassroots organizations that will be the vehicle for the American public to continue to press their vision, together, for change. So keep logging into Community Values Vote to join the discussion after the results are in, hear how community organizers are interpreting the results and add your voice to our shared agenda for the future.
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