“If poor people voted in proportion to their numbers, a whole different national agenda could emerge. The Center for Community Change has the experience and vision to be a leader in this transformation.”
- Celinda Lake
Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates
The more than 23 million adult Americans who live in poverty have little voice in our democracy. Many vote infrequently or not at all. In 2000, voters living below the poverty line had a voter turn-out rate of 38%. Since the poor have little money or political clout, they can easily be – and usually are – written off by politicians. But if they decide to use the power of the ballot box, they can change the way this country works, for them and all of us.
The Community Voting Project (CVP) aims to play a major role in this sea change, starting with the 2004 election. Leading up to the election, CVP will register 115,000 new voters and mobilize 250,000 new and infrequent voters, emphasizing involvement of low-income immigrants and people of color. This work will be done in partnership with some of the country’s strongest and deepest community organizations.The CVP is innovative. It funds and trains local groups to design projects based on their “close-to-the-ground” perspective; uses fresh, relevant messages that convince low-income people their vote matters; and, elevates issues through a potent combination of grassroots organizing plus events and media activity. At the same time, it promotes best practices and requires a high level of accountability from everyone involved.
Project Strategies
- Intensive partnerships with selected local organizations. Selected organizations in 10 states received grants of up to $130,000 to produce sophisticated, high-volume, non-partisan voter programs. Partners set numeric goals for voter registration and mobilization. Each state built a voter file and communicated with all voters in the file on a repeated basis, delivering a message consistent with national goals. Partners will also work to ensure that voting rights are protected.
- General program. Twenty-four community-based organizations received training and modest financial support to: enhance voter participation; ensure that voting rights are protected; and, focus attention on those least likely to participate, including immigrants, youth, and ex-felons who are eligible to vote.
- Messaging. CVP will conduct polls and focus groups to develop voter messages that effectively make the connection between federal policy and the everyday lives of low-income people.
- Publicity. Voter contact and project impact is enhanced by local/national events, meetings with media, and paid advertising experiments that raise issues affecting poor people.
- Assessment and follow-up. Following the election, CVP will work with organizations to gauge the project’s success, using precinct analysis, voter file analysis, and voter polling. Evaluation results, along with enhanced voter files, will be shared with partners. Training will prepare groups to use the voter files to build membership and increase their impact.
Intensive Program States and Partners
The Intensive Program focuses on ten states:
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
“For the last four years, the Center has been our major national partner on economic justice organizing issues. Now the CVP will help us get concrete skills and resources so we can ensure that immigrant voters turn out and have a voice on what really matters to them.”
- Joshua Hoyt, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
The Community Voting Project is partnering with a variety of groups in these states, including immigrant and faith-based organizations, community groups, welfare and rural advocates, and social service providers. Each group selected for the CVP has a history of working collaboratively with the Center, demonstrates the capacity and commitment to undertake the project, represents a substantial low-income base, and is based in a location where anticipated media attention will help motivate new or infrequent voters to participate.
CVP Leadership Team
The Center for Community Change has assembled an outstanding team with a wealth of combined contacts, experience and savvy for the Community Voting Project.
Deepak Bhargava, the Center’s Executive Director, brings leadership and strategic vision that has helped the organization turn its assets into practical strategies to increase voter turnout.
Marvin Randolph, Community Voting Project Director
The Center’s talented field staff, including Marvin Randolph guide a strong, collaborative grassroots effort. A support team including Seth Borgos, Deputy Director, and Karen Stults, Development Director, assist in raising funds, publicizing the project, and linking it with other non-partisan efforts to increase low-income voter turnout. Project consultants include: Heather Booth, Mike Lux, René Redwood, Susan Chinn, Celinda Lake, Laurie Moskowitz, Gail Harmon, and Bernard Craighead.
The Center for Community Change
Since its founding in 1968, the Center for Community Change has played a significant role in building the capacity of hundreds of local groups around the U.S., as well as bringing them together to influence national policy. The Center is known for its historic role in building national and grassroots coalitions that led to the creation of the food stamps program, the enactment of the Community Reinvestment Act, and large-scale preservation of low-income housing. More recently (1999-2002), the Center’s National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support united more than 100 organizations from 40 states to achieve substantial federal policy gains including a refundable child tax credit and restored food stamp eligibility for thousands of immigrant households.
For more information:
Marvin Randolph
Community Voting Project Director
(202) 339-9309
MRandolph@communitychange.org
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