I had the pleasure of getting out the vote with PLAN (Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada), the Pushback Network’s awesome anchor organization in Nevada and I am stoked to share a bit of my experience!
PLAN Canvass Training
When I got to Reno I was paired up with two Latino canvassers who were knocking on doors in Reno’s Latino community. It was inspiring to hear these first time activists talk about how important it is to them to get their community involved in the political process. They are concerned about the anti-immigrant feelings of some that are out there but also motivated by those same feelings. I listened as he explained to me why he will continue to motivate the Latino and other communities to exercise their rights to make our communities a better place. [Read more]
The Good, the Bad and the Pretty: Reflections from Pushback Network on the 2010 Midterm Election
For those of us on the front lines of social and economic justice, Election Day was not something to be happy about. However, regardless of the political shifts that occurred at the state and national level, our chosen course to bring about transformation of this country has not shifted. As we survey the new political landscape wrought by the Mid-Terms, a couple of things become clear. Our visions for this country remain the same. The work we do to promote justice remains the same. What this election has successfully accomplished is that it has provided community organizers and progressives a moment of pause and reflection, with some good, some bad and some pretty lessons to bring back to our communities.
PLAN Canvassers
THE GOOD: Despite a ton of money, and a ton of free media, the electoral “tsunami of change” was more of a wave than a tidal wave. The high levels of corporate and anonymous cash resources are never a good thing, but it was matched by the voices of people of color voters in a number of states. In particular, the Latino vote made itself heard in the west and southwest, in ways that can only serve to help fight discrimination and racism against their communities. The voices against racism were loud and clear this year, and they made a difference in the tone and outcomes of the campaigns, regardless of the victor. [Read more]
Pushback Network is fired up about the US Social Forum!
From June 22-26th, over 200 members from the 9 Pushback State Alliances are uniting in Detroit to strengthen our collective efforts and craft visions of liberation and justice.
Seeing as the time has come for us to build collective power in this milieu of massive unemployment, SB 1070, the oil spill, de-funding of public education, foreclosures and the bank bailouts, Pushback has constructed a strong program that highlights the diverse, multi-issue, multi-region, multi-constituency nature of our network.
You can catch us in Detroit sponsoring the following workshops, convention, and party:
Nevada leaders from a diverse array of partner organizations, including the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, TRENDz, Nevada Immigrant Coalition and PLAN, comprised an enthusiastic delegation to the Pushback Convening. Together, we are excited to report on the concrete nuts-and-bolts that occurred for our movement in the Silver State as a result of Pushback’s historic event in Nevada. Thanks to the workshops and conversations with our peers from across the country, the Nevada State Alliance is moving forward on creating a 501C4 and deepening our work in the census and redistricting process! [Read more]
Pushback Network (PBN) proudly welcomes accomplished social justice leader Peter Hardie as its new Executive Director.
Emphasizing community organizing and voter engagement strategies to empower underrepresented constituencies, PBN continues to grow as an organization assisting people in defining their mutual interests and working together to improve their lives.
“Peter is ideally poised to help lead the Pushback Network as a facilitator and as a leader in the national and local struggles for justice and democracy,” said PBN Chair Robby Rodriguez. “Currently, PBN is developing and implementing voter engagement and other civic participation strategies in eight states: New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and California. We foster collaborative efforts to increase the effectiveness of groups doing community organizing and non-partisan electoral work on the ground. Peter Hardie is an ideal fit for PBN because his career has combined organizing, advocacy and activism with significant experience and practice in organizational assessment and development. He has worked side by side with coalitions across the country and internationally to build grassroots political power from the bottom up. Peter has coached and advised a diverse range of organizations and knows how to encourage the best outcomes from them.” [Read more]
300-350 people who have been on the receiving end of the billion dollar cuts, including people with disabilities, teachers, state workers, and parents of autistic children, protested at Nevada’s state capitol building to tell the Governor and Legislators that further reductions in the state budget are unacceptable.
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (“PLAN”) presented a “Nevada Budget Planning Tool kit” comprised of band aids, bailing wire, duct tape and a beggers cup to the Governor, who speaker after speaker condemned for his lack of leadership in dealing with this crisis. [Read more]
DO: Approach key local and regional groups before the strategy is set. Tailor efforts to the culture and politics of individual communities. No state is one community. Incoming organizers should seek synergies with existing work.
DON’T: Bait and switch. Be clear and honest with grassroots organizers about intentions and objectives. [Read more]
Follow The Project, PBN’s live, daily, multi-media civic engagement project every day through November 7th. To lead us off, PBN is publishing a few critically important pieces that look at the importance of sound investment in effective civic organizing. Click here for updates.
During the 2006 electoral season, PBN partner Kentuckians for the Commonwealth learned first hand how paratrooper tactics disrupt years’ worth of work in their communities. According to nationally based, numbers-centric guidelines, national groups did a better job targeting the KFTC’s population, and reached more people.
But a closer look shows that while KFTC contacted a third of the people the national paratrooping group reached, they did it for a tenth of the money. KFTC’s numbers, unlike those of the paratroopers, reflected three person-to-person contacts for each individual counted. KFTC’s contacts included civic education and leadership development on a personal level – a crucial benefit that lasts, and one that you can’t get from mailings or robocalls. [Read more]
Follow The Project, Pushback Network’s Election 2008 Multi-Media Project online through your social networks, at our Project Updates Blog, or on Friend Feed and watch history happen with updates all day, every day through Election Week!
We’re going to the battlegrounds of New Mexico and Mississippi November 1-7, 2008, to show what the work our partners are doing to fuse community organizing and voter engagement and mobilize people of color, poor people, and young people looks like — in action and in near-real-time using photos, videos, micro-bloggging and more. Check back each day to see where we are with preparations, and see the organizing work happen through the post-election wind-up November 7th. [Read more]
Kicking off in New York City on October 24th and preparing to stretch through non-traditional battlegrounds of Mississippi and New Mexico, Pushback Network (PBN) is getting down on the ground with the people pushing civic engagement to new heights. From November 1st through November 7th, 2008, Pushback Network staffers Brigid Flaherty and Jason Cooper are pairing up again with Samiya Bashir for a live and direct multi-media project.
Through this project, PBN will capture the non-partisan, on-the-ground, electoral field programs in two of our states: Mississippi and New Mexico. “The truth is that the electorate is changing,” said Cooper, “and people are getting involved in record numbers not just in voting, but in educating themselves and their neighbors about the issues at stake in their communities. Pushback Network partners drive the ground game locally in eight states across the country. We’re going where history is being made in civic engagement and putting it on the record not just for Election Day, but for what’s next.” [Read more]
