Project Wonderful

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Team and Relational Organizing with Shola Farber


If you haven't already, you're going to hear a lot about relational organizing this cycle. There are so many great (and some not great) tools already out there and more popping up all the time. One of my favorites is Team, a product made by the Tuesday Company. I interviewed co-founder Shola Farber to tell us what it's all about.


1) Who are you? (Tell us a little about yourself and how you got here)
My name is Shola Farber and I’m the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of The Tuesday Company. While serving as a Michigan-based regional director for the 2016 Clinton Campaign, I saw how traditional organizing methods like phone-banking and door-knocking prevented us from reaching large groups of voters. This mid-20th century approach is impersonal, fails to account for the modern ways that Americans consume information, and leaves many citizens out of the political process.

I co-founded The Tuesday Company to bring the best practices of community organizing online. Our mobile app, Team, allows campaigns, nonprofits, and unions to build digital communities that reach more people, increase civic engagement, and help movements build power.

2) What is relational organizing and why is it important?Frankly, I believe all good organizing is relational. Relational organizing is simply friends talking to friends about the things that they care about. It is the natural way to build relationships with members of your community, which is exactly what organizers do! Plus, it’s proven to be more impactful than outreach by strangers. Think about it: we’re more likely to try restaurants or check out new TV shows if recommended to us by friends and people we trust. Why wouldn’t it be the same with civic action?

3) Where/how has it been done well in the past?
The Obama ‘08 and ‘12 campaigns used relational organizing to harness the excitement of President Obama’s supporters and encourage them to talk about him in their own communities. The campaign provided the personal attention, helpful instruction, and exciting motivation that used relational organizing to transform supporters into President Obama’s brand ambassadors. As a result, volunteers were ready to share why they supported Barack Obama when they visited friends and called neighbors. Additionally, faith-based community organizations, workers rights groups, and environmental advocates have been doing ‘relational organizing’ for decades.

4) What is Team/The Tuesday Company?
The Tuesday Company brings the best practices of community organizing online. Our mobile app, Team, opens up direct communication between organizations and their supporters to build a home for your organizing effort..

Team’s efficacy rests on its ability to digitally scale trust-based relationships - and especially the sense of community and belonging these relationships create - so that organizers can activate supporters to take meaningful action. We have organizations of all sizes that use Team for rapid response, to assemble and deploy online armies of retweeters, and to expand their reach beyond target contact lists.

5) Why is it particularly important this cycle?
In our experience, digital community-building and friend-to-friend contact on Team leads to engagement rates of over 80% and can be 20X more effective than traditional outreach methods, particularly among low-income, millennial, and minority groups.

In our time of super close elections, it has never been more important to engage every single voter. Tech products like Team allow organizations to engage more people at once in a trackable, scalable way. Also, by meeting people in the digital space we’re increasing the total number of supporters contacted by field programs and diversifying who is engaged.

Team isn’t just being embraced by organizations, but also by the supporters themselves. People are craving ways to take immediate, tangible action for the campaigns and causes they care about. A supporter using Team is 250x more likely to share content than a Facebook follower. This is because they feel engaged with the organization and know they are an integral part of that organization’s success, rather than being a passive follower of a page.

6) Who is involved?
Entrepreneurship, politics, and tech are industries notoriously dominated by white men. From Day 1 as our COO, I insisted we institute HR policies to ensure we could recruit the best and the brightest - from all walks of life. To give you some context:

50% of our technical employees are women, 75% of our sales team are women, and 60% of our Director-level staff are women. Our software engineers are 100% immigrants or people of color. Approximately 25% of founders and staff identify as LGTBQ, and our CTO is a military veteran.

These stats are pretty astounding for any company, let alone a political tech company. We believe that the best technology is built by people who are as diverse as the communities the tool seeks to serve, and we’re proud to walk that walk. I truly couldn’t be more proud of the team behind Team.

7) What are some examples of the best ways to use Team?
During the 2018 Midterms, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) deployed Team nationally to help flip 40 of 41 seats in the House of Representatives from red-to-blue. In Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, Sean Casten for Congress turned every supporter into a digital influencer. On one memorable night, hundreds of supporters attended house parties across the district because they were invited by their friends – via Team. At these parties, attendees met the candidate via live stream and downloaded Team. Before leaving, each one of those supporters received a personalized greeting inside the app from a campaign staffer. These messages strengthened bonds between organizers and supporters and increased long-term engagement.

However, Team isn’t only for electoral campaigns. In fact, some of our best use cases were from issue advocacy organizations like Stand Up for Ohio and unions like AFSCME Council 5 in Minnesota. Team works with these organizations’ already existing field programs to make an impact on a meaningful scale.

Now, four major presidential campaigns are using Team to amplify their messages during live debates and to combat misinformation online. We are really excited for how these campaigns will weave Team into their national field programs.

8) If folks used Team last cycle what will they find new and different this time?
One of our biggest innovations last cycle was the introduction of Team Chat - a community feature that connects organizers with volunteers. This feature allowed organizers to build relationships with volunteers, and to transform these relationships into action-oriented digital communities.

Since the last cycle, we’ve expanded our set of community-building features. We made it possible for supporters to talk to each other on Team Chat through a group function, allowing organizations to foster a sense of community by connecting supporters together.

Another fantastic new feature came from feedback of organizations like yours: Team’s Share Drawer allows supporters to share content through their personal accounts on virtually any digital platform including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram DMs. In fact, a supporter using Team is 250x more likely to share content than a Facebook follower.

9) What new features or partners are you excited about coming up (if you can tell us)?
We are finishing up a feature that allows supporters on Team to reach people in their community without needing a phone number. They can canvass anyone, anytime, anywhere! Often called ‘street canvassing’, the idea is that an LGTBQ advocacy org could send its supporters out to canvass at a Pride Parade or a labor union could send its members to canvass members from other locals who they don’t know at the state convention. Street canvassing empowers Team users to take action that supports the organizations they care about, even without much guidance from their organizers.

We just recently updated Team’s content sharing features. Now, organizers can upload anything (eg a petition, a video, a fundraising link - you name it) and supporters can create a post on their platform of choice with that content and script as the basis. This opens the door for supporters to drive conversations as trusted messengers on Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, GroupMe, Snapchat, Facebook, and more.

In terms of partnerships this year, we’re excited to be supporting many advocacy organizations working around the 2020 Census. We’re also supporting lots of long-term organizing efforts for both state parties and nonprofits. Finally, we’re thrilled to be helping labor unions engage their members and grow their membership.

10) What else do you want our readers to know?
We live in an era of fake news, expansive voter suppression efforts, and unbelievably large sums of money in politics. We are also living in a moment when hundreds of thousands of people are marching in the streets, tens of thousands are becoming first time candidates, and many millions are being raised in small amounts from everyday people looking to make an incremental difference.

We built a tool for the organizer who wants to build a community of active, passionate supporters. Team is a resource for the supporter who wants to take meaningful actions and have conversations with their friends about the causes and candidates they care about. It enables a rapid response on social to share the amazing stories of candidates and supporters. With Team, users join a community of supporters, bring more voices into the discussion, and empower others to take action.

At The Tuesday Company, we are creating technology to build a more connected, inclusive world. I can’t think of a higher or better use of my time!

Thanks so much, Shola! You can find out more about Team/The Tuesday Company here.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

It's An Election Year! Help Out These Races In Virginia.



One of my biggest pet peeves is the term "off-year." I get what people mean, but the reality is that important elections are happening every single year. The most famous set of "off-year" elections happen in the Virginia Legislature, although off year elections occur in New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, and municipalities from New York to St.Paul.This year some of the things at stake in Virginia are passing the ERA, raising the minimum wage and of course the redistricting process.

If you, like me, are weirded out about an autumn without an election, have no fear! Click here to sign up to make calls for some of these important races! ***NOW UPDATED WITH TX and MS RACES AS WELL**

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Do You Know The Faces That Are Running for President?


Kirsten Gillibrand, Jay Inslee, Seth Moultan, John Hickenlooper and Eric Swalwell have all dropped out but there are still a BUNCH of candidates in this race, even as nearly half of them didn't qualify for the next debate. Before more candidates drop out I thought it would be fun to see how many we can identify based on their faces alone. H/t to this Politico article for the pictures and for Kelly Dietrich the (long overdue in publishing) idea.


I'm going to post the individual pictures of the candidates below with their names blocked out and then post them as a group names in. I will tell you honestly I'm not sure I would have gotten 100%. Comment below and let me know how you did!























(Click to enlarge)

How did you do? Comment below!



Where to Eat in Swing States, Early Primary States and More!



When I tell people I liked the food in Little Rock more than the food in Southern California, they are often surprised. Thinking about it, I can't really compare the two objectively because I had such excellent guides in Arkansas. Similarly, now that I'm in Minnesota (I'm exhausted just reading this. Someone hire me for good post-2020!) I'm on the hunt for neighborhood go-tos as well as places to eat as I travel about the state. And I thought, "Everyone should be as lucky as I was with my crew in Arkansas!" So, I've crowd sourced places to eat in early states, swing states and more. This will be an evolving list so please feel free to comment with your faves! Huge thank you to all my many friends both real and Internet for contributing.


Key:
Bold-I have personally eaten there, CAN CONFIRM.
Italics- Vegan or vegan-friendly. (Not exhaustive, these are just places I know for sure are vegan friendly)
"" Are comments for contributors
() Contain comments from yours truly

Early States:

Iowa
The Cafe, Ames
Downtown Deli, Ames
Fuzzy's Tacos, Ames
Great Plains Pizza, Ames
Hickory Park, Ames
The Spice, Ames
Whitney's Ice Cream, Bettendorf
La Tavola Italian, Burlington
Jay's Homestyle, Cedar Falls
Taste of India, Cedar Falls
Irish Democrat, Cedar Rapids
Cabin Coffee, Clear Lake
Rice House, Clear Lake
30 Hop, Coralville
La Vecina, Coralville
Monica's, Coralville
Scratch Bakery, Coralville
Vesta, Coralville
La Prairie French Bakery, Des Moines
Mars Cafe, Des Moines
St. Kilda, Des Moines
Zombie Burger, Des Moines
Dubuque Mining Company, Dubuque
Mario's, Dubuque (It is ALWAYS someone's birthday in there. They are constantly singing happy birthday)
Salsa's, Dubuque
Schera's, Elkader
Blackstone, Iowa City
Blue Bird Diner, Iowa City
Brix, Iowa City
The Cottage Bakery, Iowa City
Dumpling Darling, Iowa City and Des Moines
Goosetown Cafe, Iowa City
Hamburg Inn No. 2, Iowa City "For the pie shakes" (Famous popular stop for Presidential candidates because of the coffee bean poll)
Her Soup Kitchen, Iowa City
Java House, Iowa City
The Mill, Iowa City "Get the Nachos" (Also best option for day drinking)
Oasis, Iowa City (This came up from multiple sources and remembering how good it is,I almost jumped in the car.)
Pagliai’s, Iowa City (Guys seriously this is the best pizza I have ever had in the Midwest)
Pullman, Iowa City
La Regia, Iowa City
Short’s, Iowa City "Get the burger or black bean burger"
Stella's, Iowa City
Trumpet Blossom, Iowa City
The Vue, Iowa City
Rudy's Tacos, Waterloo

New Hampshire
The Friendly Toast, Bedford and Portsmouth (Had one near my college too! The stuffed french toast is the best brunch I've ever had)
Crust and Crumb, Concord
Dos Amigos, Concord
Margaritas, Concord, Exeter, Nashua, Portsmouth
Vibes, Concord
The Works, Concord and Portsmouth
The Bookery, Manchester
Cafe la Reine, Manchester
Gyro Spot, Manchester
The Puritan Backroom, Manchester
Noodz, Manchester
Portland Pie Company, Manchester
Red Arrow Diner, Manchester "Get the poutine!"
Hart's Turkey Farm Restaurant, Meredith
Parker’s Maple Barn, Mason
Ava Marie’s Chocolates, Peterborough
Bagel Mill,Peterborough
Fezziwigs, Portsmouth
Popover's, Portsmouth
Tuscan Market, Portsmouth
Kashmir, Salem
Tilt'n Diner, Tilton

Nevada
Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas
Habaneros, Las Vegas
Capriotti's, Las Vegas

South Carolina
Fruit Punch, Anderson "Get a bird dog. It’s a hot dog with chicken fingers, bacon, honey mustard and cheese"
Callie's Hot Little Biscuit, Charleston
Bowen's Island, Folly Beach
Pita House, Greenville

Swing States and other states in which contributors have worked

Arizona
Horsemen Lodge, Flagstaff
America's Taco Shop, Phoenix

Arkansas
Doe's Eat Place, Little Rock (BEST tamales)
Lost Forty Brewery, Little Rock
Sims BBQ, Little Rock
Slim Chickens, Little Rock
Three Fold, Little Rock

California
Georgia's, Anaheim (In the Anaheim packing district. Get the spicy chicken sandwich)
Grow, Anaheim (Get an iced lavender latte and the avocado toast)
Mendocino Farms, Multiple locations (Everything is delicious but I am partial to the chicken caesar salad)
Cafe Moulin, Laguna Beach "Get the French hotdog, only available at the Laguna Beach location and only in the summer"
Two Saucy Broads, Fullerton (Best pizza in Orange County)
Christaki's, Tustin (Sit down place. Best gyro in the area)

Colorado
La Caretta, Colorado Springs
Poor Richard's, Denver
Charlie Brown's, Denver
City O City, Denver
Denver Beer Company, Denver
Denver Biscuit Company, Denver
Lechuga's, Denver
Pablo's Coffee, Denver
Rosenberg's Bagels, Denver
Sam's #3, Denver
Santiago's, Denver
Sassafras, Denver
Vital Root, Denver
Watercourse, Denver

Delaware
Capriotti's, Multiple locations

Florida
Publix, Multiple locations (Yes, the grocery store. I left this in because people are obsessed with their subs)
Four Rivers Smokehouse, Multiple locations
Satchel's Pizza, Gainesville
Basilic Vietnamese Grill, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Alter, Miami
The Big Pink, Miami
Garcia's, Miami
Monty's, Miami "For Happy Hour"
Prime Fish, Miami Beach "Bottomless brunch"
Kadence Sushi, Orlando
Carmine's, Palm Beach Garden
Columbia Restaurant, St.Petersburg and Tampa
Wright's Gourmet House, Tampa


Michigan
Zingerman's, Ann Arbor (Have not eaten there but have gotten a gift basket from them and made their mushroom soup recipe)
Anchor Bar, Detroit
Slow's BBQ, Detroit

Minnesota
Matt's, Minneapolis "for the Juicy Loosy"
Mucci's, Minneapolis (favorite rec I've received so far in MN. The bucatini, focaccia and tiramisu are especially delicious)
Safari Express, Minneapolis "For the camel burger"
Canadian Honker, Rochester
Lifestooshort, Rochester
Nupa, Rochester
Hunan Garden, Rochester
Bloedows Bakery, Winona

Missouri
Gates, Kansas City, "burnt ends, plus they have the best sauce"
Jack Stack, Kansas City "cheesy corn bake"
Joe's, Kansas City "burnt ends, pulled pork, fries"
Q39, Kansas City "pork ribs"

North Carolina
Fiction Kitchen, Raleigh
Happy & Hale, Raleigh

Rise, Raleigh (I'm obsessed with their creme brulee donut and I don't even like donuts. Also their biscuits are baking goals)


Ohio
Melt, Multiple Cities
Swenson's, Akron "LeBron took Amy Schumer and co to Swensons, so it's good enough for me!"
Campus Pollyeyes, Bowling Green
Yours Truly, Chagrin Falls "the Killit Skillet is the best hangover food on the planet"
Side Quest, Cleveland
Slyman's, Cleveland
Sweet Moses, Cleveland
West Side Market and Greenhouse Tavern, Cleveland
Jeni’s Ice Cream, Columbus
Katzinger's Delicatessen, Columbus
Little Palace, Columbus
North Market, Columbus
Old Skool, Columbus
Schmidt's Sausage Haus, Columbus
Tony Packos, Toledo

Pennsylvania
Bird in Hand Farmer's Market, Bird in Hand
Hibernian Cafe, Drexel Hill
Klein Farms, Easton
Tomato Pie Cafe, Harrisburg
Cocina Mexicana, Lancaster
Prince Street Cafe, Lancaster
Sprout, Lancaster
The Vandal, Lawrenceville
Dim Sum by Jane G, Philadelphia
Han Dynasty, Philadelphia (MaPo Tofu and the DanDan Noodles are both excellent)
Jim's Steaks South Street, Philadelphia
South Philly Barbacoa, Philadelphia
Tony Luke's Sandwich Shop, Philadelphia
Jimmie John's, West Chester "Not the sandwich place!"

Virginia
Bodos Bagels, Charlottesville
Okra's, Manasaas (My husband's favorite)

Wisconsin
The Vegetarian, St. Croix Falls
Dotty Dumpling's Dowry, Madison
Graze, Madison
Ian's Pizza, Madison
Monty's Blue Plate Diner, Madison
The Old Fashioned, Madison (the CHEESE CURDS you guys)
Pel'meni, Madison
Weary Traveler, Madison
Tornado Room, Madison
Sobelmans’s, Milwaukee "for burgers and Bloody Marys"
Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee "for Friday Fish Fry"
Kopp’s, Milwaukee "for frozen custard and burgers"


This list is far from exhaustive even within my own brain so please get at me with your suggestions! And/or comment below if you are looking for a place to eat in your turf. Maybe someone has been there before!



Friday, August 9, 2019

Campaign Greenhouse



Thank you to everyone who filled out my survey! One of the things people said they would be interested in is some coaching for small campaigns. Not only is that something I already offer, but I do so with a fabulous organization. Please welcome Sally Boyton-Brown of Campaign Greenhouse to tell you more about what they do.

1) Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a social philanthropist who ensures everyone finds support on their path to connect more deeply with our democracy. I have owned a number of small businesses, worked on campaigns at every level of the ballot, and worked with State Parties for most of my political career. In 2016 I ran for DNC Chair and came in 3rd. My intention was to move the conversation to an aspirational vision of our Party and ensure a female voice was present. As CEO of Campaign Greenhouse we have the opportunity to revolutionize how and which candidates receives support to ensure everyone has a pathway to power. I live in Boise, Idaho and have three adult children. My husband and I have two cats and a dog who are spoiled beyond belief. We play ice-hockey together, meditate daily and love going hot springing in the Idaho mountains. My deep, spiritual faith sustains my political work and keeps me going.

2) What is Campaign Greenhouse?
We are a coaching platform that works with local campaigns who typically raise less than $50,000 and don’t have paid staff. We help ensure campaigns are easier and less expensive to run. We provide a supportive, sustainable campaign experience so that the candidates and their teams will stay involved in the political process well after their election day has come and gone.

3) How did the idea for Campaign Greenhouse come about?
Our founder, Kathryn Poindexter, was regularly approached by friends and other people running for down-ballot offices who couldn’t afford to pay her a living wage, really needed her help and she couldn’t afford to spend all of her time volunteering for them. She started Campaign Greenhouse as a way to help candidates run incrementally more effective races with less resources. She also knew that the only way to tear down racist, misogynistic power structures was to support young or female or queer candidates or candidates of color in running against straight, old, white men at every level of the ballot.

4) How has it evolved since its inception?
I'm excited about our 2018 results at the moment - campaigns who worked with us did on average 16 points better than similar 2018 campaigns who didn't, and the candidates were twice as likely to run again. One of our core values is done is better than perfect and we whole-heartedly embrace the fail up, fail fast business model. We iterated many different ways during our exploration phase and even today continue to ask ourselves how we can serve our candidates best. An example of that is, we tried a number of group communication platforms for resource delivery and have settled on a private Facebook group. It is fast, easy and convenient because the majority of people campaigning are already on it and best yet we can offer it for free since it doesn’t cost us anything.

5) What services does Campaign Greenhouse offer and how much does it cost?
Campaign Greenhouse offers a weekly community coaching call with an expert coach who tracks your campaign goals and provides resources to make the items on your to-do list easier, faster and cheaper. As independent consultants, our coaches set their own prices and generally range between $75-$500 a month for the entire campaign team. We also have a free Campaign Community group anyone can join where they can ask questions, post campaign materials and receive feedback from dozens of national experts in every industry.

6) Who is the right client for Campaign Greenhouse?
Someone who is running or working on the campaign for a local office like school board, judge, council or county seats as well as candidates running for higher office in Republican strongholds. Our clients usually are raising less than $50,000 total and often don’t have paid staff or if they do, they are inexperienced. For instance, perhaps a mother with two young children and a disabled husband at home who works two jobs and is upset at a decision the Principal made at her children’s school and has decided to run for school board. She has no experience and very little time and money. We coach her on how to run the most resilient and sustainable campaign with the available time she has. In this instance, our resources will be heavily focused on templates and how to’s for free activities like social media, door knocking and phone calling. We would also likely discuss how best to involve her children so the campaign can be a family activity. Kids can draw the most amazing pictures for campaign memes and make great video surrogates!

7) What is the coaching program?
Campaigns visit our coach gallery to choose the coach who is the best fit for them. The link to Nancy's profile is here. They go through an on-boarding process and are assigned to a weekly call with other campaigns to discuss their goals, challenges and brainstorm solutions to the items on their to-do list which feel the most unfamiliar or are daunting. The campaign world is full of jargon and tasks like compliance, messaging, targeting, and data tracking that most people aren’t familiar with. Our coaches walk folks through the day-to-day ups and downs of their race, using training resources to motivate and inspire good campaign practices.

8) Who can/should take advantage of coaching?
Coaching can obviously help candidates themselves a great deal, especially first-time candidates. When it comes right down to it though, we can help anyone who is working with a campaign more than 10 hours a week with a substantial amount of responsibility. This can include the candidate's spouse or family members, their treasurer, involved folks from their local party committee or club or even inexperienced paid staff.

9) What is one great win you had last cycle?
We had a candidate who was prepared to invest their life-savings into their race and was prepared for a potential divorce because of poor advice they had gotten from others. Our coach was able to help them adjust their expectations, schedule a weekly date night with their spouse, run a race with the money they had fundraised and plan on a multi-cycle strategy to flip their district. They woke up the morning after election having lost with a social media post that said, “Not sleeping in. #stillacandidate #2020” These are the type of wins we focus on! Did people run a more resilient, sustainable race because of our coaching where they did better on the ballot and want to stay involved? If the answer is yes then we have done our job.

10) What is next for Campaign Greenhouse?
At the end of this summer we will be launching our CG Marketplace. The Marketplace is designed to help our coaches connect campaigns with the vendors and services they will need to run their races. We want to ensure they have the best options available to them at the price that makes sense for their budget. We do all the haggling over pricing and packaging and make sure campaigns are clear on where their money is going and how it fits into their overall strategy and budget.

11) What else would you like us to know?
We work in a lot of non-partisan races and ask all of our candidates to sign our justice pledge prior to joining our community; I will stand for justice. I will work to ensure social, environmental, economic, reproductive, and cultural laws that advance individual equality, dignity, and a reasonable standard of living, especially to the most vulnerable and marginalized amongst us. If you feel like this describes you and would like to join our community either as a volunteer expert, campaign or a potential coach please visit our website.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Please Take A Quick Survey to Help Me Make The Blog Even Better



I told you I have big plans for the blog and they didn't go away...just got delayed a little bit. Please fill out this survey to help me figure out what you want to see!


Thank you in advance!!!

xoxo,

Nancy

Elevate Training For Candidates With Disabilities!


Good morning! It is highly possible I'm the worst. I had so many good posts planned and then life happened and now it is all backed up. Sincerest apologies to Sarah Blahovec and Neal Carter who sent me these answers over a week ago! More to come!


1) Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Sarah Blahovec, and I am the Disability Vote Organizer for the National Council on Independent Living, where I work on issues across the civic engagement spectrum for people with disabilities. I've been in this role for nearly three years, and I work on both voting rights and issues around running for office. I have a disability myself, a severe chronic illness, which greatly influenced my career path (I got a degree in International Studies, and after college worked in administrative jobs while building my profile and learning about disability rights). I believe that everybody can find a role in civic engagement and the public sector, and that's not just restricted to being a candidate. There's campaign staff, volunteers, political appointees, government staff, and even jobs like mine, where I work on civic engagement through a nonprofit.

2) What is NCIL?

The National Council on Independent Living is the longest-running cross-disability advocacy organization in the country. It is the membership organization for centers for independent living (CILs) and statewide independent living councils (SILCs). NCIL operates on the philosophy of independent living, which emphasizes that people with disabilities are the best experts on their own needs, and we are deserving of equal opportunity. While NCIL is a membership organization for CILs and SILCs, which are non-residential community resource centers led by the disability community to help people with disabilities remain independent, we also have a committee structure that organizes around a vast number of advocacy priorities, everything from voting rights and civil rights to transportation, housing, diversity, and so much more.

3) Tell us about the Elevate training

The Elevate training is a five-week webinar pilot program geared towards first-time candidates with disabilities, as well as people who want to work with candidates with disabilities or in campaigns as a person with a disability. It is taught from a cross-disability perspective and has five expert political consultants who will talk about how to successfully fundraise, kick off a campaign, craft your message as a candidate, find staff, and talk to voters. While all are welcome, we designed it in a way that understands that our identities don't exist in a vacuum, and that candidates with disabilities who come from other marginalized backgrounds will have different experiences. All of our trainers are people of color, some are women of color, and all are great allies to marginalized candidates. This series was developed with Neal Carter, Principal of Nu View Consulting, as our lead consultant to help design the entire curriculum. Neal is an expert in campaigns and runs the only black-owned, disability owned political consulting firm in existence. He has extensive knowledge both from a campaigns and cross-disability perspective, and his work on this project has been key to its development.

4) Why is it important to have a specific campaign training for people with disabilities?

The barriers that candidates with disabilities experience are twofold: there are both attitudinal and access barriers in the campaign world. These manifest in ways that make it much harder for many candidates with disabilities to run a successful political campaign. They may experience physical barriers to participating in the campaign process, roadblocks from local parties who do not want to provide accommodations, or ableist beliefs from voters and opponents who don't understand that disabled people can be leaders.

5) What different challenges and opportunities might candidates with disabilities face?

I've seen many candidates with disabilities experience challenges from their local party. For instance, many Deaf candidates have not been given an interpreter to participate in a local forum, or forums or other events may be held in inaccessible locations. Some voters may think that a disabled person shouldn't run for office because they have negative beliefs about what a candidate should look like, sound like, or act like. Some candidates may end up being pigeonholed as "the disabled candidate," and their knowledge and expertise on issues outside of disability-specific concerns may not be recognized. That being said, there are many opportunities for candidates with disabilities as well. There are many successful public office holders with disabilities that represent not just the disability community but all of their constituents. They bring unique lived experience and can advocate for both disability-specific and community-wide changes. Many disabled people are primed for leadership because they exist in a society that isn't built for their needs, and so they become resilient, adaptable, and great problem solver. Elevate will help people with disabilities take these characteristics and give them the campaign skills they need to literally elevate their leadership to public office.

6) What is different about this training?

This training is the first of its kind (that we know of) in addressing the needs of candidates with disabilities. It will not only address the concerns that all candidates have around things like fundraising, messaging, voter contact, and operations, but will be able to talk about the accommodations and adaptations that candidates or campaign staff with disabilities can make to run a campaign successfully as a person with a disability. We can speak to how to canvass and phone bank when you have disabilities that may make walking neighborhoods and talking on phones challenging, how to hire staff and volunteers who can work with your access needs, and much more. This will in fact be a little bit of an experiment: we can anticipate some of the questions that we'll get from different participants, but we're sure that we'll also get some very disability-specific questions that may take more thought or research. I'm prepared to take any questions that we can't confidently answer, find the right person (likely someone with that access need or disability who has run for office before), and find the answer.

7) The next training is coming up. Are there plans for another one soon?

This is a pilot training that had a very specific grant, and so we're going to see how this one goes, but we really would love to keep this going both in an online format and through in-person trainings. For that, we need to raise the money! If this program is a success, we are hoping that it will draw potential donors and investors who see the value in continuing to grow this project.

8) Are there any specific resources for campaign operatives with disabilities?

At NCIL, we have created a guide for access and inclusion geared at political campaigns. "Including People with Disabilities in Your Political Campaign: A Guide for Campaign Staff" is an extensive (and free) document on many aspects of including people with disabilities in a political campaign. It is geared towards those who have little knowledge of the disability community, and discusses things like basic disability etiquette and understanding different disabilities and access needs, making events and information accessible to voters with disabilities, and adapting different campaign tasks and roles to staff and volunteers with disabilities. It is available at www.ncil.org/campaign-guide. We would love to create more resources like this and to expand our work around political campaigns, and are looking for opportunities to do so (which means money to do so, as well).

9) Are there any current candidates or elected officials with disabilities you'd like to highlight?

We keep databases of candidates and elected officials with disabilities, available at www.ncil.org/candidates and www.ncil.org/elected-officials. This is far from an exhaustive list, as it is open source and based on community contributions. There are around 520,000 elected positions throughout the United States, and while it isn't difficult to learn about some Congressional candidates and elected officials (if they openly identify as having a disability), it gets very hard to track all of the candidates and elected officials at the local and state levels. If you know of anybody who should be added to the list, please visit these websites and submit their name, and we'll make sure to add them!

10) What else do you want us to know?

For this program and for all of the work around civic engagement for the disability community to be successful, we really need people to show up and show their support. Whether you're attending Elevate (please do!), voting in an election (including state and local elections), volunteering on a campaign, trying to find paid work in the campaign space, or advocating for changes in your government, or even donating to programs like ours so that we can continue to build these programs, your presence is essential to building a bigger consciousness around the political participation of people with disabilities.


Please check out NCIL and Nu View Consulting!

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Organizing Corps 2020!




I had the pleasure of getting to know Jonae when she was the North Carolina Coordinated Director in 2016 and I was managing the LG's race. When I found out she was training the next generation of organizers I was like, "yes please!" Read more to learn about Organizing Corps 2020 and then share with someone who should participate! (**Note, Deadline is April 8th!)

1) Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself and your career trajectory.
My name is Jonae and Im an ORGANIZER! :-). No really, I started my career as an organizer, right out of college, working on the Barack Obama campaign. This single opportunity changed the course of my life and my career. Since then, Ive had the good fortune of working for lots of great candidates and causes. Most recently I transitioned from my. role at the Southern Region Director at the DNC to join the team at Organizing Corps 2020 as Chief Program Officer!

2) What is Organizing Corps 2020?
Organizing Corps 2020 is an initiative that will train the next generation of campaign organizers and create diverse talent pipeline in key battleground states: FL, GA, NC, MI. WI, PA, AZ. We recognize that the only way to take back the White House next year and have lasting impact on communities is to start early training and hiring local talent. This is PAID 8- week program will teach participants campaign organizing skills that will help them get jobs on the presidential campaign.

3) Who is it for?/Who should participate?
The first wave of our program (this summer) is aimed at rising seniors who are graduating in the Spring of 2020. We will have multiple waves of the program for December graduates and career-switchers.

4) How does it differ from other trainings?
We are training the next generation of campaign organizers. There are lots of great training programs that focus on various political skills at all levels. This program focuses specifically on field organizers, people who will be on the front lines of the fight to take back the White House and transform communities across the country

5) Why is this program important?
We started the 2016 general election at a disadvantage- we didn't have the army of trained organizers that we needed until far too late in the cycle. We didn't have the time to provide the necessary training. Like 2016, this primary season will be long. And while we don't know who the Democratic nominee will be; we do know that they will need hundreds of trained field organizers to win. This program will help train and develop those organizers more than a year in advance.

6) What should participants expect?
An amazing summer learning and practicing the skills that you need to become an organizer during the 2020 presidential cycle.

7) How can we apply?
Go to organizingcorps2020.com and apply today! The application deadline is Monday, April 8th.

8) Anything else you want us to know?
For future applicants: this is the absolute best way to spend your summer- hands down. Many of the greatest leaders of our time (*cough* Barack Obama, *cough*) started as organizers! For anyone who know a future applicant: SHARE THIS INFORMATION- the deadline is coming soon on April 8th!

Monday, March 4, 2019

What I've been reading lately

I have some very exciting things planned for myself and this blog coming up but it's leaving me with scant time to write as I would like to. Still there is so much going on in the world that I'd like to discuss with you and share so I've decided to start a weekly roundup of campaign and election-related material that I've found interesting.

Here is round one:

You Don't Have to Like Bernie Sanders to Like Bernie Sanders on Jezebel
This is possibly the most eloquent expression of my feelings on Bernie Sanders' 2020 candidacy and I didn't even write it. For lefty progressive women who are not comfortable with Bernie or those trying to understand us, this is a great read.
Female Donors Gaining Influence as 2020 Kicks Off on OpenSecrets

I wrote and thought a lot about women donors in grad school so I am always interested in following these trends. Where a candidate's money comes from, including gender breakdown of donors, says a lot about them and the trends show that women are leveraging our economic power to our political advantage like never before.
The Electability Trap from WaPo
Enough with this "but other people won't elect a woman" bullshit. It's a trope and a lie that only perpetuates itself.
The Shutdown Made Sara Nelson America's Most Powerful Flight Attendant from the New York Times
Trust me, you're going to love this woman.
Ranch Lady on the Hill and elsewhere
This is the most quintessential Iowa Caucus moment ever to ranch on ranch dressing. The intimate setting. The entitlement. The ranch. If I had to summarize the caucus experience in nutshell, this would be it.
Bernie Sanders Asks Surrogates to Engage Respectfully With Democratic Rivals
It's been really interesting to watch the dialectic in Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign of trying to do better and old habits dying hard.
Dollars on the Margins from New York Times Magazine
To quote straight from the piece "A living wage is an antidepressant. It is a sleep aid. A diet. A stress reliever. It is a contraceptive, preventing teenage pregnancy.It prevents premature death. It shields children from neglect."
Campaign Culture Must Change by Brice Barnes on Medium "Campaigns are the last species of business to adapt to change. It is the ultimate workplace where there are no rules, no boundaries, no employment handbook, and typically no formal Human Resources department. Everything goes and it truly is the survival of the fittest and strongest. As a professional in the land of no rules, especially as a woman, and even more so as a mom, I find myself working within an industry lacking a handbook for people like me." I am feeling this so hard as I think about my next steps in my career path, my desire to be in the same place as my husband and to eventually start a family. Weird how you guys started crying.
Elizabeth Warren is Not Doing Call Time or Fundraisers on CNN and elsewhere
It should be noted that Bernie Sanders had this same policy in 2016. And it makes sense...if you're in a crowded primary and running against special interests. That said, an I cannot stress this enough, Democratic donors large and small know who Sanders and Warren are and where to find them. Candidates: unless you are a national name you still have to do call time. Sorry.

What are you reading? What else should I read? Let me know if you liked this round up and you'd like to see more.



Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Presidential Campaign Resume Banks

Hello Campaignsickles! I miss you and I'm so sorry I haven't been up to blogging lately. Like many of you, I am unemployed post-2018 elections and trying to figure out what comes next. That means that my writing time, and much of my emotional energy, is going into cover letters and networking emails instead of my beloved blog.

In the meantime, I have gotten tons of questions about working on Presidential campaigns, both whether and how to. If you have never done a Presidential primary, I highly recommend it. I hope to write more on that in the near future. For now, here are the Presidential job banks, that I know of. I will update as I learn more. So please if you are involved with a Democratic campaign I haven't listed, send me a note and I'll gladly put it on the list. Happy hunting!

Nancy

Kamala Harris: resumes@kamalaharris.org

Elizabeth Warren

Kirsten Gillbrand

Julian Castro

Cory Booker


Pete Buttigieg

Amy Klobuchar: resume@amyklobuchar.com

Andrew Yang: apply@yang2020.com

Beto O'Rourke

Bernie Sanders

Joe Biden