All. Together. Now.
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]
Brigid is getting ready to head down to New Mexico for a full week of rock-doc’in the vote through PBN’s engaged civic mobilization model.
Pushback Network is excited to launch The Project in October 2008. We’re sending two of the scrappiest young organizers we know, Brigid & Jason, down South (coordinated by our own “Wizardess of Oz” Samiya, hanging with our community organzing partners in New Mexico & Mississippi all through Election Week to Rock-Doc the 2008 civic engagement process. [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.”
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August 4th, 2008
Dear Allies and Supporters of Pushback Network:
On behalf of the Pushback Network, we would like to inform you of the impending departure of our current Coordinating Director, Rodney McKenzie, Jr. Rodney’s official last day at PBN is August 31, 2008. We have been very pleased with his commitment to our goals and significant accomplishments as Coordinating Director. Rodney has been of enormous help in Pushback’s growth and development, and we are sad to see him leave.
Given this news, we would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to our Interim Director, Larry Parachini. Larry is a highly qualified consultant, with previous executive leadership experience, who served as PBN’s Interim Director from our inception in 2005 until Rodney was hired. Beginning August 1st, Larry will manage and work closely with PBN’s staff and several consultants to continue day-to-day operations in support of our state efforts and to advance Pushback’s organizational and program priorities. We expect to hire a permanent director in the next five to six months. [Read more]
Electoral Organizers Wanted!
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a grassroots social justice organization with 5,500 members statewide. KFTC is hiring 9-14 electoral organizers to work in different areas of the state for an 11 week, non-partisan voter empowerment campaign. Electoral organizers will work to recruit and train volunteers, lead door-to-door canvassing efforts, and coordinate phone banks to voters between August 25 and November 8, 2008. Positions are available for people willing to work between 20 and 40 hours per week.
Location: We are seeking applications from people to work in the following locations: Louisville, Lexington, plus Rowan, Madison, Pike, Perry, Floyd, Letcher, Knott, Harlan and Warren counties.
Position description
Electoral Organizers will assist KFTC’s organizing staff to coordinate non-partisan voter empowerment campaigns aimed at registering, educating and turning out new and unlikely voters. These positions are supervised by KFTC’s Voter Empowerment Organizer, and will take day-to-day direction from a KFTC organizer in each field office. [Read more]
PBN proudly announced today the appointment of innovative and experienced progressive organizing leader Jason Cooper to the new position of Program Director. As the conversation about grassroots, bottom-up change becomes a defining constituent in local, regional and national politics, PBN continues to grow as a perfectly positioned organization helping ordinary people make real contributions to the political decisions that affect their lives.
“Jason brings a fresh perspective to our growing team that is based on hands-on work tested in high profile political and public education campaigns, combined with leadership, organizational and training expertise,” said PBN Director Rodney McKenzie, Jr. [Read more]
New Statewide Anchor Organization, PLAN, Brings 7th State into Pushback Network
PBN is proud to announce a new State Alliance Partnership with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), making Nevada the seventh state in its growing coast-to-coast network. PLAN was formed in 1994 to bring people and organizations together to build a better Nevada and includes more than two-dozen member groups dedicated to working for social, economic, and environmental justice.
“Pushback Network’s model is centered on building progressive power from the bottom up,” said PBN Coordinating Director Rodney McKenzie, Jr., “and PLAN will contribute a great deal to our learning and strategies. PBN focuses on developing and strengthening broad-based state alliances and supporting their community organizing and voter engagement strategies to greatly increase the knowledge base, level of participation and influence of those most underrepresented in the electorate – people of color, poor and working class communities, and young people. PBN provides organizations like PLAN, that are anchoring state alliances, with critically needed financial resources, training, and technical support. We also bring together experienced and talented staff and leaders from all of our states to learn from each other, determine and shape our overall strategies, and contribute to national goals. As our other partners, PLAN is grounded in a long history of progressive achievement. We are extremely pleased and proud to now have them join with us to achieve our common vision.” [Read more]
Record breaking voter turn-out and non-stop, multi-media presidential campaign coverage have engaged countless new voters and made this election season a can’t-miss. But when the dust finally settles next February, will most Americans be better or worse off then they are today? Pushback Network is supporting the local and regional work being done to help everyday people make their lives better.
“Across the country, from Harlem to Albuquerque to Eastern Kentucky, residents of historically disenfranchised communities are testifying about their lives in Precinct Leader Meetings, City Halls, Neighborhood Meetings, Door-to-Door Canvasses and State and National Pushback Network Convenings,” said Pushback Network Director Rodney McKenzie. “These everyday people are testifying with clear purpose and greater hope, with support from the Pushback Network, because they are taking the steps to build the power it takes to move hope into victory.” [Read more]
Pushback Network is excited to announce the launch of the next generation web site for PushBackNetwork.org. The site features the same great information about PBN and its state alliance partner groups and organizations, but offers much more information about each partner, and about the work of PBN and its state alliance partners from the local to the national level. [Read more]