COMMUNITY ORGANIZING refers to organizing that 1 Is

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING refers to organizing that: 1. Is Geographic-specific 2. Identifies as its Primary Constituency some set of residents and/or community institutions. 3. Utilizes Issue Campaigns to address specific problems and/or conditions. 4. Consciously and systematically Develops Grassroots Leaders among the Primary Constituency. 5. Seeks to Alter Power Relationships to the benefit of the primary constituency. 6. Builds sustained, ongoing, Independent, Democratic Organization Accountable to the Primary Constituency. CIVIC PARTICIPATION: Strategies that seek to increase politically conscious voter participation and achieve real democracy through the electoral arena: voter registration, education, and turnout.

Different Types/Arenas of Power: • Grassroots Lobbying (e. g. letter-writing, delegations with decision-makers, testimony at hearings) • Direct Action (e. g. Civil Disobedience, disrupting traffic or business) • Media/ Communications (e. g. press conferences, Op-Ed’s, paid advertising) • Electoral

PROBLEMS-CHALLENGESLIMITATIONS REASONS TO BE ACTIVE IN ELECTORAL ARENA 1. Watered down because of where elected and voters are 2. Can be illegal for C 3 1. Can’t ignore issues directly impacting our communities & are hot topics 3. Need huge scale to have impact 4. Only targeting voters 5. Leads to more tactical relations with allies 3. Arena is accessible to many people 6. The power of money 7. Huge drain of resources 4. To make allies. A lot of our allies work in this arena 8. Could lose allies (different positions) 5. Possibility of reaching scale 9. Not ideological battle where we are setting agenda 6. A way to mitigate or stop something 10. Short, frantic timeline, then over 11. Less than 10% of people stay involved 12. Mainly opposing things 2. Arena controls how money is distributed 7. It’s a recognized form of power by decision-makers 8. It’s motivating to our leaders

Integrating Electoral Work & Community Organizing 1. Developing ONGOING NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZING STRUCTURES (example: Neighborhood Education Teams) 2. Training and DEVELOPMENT OF GRASSROOTS LEADERS (e. g. increasing skills & ownership) during NONelection cycles. 3. Recruiting and EXPANDING MASS MEMBERSHIP/ BASE by focusing on precincts/ groups of voters based on organizing goals. 4. Using LIVING DATABASE to make ongoing work more strategic and effective (analysis, targeting, tracking, evaluating) 5. Using other Technologies to make work more strategic and

Different Approaches to Voter Outreach… • MEDIA: TV and Radio ad’s; Press events; Newspaper Advertisements • MAIL: Flyers, brochures, post cards, etc. • FIELD/ ONE-ON-ONE: Precinct Walking; Phonebanks; On-site Outreach, House Meetings • Others: “Robo-Calls”, church announcements, …?

“ALWAYS” VOTERS: Occasional Voters are our edge: • • Very likely to vote in most elections, based on voting history. Demographics: Tend to be older, wealthier, lower % of people of color than general electorate. • Focus with these voters is issue persuasion • Vote in some elections, but not an “Always” voter—e. g. only folks vote in presidential • the who don’t elections or local races. “OCCASIONAL” VOTERS: • • • polled; Demographics: Higher concentration of young voters, get low-income and people of color voters. • higher % of Focus is issue education AND energizing them to turn out. poorer, These voters are our edge—pollsters don’t count younger, them and most traditional programs ignore these voters. people of color “NEW” VOTERS: • • • voters; Newly eligible voters (new citizens or just turned 18) or recently moved into the area Like Occasional voters, turnout with these voters tends to be low- around 20 -25% in • if we don’t reach LA County Focus is issue education AND energizing them to turnout out. to these voters, no one else will.

Why • Precinct walks THRE • Phonebanks E üGOTV cont act • Confirm Support • Remind Targeted Voters s? üVoter ID/ Education üElection Day Turnout/ Election Protection • Walk to Targeted Voters

Introduction to S. C. O. P. E. SCOPE 1. Multi-Racial Base-Building & Leadership development 2. Regional Strategic Alliances & Capacity-Building 3. Strategies to Intervene in the Regional Economy Montana 4. In-Depth Civic Participation. Idaho ALLERT • Civic Participation to Scale • Ongoing regional Coalition • Living Voter database/ voter base • Indigenous Precinct network CA STATE ALLIANCE New York Massachusetts Iowa Nevada Colorado California New Mexico Missouri Kentucky Alabama Mississippi PUSHBACK NETWORK 1. Anchor Organizations/ Coalition with 1. Progressive State Electoral Network common programs in 8 states (red/ 2. Collaborative Progressive State Public blue). Policies Initiatives (Tax & Fiscal, 2. Long-term Strategies for Apollo Alliance, Issue Hubs) progressive shift in States’ Power 3. Organizational Capacity-Building in Equation (base & “swing” Strategic Regions (20 groups, 6

Strategic Concepts in Organizing & Policy Education AGENDA • Building powerful grassroots organization in South L. A. Los Angeles Metro Alliance • Building regional strategic alliances • Building new • Models for multigrassroots ethnic organizing & organizations leadership across L. A. development • Proactive regional issue campaigns • Non-partisan voter education & participation Research & Training • Community-based research for organizing & campaigns • Strategic Research & Analysis (local, state, national, international) • Education & training tools for participatory research • Training & Technical Strategic Initiatives • Training & Strategy Tools to Help Build the Capacity of Social Justice Organizations. • Regional, State, and National Alliance Building • Civic Participation alliances and capacity-building.

Snapshot of SCOPE’s Tactical Electoral Work 1994 -2001 1994 Proposition 187: Made it illegal for undocumented residents to access social service programs. Proposition 184: One of the first “three strikes you’re out” laws in the nation. Disproportionately impacted people of color. 1996 Proposition 209: Eliminated Affirmative Action programs in the state of California. 1998 Proposition 226: Restricted Labor Unions ability to raised political money from it’s members. 1998 Proposition 227: Eliminated bilingual education programs. 2000 Propositions 21 and 22 “Juvenile Injustice” and Anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 38:

üDeveloping Leaders • Organizing Skills • Political Education • Developing/Maintaining Membership Base üExpanding Neighborhood Education Teams • Building a Permanent Network of Power • Building an On-Going Relationship with Voters • Connecting Electoral and Policy Arenas üEducating Public About Campaign Issues

Initial Neighborhood Education Team Targeting NETs • Teams of 2 -4 People in a Precinct / Neighborhood • On going education and mobilization of Neighbors

SCOPE’S 2006 PROGRAM 1. Test Program to Train NETs in Winter ’ 06 • Training and Tracking with PDAs • 4 Trainings and 3 Saturday Mobilizations with 60 Leaders 2. June Voter Education and Mobilization Program Contacting 5, 000 Voters • 4 Door-to-Door Mobilizations with 115 Precinct Leaders • A Street Action Team of 10 people for 3 weeks • A three day Get-Out-the-Vote Program which reminded 1, 250 3. November Voter Education & Mobilization Program Contacting 8, 600 Voters • 4 Door-to-Door Mobilizations with 148 Precinct Leaders • A Street Action Team of 17 people for 4 weeks • A three day Get-Out-the-Vote Program which

SCOPE’s Increasing Scale of Contacts in 2006 9000 8, 682 8000 7000 6000 5000 4, 989 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 574 Winter Spring Fall Total Voters Contacted: 14, 245 Non-Duplicative Contacts: 10, 871

Lessons from AGENDA’s 2006 Work • N. E. T. Recruitment must be an on-going part of our work– not just around election time. • Building an effective, committed coalition is critical to getting to scale. • Scale increases over multiple Election Cycles as skills,