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An Army of Equality Voters

Chris Rudisill

May 01, 2020 |

QNotes Carolinas |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) identified 57 million voters who identify as LGBTQ or allies and used digital and print ads, direct mail, and text and phone outreaches to turnout these “equality voters” in the 2018 mid-term elections. The campaign registered 30,000 new voters and trained 1,600 local volunteers who logged more than 20,000 hours for HRC-endorsed candidates. The campaign effectively increased turnout in the group from 36% in 2016 to 56% in 2018. While there are many more LGBTQ and ally voters not included, the group worked with Catalist to identify voters who are motivated by LGBTQ equality.

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How a Group of Political Novices Ended Gerrymandering in Michigan

Tom Perkins

April 24, 2020 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Michigan

Voters Not Politicians (VPN) is a grassroots initiative that, with the help over 4,000 volunteers who knocked on 125,000 doors and canvassed at public events, collected the 400,000 signatures needed to get an anti-gerrymandering initiative on the statewide ballot. The initiative passed with 61% of the vote in 2018 and requires district boundaries be drawn by average citizens. The group’s founder also started The People, another group to help residents in other states apply VPNs model to stop gerrymandering. So far, residents in Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire are at various stages of applying the model.

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Meet the young lawmakers crossing party lines for a green future

Scott Shigeoka

April 01, 2020 |

Grist |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Iowa

As the youngest state legislators in Iowa, Zach Wahls, a Democrat, and Joe Mitchell, a Republican, are working across party lines to find solutions to climate change. While there has been pushback about their bipartisan work, the duo is bridging the political divide and engaging in dialogue to find common ground on several environmental initiatives like renewable energy.

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Bridging the red and blue divide one conversation at a time

Karen Peterson

March 17, 2020 |

Valley Journal |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Montana

Many groups have formed to reduce political polarization by applying active listening and respectful communication skills. Mission Valley Rises is a small community led group in Montana that hosts events where Republicans and Democrats come together and outline community issues and brainstorm effective responses. Better Angels is a national group that holds citizen-led workshops where, using marriage counseling techniques, people are taught, not to change their own beliefs, but how to respectfully disagree so they can work together to effectively solve common problems.

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Map the Vote app finds unregistered voters in cities and helps get them to the polls

Katherine Rapin

March 11, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Register2Vote (R2V) identified unregistered voters in Texas and built a platform for them to fill out the form online, which R2V printed and mailed to them with a stamped envelope addressed to their county’s registrar’s office. 112,000 of the 156,000 new voters they registered voted in 2018. R2V later created Map the Vote, a nationwide crowdsourced app that maps where unregistered voters live. It also provides tools to help organizations, or even neighbors, register new voters, including scripts that people can use to start a conversation about registering to vote and respond to common voting concerns.

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Meet the Latinos Trying to Get Latinos to the Polls

Isabella Grullón Paz

February 10, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

The Democratic Party consistently struggles to turn out the Latinx vote, which is projected to be 32 million people. Instead of trying to find a cohesive message for this incredibly diverse group of people like in the past, Democratic candidates this year are letting Latinx people lead engagement in their own communities.

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To Sway Swing Voters, Try Empathy

Michael Massing

February 04, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Deep canvassing goes beyond talking points, encouraging empathetic dialogue. The New York-based organization, Changing the Conversation Together, trains volunteers in the practice of deep canvassing. Instead of just focusing on a candidate’s talking points in an effort to mobilize potential voters, deep canvassing promotes conversation, listening, and empathy. Canvassers are taught to relay a personal story, a message of love, as a way to connect with the people they meet.

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Ranked Choice Voting Gains Traction For 2020

Lynsi Burton

January 10, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United Arab Emirates, Maine

Already adopted in eighteen cities and five states, ranked choice voting, a system where voters rank candidates running in an election from their first to last choice, is growing in popularity across the United States. Those states and municipalities that have ranked choice voting claim that this system is fairer and more democratic and the electorate is more satisfied as a result.

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Collective Reincorporation: The FARC's fading dream

Oliver Gordon

November 27, 2019 |

Struggles from Below Magazine |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Colombia, Dabeiba

In an effort to reincorporate former guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Colombian government created Territorial Training and Reincorporation Spaces (ETCRs) to allow partial autonomy for the guerrilla groups. Many of the ETCRs have created successful product businesses - from chicken farms to community gardens - but community members continue to leave, leaving the ETCRs looking to the government for continued support and land rights.

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Philly Sets New Gold Standard for Domestic Worker Protections

Oscar Perry Abello

November 07, 2019 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Giving domestic workers a seat at the table elevates their voices and provides them with access to protections enshrined in labor laws. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the passage of the Philadelphia Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights extends worker protections to those previously left out of traditional labor laws. The new law, passed with the combined effort of the Pennsylvania Domestic Worker Alliance (PDWA), Philadelphia’s City Council, and the support of Philadelphia AFL-CIO, grants domestic workers access to employer-funded benefits and paid time off.

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